I have several fine drying out cracks in the plaster of my house,
which is now about 18 months old. Several walls are affected. I shall
short;ly be placing the property on the market. I don't want to go to
all the hassle of painting all the walls, which are currently
magnolia.

My aim is to repair the cracks and dust over them with a fine brush
with magnolia so that the cracks are invisible. In other words, the
kind of repair done to Old Masters.

Possible?

I could do this by colouring some Polyfilla to match the magnolia.
Alternatively, just use Polyfilla as it comes, then brush across the
crack with magnolia afterwards. Maybe then leave it a couple of months
for normal ageing to work and for the newly applied paint to 'weather'
into the surrounding wall.

It just seems a heck of a lot of work (and money) to repaint all the
walls, since the new owners will doubtless have their own preferred
colour scheme anyway.

Another alternative is just to sell the house 'as is' and let them
worry about filling the cracks.

MM

MM wrote:
I have several fine drying out cracks in the plaster of my house,
which is now about 18 months old. Several walls are affected. I shall
short;ly be placing the property on the market. I don't want to go to
all the hassle of painting all the walls, which are currently
magnolia.

My aim is to repair the cracks and dust over them with a fine brush
with magnolia so that the cracks are invisible. In other words, the
kind of repair done to Old Masters.

Possible?

Moving again? I should fill the cracks and paint the whole of
whichever walls are affected. It's really not a lot of "hassle".
The "quick fixes" will be likely to stick out like a sore thumb,
and cracks will draw unwanted attention.

MM wrote:
I have several fine drying out cracks in the plaster of my house,
which is now about 18 months old. Several walls are affected. I shall
short;ly be placing the property on the market. I don't want to go to
all the hassle of painting all the walls, which are currently
magnolia.

My aim is to repair the cracks and dust over them with a fine brush
with magnolia so that the cracks are invisible. In other words, the
kind of repair done to Old Masters.

Possible?

Very hard (or impossible?) to do undetectably I'd say. If you're going
to do it at all, I'd paint the whole walls.

I could do this by colouring some Polyfilla to match the magnolia.

No way; you'd never get a colour match in a zillion years as the stuff
dries a different colour to its wet state. Likely to mess up the
Polyfilla setting, too.

Alternatively, just use Polyfilla as it comes, then brush across the
crack with magnolia afterwards. Maybe then leave it a couple of months
for normal ageing to work and for the newly applied paint to 'weather'
into the surrounding wall.

Use it as it comes; if you can find exactly the right paint (ie same
brand/type as used before, it might work. Otherwise it will probably
look like a bodged repair gone wrong.

It just seems a heck of a lot of work (and money) to repaint all the
walls, since the new owners will doubtless have their own preferred
colour scheme anyway.

Not an issue - the reason you are considering doing this is to conceal
the presence of the cracks from buyers, right? It's already painted in a
good colour (ie neutral/blank canvas) to appeal to buyers (Beeny Rule 17)

Another alternative is just to sell the house 'as is' and let them
worry about filling the cracks.

I'd do so, unless you're going to paint the lot. If it's all nice and
clean and you can get a good, albeit not precise, colour match, you'll
get away with a single coat for this purpose.

David

Year's ago the practice was to mix some paint (emulsion) with the
pollyfilla, fill the crack and then wipe off the excess with a damp
cloth.

On 19 Oct 2005 07:31:23 -0700, "stoker"
wrote:

Year's ago the practice was to mix some paint (emulsion) with the
pollyfilla, fill the crack and then wipe off the excess with a damp
cloth.

Now that does sound like an excellent idea!

MM

On Wed, 19 Oct 2005 14:30:29 +0100, Chris Bacon
wrote:

MM wrote:
I have several fine drying out cracks in the plaster of my house,
which is now about 18 months old. Several walls are affected. I shall
short;ly be placing the property on the market. I don't want to go to
all the hassle of painting all the walls, which are currently
magnolia.

My aim is to repair the cracks and dust over them with a fine brush
with magnolia so that the cracks are invisible. In other words, the
kind of repair done to Old Masters.

Possible?

Moving again?

'Fraid so. This house, while in itself a nice enough property, is too
characterless. I had always promised myself a new house. Now that I
have one, I yearn for an older house with draughts, a loft you can
walk around in, and the souls of past inhabitants perhaps. Plus, the
garden here is tiny. I'm not complaining, as I did sell my other
house, which was the big challenge of 2004.

I should fill the cracks and paint the whole of
whichever walls are affected. It's really not a lot of "hassle".

But it is a LOT of hassle! For a start, the wall leading up the stairs
is inaccessible in parts because it is so high. I'd have to employ a
professional painter, or try to manhandle a roller on a long (very
long) pole. Or build some kind of scaffolding to support a ladder.
Then there's all the masking off to be done. This house has very nice
wood skirting, so I'd need to take care that none of that became
spattered with paint. Ditto the wall-to-wall fitted carpet. I'd say
it's a huge task.

The "quick fixes" will be likely to stick out like a sore thumb,
and cracks will draw unwanted attention.

But cracks that have been filled and are shown not to have opened up
again? They might draw attention, but be shrugged off as unimportant
(which is indeed what they are, structurally speaking). Also, if I
paint the walls, there's no guarantee that other cracks won't open up
in the time it takes to sell the house, as houses are simply not
shifting at the moment. (I'm not going to put it on the market until
the spring.) Latest rumours from RightMove do suggest a slight
increase in optimism, however.

MM

On Wed, 19 Oct 2005 12:40:26 +0100, MM wrote:

I have several fine drying out cracks in the plaster of my house,
which is now about 18 months old. Several walls are affected. I shall
short;ly be placing the property on the market. I don't want to go to
all the hassle of painting all the walls, which are currently
magnolia.

