Bare plaster [DIYTrackWorld]

We’ve had some walls moved around and I’ve been tasked with painting it all, which is the limit of my DIY skills.

Will I be OK putting something like this straight onto bare plaster as a base coat (as the instructions imply) or do I need to faff about diluting emulsion?

Thanks all!

If putting a bit of water in paint seems like a faff I think you’re better off just living with the bare plaster  – theres a Farrow and Ball paint call ‘bare plaster’ I think so say you’ve painted it with that. 🙂

Personally I would just go to your local Johnstons paint centre or similar decorator shop and buy what they use

I’ve just had to paint bare plaster after we had some work done, the internet ( decorators etc) says to use a mist coat or your paint will go on unevenly as the plaster will absorb it at different rates, so that’s what I did, not a big faff at all. I just used the same basic paint I was painting the ceiling with thinned with 40% water as instructed on the tin.

@maccruiskeen I don’t think I’ll get that past my wife, sadly.

@Catfood Issue is that the paint to go on is expensive, and all the stuff in the shed is vinyl ie. not traditional emulsion. So if I’m going to have to buy stuff anyway…

I recently had to paint a bare plaster wall (had previously been wallpapered). It got sugar soaped and then a coat of super-boggo cheap white emulsion, then a couple of coats of the actual colour. All fine.

 I don’t think I’ll get that past my wife, sadly.

I tell a lie – its actually called ‘Setting Plaster’ – so you can say you’ve already painted it 🙂

For clarity, have the walls been replastered? If it’s fresh plaster then mist coat (watered-down base coat) or it’ll absorb all your basecoat and nice paint. I’d wait for the plaster to dry fully, of course.

Old plaster: basecoat and get the desired colour on as requested by SWMBO.

I’ve always done what IHN says, loads will say that it’ll crack, but mine hasn’t and I’ve done it a good few times.

If you want to water it down though, just buy cheapo white paint and water that down. Don’t buy something actually called ‘mist coat’ or something as it’ll cost a fortune just because it’s called the right thing…

catfood
I’ve just had to paint bare plaster after we had some work done, the internet ( decorators etc) says to use a mist coat or your paint will go on unevenly as the plaster will absorb it at different rates

First time I painted over new plaster I used watered down emulsion & it worked fine.

The next time, I used emulsion that was specifically for putting on fresh plaster. It was terrible. The water absorbed at different rates leaving a patchy finish that was really thick in places & non-existent in other places. Even though the final colour went on OK, I can still see these lumpy areas on the wall in certain light, which really bugs me.

Since that trial, I now stick to using watered-down white emulsion & all is good with the world. Yes, it’s a very minor faff to dilute but I’d rather that, than risk a bad finish.

As above – I did a whole house-worth of newly-plastered walls with watered down emulsion before painting over and it was fine – although it still took a few coats of Dulux/Crown/own brand paints to get nice even finishes.

Later in life I found out about Johnstone’s Paints (specifically the scrubbable ones) and I am sure they would have saved me at least 50% time (I would still use a mist coat before applying the paint, but it would take one or two coats to get an even finish as opposed to the four or five I was having to use with cheap/crap paint).

Will I be OK putting something like this straight onto bare plaster as a base coat (as the instructions imply) or do I need to faff about diluting emulsion?

If it’s new plaster, do you need to deal with uneven, cracked walls?

I’d lightly sand and then use watered-down emulsion (preferably not vinyl, but many people do). Tinted paint isn’t cheap these days if it all goes horribly wrong

As above!

Mist coat is need for bare plaster.. just use super cheap 1000l tubs, watered down…

A few coats of this, then treat as a standard wall with the nice paint.

DrP

I think you’re looking for something like this if you can’t be bothered watering down normal white, not a smoothing basecoat you linked:
https://www.diy.com/departments/leyland-trade-super-leytex-brilliant-white-matt-bare-plaster-paint-10l/5010426824062_BQ.prd?storeId=1311&&&&&gad_source=1&gclid=CjwKCAjwzIK1BhAuEiwAHQmU3nNPCZ3xOtCR4v3bjVEbAofezTrSGyvcZDOSFUPIwP9J0m9iROsLCxoCQiwQAvD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds

I’ve used this on bare plaster without issue.

Screwfix used to do a no-nonsense bare plaster paint.

https://www.screwfix.ie/p/no-nonsense-trade-bare-plaster-paint-brilliant-white-10ltr/51004

But they don’t appear to sell it in the UK anymore.

I used it on a number of rooms that we had plastered (kitchen, dining room, living room, bedroom x 2, hallway stairs and landing) and it worked fine.

I see they do this now but the reviews don’t seem great

https://www.screwfix.com/p/fortress-trade-10ltr-brilliant-white-matt-emulsion-bare-plaster-paint/284jm

Used the new screwfix one last month on 3 new  plastered ceilings. No problems at all ignore the reviews

Ended up with Screwfix bare plaster paint after the plasterer skimmed  my whole house and room 1 with watered down emulsion took looked patchy af for many many coats.

