Hi, we have had conservatory plastered, how long before we can paint? it is quite warm in there, but we have had windows open. Do we seal the plaster before painting with unibond or what. Plasterer said it could be painted on Friday, no need for treatment, just paint.
tia
The message from "Sheila" contains these words:
May I suggest the plasterer knows his own business?
The plasterer was right, didn't you believe him? Paint bonds better to bare plaster than it does to PVA sealer.
Give the new plaster surface a quick check for any bumps or roughness, particularly near edges and corners, and scrape or lightly sandpaper to smooth off. The first decoration on plaster can be easily ruined by minor shrinkage cracks and the paint should be permeable to let the plaster dry out completely, so it's best to use emulsion first time, not oil paint or wallpaper. The first coat should be thinned 50/50 with water and then one or two full coats depending on colour.
Peter
I have tried PVA and thinned down paint - on balance thinned down emulsion is best, as he says. Paint goes onto PVA primed stuff well but can flake off if damaged, especially if the plaster finish is quite shiny to start with. Shed "value" emulsion in huge tubs (very cheap) is just as good for the first coat but don't water it down - they've already done that for you. I use one coat of cheap plus two coats of expensive. Yes you *can* paint very soon after (using paint as suggested above) as the plasterer said but it's best to leave it a bit, at least until all the dark patches have gone plus a day or two.
And it doesn't hurt to run a bead of decorators cualk into all the corners as well. That takes care of any minor cracking.
I am sure the plasterer does know his own business, but I had done a bit of research on Google and it states a lot longer to let plaster dry out, 3 to 6 weeks, that's why I have asked in here, he did the job Tuesday, and says we can paint Friday, and yet this article says a lot lot longer! Some of the plastering looks dry now, the parts underneath the windows for example, but the large part, that was the external wall of the house, is still obviously wet. Just trying to get as many opinions as possible.
want to make sure we do it correctly, to stop future problems, re damp etc..
...mm, we want to paint a light green colour, I dont imagine I will get any cheap stuff in big tubs of the colour we want, so I presume I will have to thin the one down that we are going to use for the last coat? (IYSWIM!)
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I will leave that to him indoors to do that! I'm just finding out what to do! Thanks!
No, if you have any old white emulsion hanging around or there is cheap stuff available, use that watered down. Use several coats to seal the wall and save your green for later.
Steve
Sheila ( snipped-for-privacy@yahoo.com) gurgled happily, sounding much like they were saying :
Just get some El Cheapo whiteish - AIUI, (and that's not very well - see the "Painting onto new plaster" thread from last week!) it's the soaking-in you want from the first coat, not the colour.
Well...its not THAT bad to paint on wettish plaster. The biggest problem is that the paint (emulsion) itself forms a fairly impervious barrier.
I'd wait till there are no obvious dark patches at least.
Pretty much yes.
Paint is pretty cheap really. We used Farrow and Ball which is loaded up with pigment ...its expensive, but not compared with what a plasterer charges to do a wall.. First coat thinned 30%..or not really - up to you. All that happens if you slap it on thick is you end up with say three thick coats instead of two thin one thick. I found three coats on bare plaster was needed for darker colours..
and that business is plastering not decorating.
It wont soak in its an emulsion not a solution.
In message , Sheila writes
Hi Sheila,
You've had a lot of good advice already on here. From personal experience (so far four rooms plastered) use thinned down emulsion for the first coat. Go out and buy a litre of the cheapest matt emulsion you can find and mix it 50/50 with water.
Mixed 50/50 it looks really weird and feels even weirder to even try and paint this stuff (it's almost water) but it really is what you need on new plaster.
When to paint it? Our rooms have generally been ready at around 5 to 7 days after plastering. You will see at some point a quite light, almost pinkish sort of colour which won't change day to day (unlike the other horrible dark brownish depressing horrible colour which is changing daily). When you see that light pinkish colour over 80/90% or more, you're ready to hit it with that watered down stuff.
One thing you don't mention, is whether your conservatory was rendered first (I'm guessing it was probably bare brick - so it probably was rendered or had a bonding coat). If this is the case, then yes, it's likely to take a lot longer to dry out sufficiently to paint, but the watered down stuff still stands - it's just going to be a lot longer 'til you see that pinkish colour over enough of it to start.
Hth Someone
"> Hi Sheila,
thanks for a very concise reply, very helpful. I think we will leave it for another week, paint it next weekend, or the first coat anyhow. The conservatory had only one set of bricks, and then dry lined.
thanks once more.
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