Painting new coving

[mark harrison]

Just put up new Gyproc plaster coving in one of the bedrooms. In th

past when using emulsion (vinyl silk) straight from the tin it too many coats to give a good coverage. I think i have read on the forum that it is recommended that you shoul dilute the emulsion for the first coat and then revert to standard fro the tin paint. If this is correct what ratio should the initial coat b thinned to ? And is this just for the one coat ?

Why does new plaster coving soak up the paint ?

Thanks in advance

Mark.

-- mark harrison

[Andrew Gabriel]

I would suggest you use matt emusion for this first coat, not vinyl silk. I normally use brilliant white, which is probably fine unless the final paint colour is to be dark.

It normally says on the tin. 10-20% water is a typical figure. Just for the first coat.

It's porous -- the surface is paper and the plaster underneath will soak up water too. The water helps the paint penetrate into the surface before drying and bond better. Once dried, the emulsion is waterproof enough to stop the water being sucked out of the next layers, but also an excellent surface for them to bond to.

[John Rumm]

Just played this game... did the first coat of matt emulsion mixed with about 10% water, and then one more coat of undiluted emulsion. Did the job nicely. If you skip that dilute coat then you may find you need three to get a decent finish.

Because it is made from plaster and cardboard, both suck water like a sponge!

[manatbandq]

Why would any paper covered plaster soak up water based paint? Because it is porous!

MBQ