My aim is to repair the cracks and dust over them with a fine brush
with magnolia so that the cracks are invisible. In other words, the
kind of repair done to Old Masters.

Possible?

Yes, it's possible but the difficulty will come in getting the colour
to match.

I could do this by colouring some Polyfilla to match the magnolia.
Alternatively, just use Polyfilla as it comes, then brush across the
crack with magnolia afterwards. Maybe then leave it a couple of months
for normal ageing to work and for the newly applied paint to 'weather'
into the surrounding wall.

Personally, this is the route I'd take. Fill the cracks with a
flexible decorators filler (The sort that comes out of a sealant gun)
and paint the cracks, with a thin brush (Artists brush). Matchpots
will save the expense of buying a big tin of paint.

sponix

MM wrote:
Chris Bacon wrote:
MM wrote:
I have several fine drying out cracks in the plaster of my house,
which is now about 18 months old. Several walls are affected. I shall
short;ly be placing the property on the market. I don't want to go to
all the hassle of painting all the walls, which are currently
magnolia.

My aim is to repair the cracks and dust over them with a fine brush
with magnolia so that the cracks are invisible. In other words, the
kind of repair done to Old Masters.

I should fill the cracks and paint the whole of
whichever walls are affected. It's really not a lot of "hassle".


But it is a LOT of hassle! For a start, the wall leading up the stairs
is inaccessible in parts because it is so high. I'd have to employ a
professional painter, or try to manhandle a roller on a long (very
long) pole. Or build some kind of scaffolding to support a ladder.
Then there's all the masking off to be done. This house has very nice
wood skirting, so I'd need to take care that none of that became
spattered with paint. Ditto the wall-to-wall fitted carpet. I'd say
it's a huge task.

Stairs: get a board long enough to go from the back wall of the
stairwell level onto one of the stairs. Wrap some clean rag
around one one end, tape it on. Get a bit of 4x2 long enough to
reach to the back wall of the stairwell level with the selected
stair. Screw a "T"-piece to the top of the 4x2, made of 6x1,
using 2 1/2" screws. Put the "T" up, rest board on top and
stair, there's access. £20 - or perhaps don't do the stairwell!
Masking? Get a big bit of dust-sheet (cloth, not nasty plastic
which tears easily). That'll be a tenner. Buy two! Tape it onto
the skirtings, lay it over the floor. £4 for tape. One coat of
emulsion on selected filled walls. £23 for 10 litres of emulsion.
Total £67, and not much time spent.


The "quick fixes" will be likely to stick out like a sore thumb,
and cracks will draw unwanted attention.


But cracks that have been filled and are shown not to have opened up
again? They might draw attention, but be shrugged off as unimportant
(which is indeed what they are, structurally speaking).

But the buyer would still have to paint, and in these market
conditions almost anything that'll help sell is wortth doing!


Also, if I
paint the walls, there's no guarantee that other cracks won't open up
in the time it takes to sell the house

True, but if they're just shrinkage, there should not be any.


as houses are simply not shifting at the moment.

See above.


(I'm not going to put it on the market until
the spring.) Latest rumours from RightMove do suggest a slight
increase in optimism, however.

Hmm.

On Wed, 19 Oct 2005 16:24:53 +0100, --s-p-o-n-i-x--
wrote:

On Wed, 19 Oct 2005 12:40:26 +0100, MM wrote:

I have several fine drying out cracks in the plaster of my house,
which is now about 18 months old. Several walls are affected. I shall
short;ly be placing the property on the market. I don't want to go to
all the hassle of painting all the walls, which are currently
magnolia.

My aim is to repair the cracks and dust over them with a fine brush
with magnolia so that the cracks are invisible. In other words, the
kind of repair done to Old Masters.

Possible?

Yes, it's possible but the difficulty will come in getting the colour
to match.

I could do this by colouring some Polyfilla to match the magnolia.
Alternatively, just use Polyfilla as it comes, then brush across the
crack with magnolia afterwards. Maybe then leave it a couple of months
for normal ageing to work and for the newly applied paint to 'weather'
into the surrounding wall.

Personally, this is the route I'd take. Fill the cracks with a
flexible decorators filler (The sort that comes out of a sealant gun)
and paint the cracks, with a thin brush (Artists brush). Matchpots
will save the expense of buying a big tin of paint.

Agreed. Also, I have had considerable success in the past with the
Dulux paint matching service at Homebase and elsewhere. Even the
tiniest swatch of paint is enough to get a match, and the match has
been very close each time. I might have to 'steal' a portion of the
plaster, with magnolia surface intact, from some unobtrusive place
around the house - inside the walk-in wardrobes, for example, or if
it's the same wall - as each wall may have been painted at different
times over several days - then down in a corner somewhere.

MM

On Wed, 19 Oct 2005 16:24:53 +0100, --s-p-o-n-i-x--
wrote:


Personally, this is the route I'd take. Fill the cracks with a
flexible decorators filler (The sort that comes out of a sealant gun)
and paint the cracks,

Crown do caulk (which is what you are referring to) in magnolia.

On Wed, 19 Oct 2005 18:28:11 +0100, Peter Johnson
wrote:

On Wed, 19 Oct 2005 16:24:53 +0100, --s-p-o-n-i-x--
wrote:


Personally, this is the route I'd take. Fill the cracks with a
flexible decorators filler (The sort that comes out of a sealant gun)
and paint the cracks,

Crown do caulk (which is what you are referring to) in magnolia.

Brilliant! Thanks!

MM