Decorating advice

[malcygoff]

Dear fList

Comments

[valkeerie]

Mysterious. Never happened to me.... how annoying. Cracking tends to occur (think dried-up river beds) when a substance shrinks too fast. I'm wondering whether the plaster is drawing the moisture out of the paint??? I am assuming the paint is a decent brand ....

[malcygoff]

This is interesting; and puts the idea of the walls being damp out of my mind.

[hirez]

The chap who rebuilt our bathroom told me to make up a cheapo primer replacement of 50/50 water and 'value' emulsion to go direct onto the fresh plaster. Perhaps this will also work on less-than-fresh plaster.

[malcygoff]

thanks; this is the current plan of action... that is, after my arms have stopped shaking from the prolonged sander usage!

[serena_lesley]

Sand the paint off. Clean the dust off the walls and prime them with a weak wallpaper paste. This will 'seal' them and stop them from leeching the moisture out of the paint, causing it to dry and crack. When the paste is dry, paint as normal.

[siani_hedgehog]

are you sure? wallpaper paste is interesting stuff in that it will rehydrate when exposed to moisture, and will completely fuck paint applied over top, as it swells when it does it. that IS exactly what you do before papering on bare plaster, but you should use a diluted paint primer for painting.

[malcygoff]

tx for the advice :) currently stuck on sanding the walls down, complete bugger of a job - my arms are shaking like nobody's business!! (insert smutty comment here...)

[siani_hedgehog]

if the walls have previously been papered you need to remove every trace of the wallpaper adhesive before painting. it is hydrophilic, and will destroy paint if there's even a tiny bit left.
if wallpaper was applied over bare plaster, you're fucked - the plaster will never be any good, and you'll need to use a paintable lining paper or skim with new plaster (which may crack off due to the adhesive) to get a smooth painted surface. if there was paint under it, you need to scrub and srape and scrub using hot water and sugar soap. it's a stinking foul job that i had to do to half of the house in Hawick.
if you are painting bare new or repaired plaster, as Hirez says, you need to dilute the emulsion 50/50 with water to seal the surface for painting - the plaster sucks water out of the paint, so a thick paint doesn't cure right.

[malcygoff]

Hey hon; thanks for the comment - seems like you've had experience here.

the paper was stuck on with a poystyrine (please excuse spelling) backing that was taken off the wall. The wall was then sanded down to remove the surface junk.

Currently trying with a 3:1 base of water:emulsion with a second coat of 1:1 and see if a pure coat will survive over that. Suffice to say that I'm not doing a large area until I've got a sure idea it's working.

I'm a bit worried about the quantity of paper that'd been put over the house: every room and every wall has it on - from what you're saying, this could be a bastard of a job :/

[air_bizkit]

It may even be worth just taking one room at a time and getting a plasterer in to re-do each room. Slightly more expensive but at least you'll be guaranteed to have the right kind of surface to be able to paint over. Its also a good excuse to have a really good look at the walls behind to make sure that you're not, a-ha, 'papering over the cracks'

*headdesk*

*sigh*

The puns still force themselves out even when I'm trying to be helpful.

[siani_hedgehog]

wallpaper is a FUCKING CUNT and i hate it with bricks. i did get all the woodchip off in Hawick before we left, but i NEVER want to do that again. :/

the laziest way or dealing with walls that have been papered is just to use a paintable lining paper after removing old paper. but you can sometimes see seams in the lining paper, so if you're trying for a really posh job it's not really perfect. and if your walls are wavy it's a bitch to get it up well.

if you can afford it, and your walls are not nice old lime plaster, i'd be inclined to agree with the poster below and get a man in to skim the walls.

if they are old lime plaster, they need to "breathe" and modern plaster will not last very well on them (they expand at a diffferent rate and it loses adhesion), and your best options will be either backbreaking work getting them VERY clean or lining paper.

[prelati]

I'd just regard your unique 'crazy paving' walls as a feature - you'll soon have admiring guests asking how on earth you achieved this eye-catching effect.

[malcygoff]

Yes; this is the backup plan. The way it's going, the most likely one as it is ;)