Painting onto fresh plasterboard?

Nov 14, 2003 17 Replies

Hi everyone,



Hope someone has some handy hints!



Whats the best way to paint onto fresh plasterboard? The paint we'll be using is quite expensive, so I'd hate to watch the first coat absorb into the PB and all but disappear.



Can you go over it with some kind of undercoat or even plain white emulsion first, or am I as well just using the paint we intend to use and to hang with the quantity required!



I googled for an answer but didn't find anything particularly appropriate, I'm afraid.



Thanks in advance.



Dave.


A coat of PVA diluted 5:1. Marvellous stuff.

Seriously?

Anyway, what are you doing out of UKRM, may I ask? *G*

I saw on google a post here from Blaney too, a while back.

PVA, you say. I'd never have thought on that.

Dave.

Aye, it works really well as a sealer. Good as a glue (undiluted). If you get a can of it, there's several uses listed on the side.

Slumming. :) Quite good here - the locals are friendly and we even have a tame loony.

Zymurgy's been doing some plumbing, too.

I'm a convert to it, for sure.

I thought it was only used by Rolf Harris / Blue Peter, etc.

Yeah, I've had cause to wander in here a bit recently. I am *the* worst DIY'er in the world, but I'm having a shedload of work done to my house right now so it's been great to come here for completely unbiased advice - I've learned some great things, not least the PVA thing.

Won't be long till we see TOG or someone posting here, asking which pipe is best to crudely fashion a home made NITROX kit for the Monkey bike.

That's what I'll try then. Do the DIY sheds sell this, or more an arty crafty shop type outlet then?

Thanks.

Dave.

All the sheds should have it, it's quite common now.

If you get it in small tins it'll cost you an arm and leg - in 4 or 5 litre cans it's dirt cheap..... umm... last one I bought was about 12 quid or so and if you're diluting it by 5:1, well...

re PVA

Hi. Sheds sell it. I wouldn't use PVA on fresh PB tho, just give it a quick coat of water then paint on. Works a treat, and is quicker and easier than the traditional diluting of the first coat.

You could do it either way: the only no-no is to put paint onto bare PB as is. The PB sucks the water out, and the paint falls off. Wetting the PB first has to be the easier option.

Regards, NT

So, are we not allowed to stray from UKRM? Does that make me a traitor?

Rob

Nope. Just funny to see a "familiar face " as it were in an entirely different NG!

Dave.

All sorted, top fella!

What a breeze, and so much cheaper than some of the stuff I've seen for doing the same damned job!

Thanks for the tip - I appreciate it.

Dave.

Excellent info, thanks! Like any great NG, the amount of advice I've had from here is just amazing.

Thanks again - all noted for future reference!

Dave.

I've seen Grimly lurking around here for a while and I thought 'there can only be one Grimly Curmudgeon' in Usenet land ;-)

Been here for a bit, bodging CAT5 cable, plumbing stuff and the odd bit of electrickery...

Cheers,

Paul.

Hello Dave

Use a pisscoat of 50/50 emulsion/water mix for the first cover. If your "expensive" paint is oil based, then I'm not sure - I'd not personally use an oil paint for plasterboard.

Yes, pisscoat is a technical term!

Don't be tempted to mix pva into any paint will you, as it forms a release agent with most things.

I once used a piece of formica as a test piece and mixed some pva up with a variety of stuff. They all slid off like eggs in a none stick frying pan, except the water solution -which stuck like glue.

Hi Simon,

Thanks for that - I went the route of the PVA at 5:1 and it seemed to work well!

Not an oil based paint, just one of these old style colour ranges - it's an old house we have here, and so when we do it up we tend to stick to original colours that would have been used. This *exact* shade was the only one my wife wanted, despite there being mainstream ones a ballhair[1] away from what this was, at half the price.

[1] Ballhair, like pisscoat, is a self explanatory technical term, for those who weren't aware.

Thanks again.

Dave.

Yup, same here basically.

It's suddenly dawned on me that the few NG's I frequent all specialise in " a bit of a bodge ".

I must be a pikey, then.

Good God - what an awful realisation. I almost spilt my Pimms.

Dave.

Some pikeys and their caravans have moved into a field about half a mile distant from here. As I drove past tonight I noticed they had a van in the field with them clearly labelled with "R D Roofing" or something very like that.

I suppose they could be legit, but I'm not planning on using them for any of my roofing - and being a newish estate I can't imagine they would get a whole shedload of work around these parts.

PoP

In message , Dave Jennings writes

The technical term for this, we use in my trade is "Gnats C*ck" ;-)

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