painting new plaster

Regarding the plaster, I just wiped the walls with a damp cloth to remove any dust.

What a faff. Easier to buy the correct paint in the first place I would have thought.

And what is the "correct paint" for bare plaster? How much is "correct paint" compared to some cheap emulsion and a bit of water. You will also get a better finish using the method above. Bare plaster absorbs liquid at a frightening rate, even when watered down, the walls will be dry in minutes, hence the watered down to stop the paint cracking / peeling once dry.

I bought some B&Q "new plaster trade paint" and its fantastic. I was watering down emulsion till I bought a tub of this 15 litres was £20 and since using it have never watered down emulsion since. I tried coating one wall to fast once and it looked poor. Now I read the instructions, wated 24 hours between coats and dont work it on the roller too much. Lay it on and leave it without too much rollering. I have used it in 3 rooms to date and its covered all the walls superbly. I highly recommend it and its cheaper than the dulux range of the same product.

Nothing in it pricewise. Last time I looked Crown was considerably thinner than Dulux, which doesn't necessarily mean it contains more water.

A thinned down thick paint is not the same as a properly formulated thin paint. The latter works better on plaster IME

ok have wiped it over with a cloth, a few areas must have been dusty as it came off on the cloth. rinsed it out a few times.

next question, mist coat, best to apply with a brush or roller ???

Beasts wiping yer arse over the wall having sat on the pot for sure ;-)

Or Keith Boadwee (in his enema period)?

it was a serious question guys!

i just thought a brush is easier to use to apply watery paint, as you have a bit more control over splatter and more control over how much paint you apply.

Indeed - Samantha mentioned roller/rollering without anyone jumping in to disagree so I took the question as answered - before diverting onto questionable interpretations of painting.

My choice would probably be brush if I had a good emulsion brush - not one of the wimpy cheap ones. Otherwise, roller. But I have relatively little experience of new plaster.

As you would do any other paint, brush in the edges, roller the large areas. I did a bathroom, ceiling and all walls and it now looks great.

well the difference is the paint is watered down, with a roller i'm worried too much paint will go on and it wont be such a mist coat.

with a brush i feel i have more control and dont put on too much paint, its amazin how quick the plaster sucks in the water and the paint dries almost instantly

think i'll use the 3" brush for the first mist coat then roller the next coat either neat or very slightly watered.

Illustrates why watering down emulsion paint isn't the greatest idea. The added water soaks into the wall, taking with it some of the essential ingredients for film formation, and leaving unbound solids on the surface. Emulsions are complicated things :-)

Stuart, understand what you're saying! it makes sense. I did intend to get new plaster paint when I went out, but in wickes they only had massive 10L tubs and at =A318.99 it seemed a lot for doing a couple of ceilings. I then saw 2.5L cheap matt emulsion for under =A35, which said on the back mix 10% water in for porous surfaces so I went for that. I've watered down more than 10% more like 50%, but its gone on ok.

I'm sure it'll be fine in the end. It's just that it seems like hard work to me :-)

If I shake a tin in the store and I can feel the paint moving about, then I assume it will be fine on new plaster. Hasn't let me down yet. Rules out Dulux of course.

That's the whole idea of the mist coat. New bare plaster absorbs huge amounts of water. If you didn't add any water to the paint it would absorb the water in the paint, which may then cause the paint to become too dry and not adhere to the surface. It will flake off, craze or blister.