Preparing plaster for paint/paper

If painting, just water down the initial coat with water. If painting walls and ceiling, do this base coat in white, so there is no cutting in required and splashes from ceiling to wall don't matter.

Use a good quality paint suitable for new plaster application, such as Dulux Trade Supermatt.

Christian.

Does that also apply to plasterboard ( unskinned) .?

Stuart

It is less critical to water down when painting paper directly (plasterboard is paper faced). There's no harm in it, though. It will help control suction on the joints.

Christian.

oops..unskimmed .

and thx Christian.

Thanks for this. What percentage does it need to be diluted, would you recommend?

A high quality paint can be diluted about 30%. However, I never measure, I just put a slug of water from my drinking glass as I pour the paint into the tray. When diluted, the paint drips more, so cover any floor coverings, fittings and furniture and do the ceiling first (or do the first coat entirely in white).

Christian.

Nothing. Or a thin coat of PVA, depending on who you ask. PVA probably good for papering, and possibly SLIGHTLY cheaper than a piss coat of thinned emulsion..all my walls were painted with emulsion bare. Leave a week or two to thoroughly dry though.

Vinyl emulsion practically is PVA, but with colourings and water added. The advantage of using emulsion over diluted PVA for the first coat is that if you don't dilute PVA enough, you get a disaster, whilst the paint is already diluted to the extent that this won't happen. Also, you are likely to already have the paint.

Christian.

Make sure you wait until the plaster is completely dry before painting, otherwise it may blister.

I use 50% diluted emulsion for the first coat then 25% for a second coat.

Mark