Bare plaster and two coats of the same trade emulsion and we were done with the rest of the house.

Guess it comes down to how much you like painting

I did 3 or 4 coats of mist at a 50% water content. Then 2 coats of Johnston’s from the paintshed in Edinburgh. The scrubable ones are good.

I did the kitchen in valspar from B&Q and it took loads of coats to get a decent coverage. Unfortunately MrsMcF has decided she’d like the kitchen a new colour.

Whilst the experts are assembled…

A few years ago we painted our hallway.  It turned into a nightmare, the paint kept blistering into bubbles, some a couple of centimetres across, other areas just lots of tiny foamy style bubbles.  We battled with it for ages, sugar soaped it, stripped off the wet blistered areas with a filling knife whilst the layers underneath were soft, bought a couple of different types of paint including stuff to seal crap paint/porous surfaces.  We eventually got it done with minimal brushing which seemed to help, but it looks a bit rubbish and its chalky so comes off if you rub it or lean bike panniers against it!

Dreading the next time and I’ve not been touched the kitchen which appears to the same paint originally used in the hall!!!

We just painted a new plaster room with Johnsons trade colour match of F&B setting plaster! My wife made me do it but to be fair it does look nice.

I used a cheap white emulsion watered down as a mist coat, cheap stuff from B&Q. We always use the paint shed in Edinburgh and use their Johnsons Trade stuff usually colour matched to a F&B colour. The service from them is ace, 24hr delivery, they are always a decent price and the Johnsons trade stuff seems to give a really good colour match with plenty of depth, it’s really good and takes fewer coats than anything Ive used. It’s much better value than the rubbish you get from B&Q etc.

spooky b329 – did you or a previous owner/ builder use contract emulsion to seal the bare wall? I nearly ended up using it by mistake as a mist coat but read up some more and advise was not to use it as apparently if used on bare plaster it’s not good to paint over with your chosen top coat paint. Apparently it leaves a chalky finish which other paints don’t adhere to.

Everyone is talking about watered down base emulsion.

Whatever happened to using very watered down PVA glue as a sealer ? That’s what I used last time I had to paint a re-plastered room in our house (probably 15 years ago) ??

(Serious Q – as I need to get a couple of other rooms re-plastered soon)

Whatever happened to using very watered down PVA glue as a sealer ? That’s what I used last time I had to paint a re-plastered room in our house (probably 15 years ago) ??

It’s risking a reaction between the PVA and paint, use similar emulsion and you won’t have that problem

The thinned emulsion will also tend to show any problems that will eventually find their way to the surface of your expensive top coat, although on a newly plastered wall that should be minimal

DO NOT use pva…..what happens is when the pva gets wet in turns back in the its liquid state..you’ll find it will take ages to get a good colour because of this….there are better primers out there…ive made of point of never using pva anymore ….my primer of choice these days is SBR ( I’m in the trade)

But as everyone else has said….cheapest option is to add at least 30% water to your paint and mist coat 1st

Whilst the experts are assembled…

More reluctant amateur, but burko+1

I’d suspect a reaction with the paint below, ask at your local trade paint counter, e.g. Brewers or an indy

Thanks all – cheapest option was to get a bucket of cheap white emulsion from my DIY enthusiast mate who lives on my street and mix a mist coat which seems to have gone on well.

Do I need to do more than one or can I get on with actual paint once it’s had >24h to dry?

We’ve done three rooms so far this year. Both our own (Speedy) and the insurance company (Billy) plasterer’s both recommended after a week of initial drying out to just use boggo emulsion watered down massively (4:1 or greater) for a single mist coat and leave it a month in that state to dry out properly. Then whatever emulsion you like thereafter. We’ve only had one issue and that appears to be the method used in joining boards in one room, where I’ve had to do a second, thicker mist coat down the seams as we ended up with dark lines. I reckon it’s their choice of scrim tape – Speedy likes the orange tape and Billy the white. Billy’s room had the issue.

I now only use an acrylic primer on bare plaster.

Have had mixed results mist coating – as others have said definitely don’t use pva unless you want peeling paint.

Johnstones Trade Perfect Matt is an excellent paint & their decorator centres pretty much perfectly colour match F&B, Little Green etc, but Tikkkurila paint is a step up again & you can get their Optiva (acrylic) Primer colour matched to your top coat paint to save on total number of coats.

I use Johnston acrylic eggshell. Just done my replastered bathroom ceiling with it.

1st couple of coats watered down.

PSA alert. In my local store it’s around £70 for a 5 ltr tin?

On Amazon it’s around £32 delivered. And it came yesterday in a Johnston’s van from my local store ?

If the plaster is very new use Dulux Supermatt diluted. If the plaster is dry use any matt emulsion (no vinyl content) diluted.

PVA is a bad idea under paint. Don’t do it.