Hi all,

I have just stripped wallpaper off the wall in a room in a house built
around 1960. We are left with the bare grey plaster. I am planning to
paint this with emulsion, which I've done before in other rooms but it
never comes out quite smooth enough. I've tried filling the obvious
cracks and sanding the walls lightly but still not perfect. Given I
have no confidence in my ability to plaster, even just skimming, is
there a paint available that's better at smoothing out slightly rough
surfaces (maybe to use as an undercoat under our chosen emulsion)

Thanks for any advice

Paul

Having just done a whole house which pretty much similar surfaces I came to
the conclusion if the walls are really bad then geta pro to skim it for you
fro the other walls, patch it up sand it paint it then you will see more
bits that need patching areas that catch the light so then fill and sand and
paint again, takes a while an may be a botch job but does come up looking
quite good. Oh and a good quality paint for new plaster worked quite well

Paul wrote:
I have just stripped wallpaper off the wall in a room in a house built
around 1960. We are left with the bare grey plaster. I am planning to
paint this with emulsion, which I've done before in other rooms but it
never comes out quite smooth enough. I've tried filling the obvious
cracks and sanding the walls lightly but still not perfect. Given I
have no confidence in my ability to plaster, even just skimming, is
there a paint available that's better at smoothing out slightly rough
surfaces (maybe to use as an undercoat under our chosen emulsion)

Make sure it's completely free of wallpaper paste, it should not
feel slimy when wet.

Give it a coat of good quality emulsion - allow it to dry.

Look along the wall, and mark any imperfections with a rough
pencil outline (just a quick circle should be OK).

Fill nail holes, etc. flush with filler, using a filling
knife. Wipe the filler in and scrape it off in the same
movement. Try and not to leave filler on the wall that
needs rubbing down. Let it dry thoroughly.

Get some sandpaper on a cork rubbing block, and sweep it
over the filled nail holes etc. to make sure there's no
filler protuding. It should have shrunk into the hole, but
sweep over it anyway in case there's a little fragment
stuck to the wall from the edge of your filling knife.

Get some filler powder, and mix it with water and a little
PVA until it's thin - "like double cream" is often mentioned.
Use water:PVA about 10:1 to mix in. Just make sure it's not
too runny, and will spread with no effort.

Fill the small imperfections with a wide blade such as a wide
filling knife or a plasterers steel float. Sweep the filler
on right over the imperfection. Go over the nail holes again
to fill any holes left by shrinking filler.

The idea above is to transfer filler into the wall to fill
imperfections flush, so as not to need to rub down. Filler
with PVA in it goes "off" quicker than normal filler, so
you may find yourself wasting a lot unless you make up small
batches. This filler is more resistant to abrasion, so you
don't want to be doing a lot of rubbing down, anyway.

When it's all dry (not long in thin coats, maybe overnight)
get your cork block and fine paper and sweep it over the
whole surface to remove any little odds and ends of filler.

Another coat of emulsion. Check. Should be OK. Paint again.
Done.

You could mess about with textured paint, but it looks awful
on most walls.

There is paint to overcome minor imperfections - ditto IMO.

You could use lining paper and paint that. This finish is
quite pleasing.

One method that I have used quite sucessfully in my 1920's house - sand
the wall down so there's no obvious lumps or depressions - fill as much
as possible and sand down etc.

Then use lining paper paper the wall horizontally - wait until dry,
then paper again, this time vertically.

You may find that it's quicker and will give better results than
sanding/filling/sanding/filling etc etc!

Good luck!

Simon

Oliver (R-e-m-o-v-e) wrote:
Having just done a whole house which pretty much similar surfaces I came to
the conclusion if the walls are really bad then geta pro to skim it for you
fro the other walls, patch it up sand it paint it then you will see more
bits that need patching areas that catch the light so then fill and sand and
paint again, takes a while an may be a botch job but does come up looking
quite good. Oh and a good quality paint for new plaster worked quite well

"Paul" wrote in message
...
Hi all,

I have just stripped wallpaper off the wall in a room in a house built
around 1960. We are left with the bare grey plaster. I am planning to
paint this with emulsion, which I've done before in other rooms but it
never comes out quite smooth enough. I've tried filling the obvious
cracks and sanding the walls lightly but still not perfect. Given I
have no confidence in my ability to plaster, even just skimming, is
there a paint available that's better at smoothing out slightly rough
surfaces (maybe to use as an undercoat under our chosen emulsion)


You could try one of the Polyfilla "crack filling" paints but I've no idea
if they're any good for what you want.