painting fresh plaster

[FloraFinching]

Right, so the plasterer has just packed up, and all is well (would recommend him if anyone needs one). So firstly, how long do I leave it before I paint, and secondly, what do I "seal" it with? I saw some specific plaster seal products in B&Q, but then read elsewhere that watered down cheapo emulsion is just as good. Any thoughts?

I believe you should wait between 3-6weeks before painting over new plaster (depends on how warm the room gets)

as for painting, I was told when we had our kitchen plastered to use watered down matt emulsion (but not vinyl emusion) before then putting the top coats on as it will soak straight in as the fresh plaster is very absorbant.

If your plasterer has 'polished' the plaster so that it looks shiny (some do this) then you might need to sand the walls down first so that the paint adheres properly.

ooh, thanks for this.
Is watering down the paint 50/50 ok? and can I just use cheap white emulsion, and then pop the colour over the top?

I don't think I watered down quite this much maybe a quarter water to three quarters paint (TBH I don't quite remember)

Balls, had completely forgotten we needed to seal the plaster. Thank you for reminding me and saving us from DIY disaster!

You can buy contract/trade emulsion which is specially formulated for new plaster. We had our new house totally re-plastered and used this on all the walls.

we haven't sealed our plaster we pained it after less than a week as well

Just asked dh. He says to put on a mis-coat and 2 top coats.

What is a mis-coat?

You need to wait until it's completely dry and the length of time will depend how thick it is, how warm it is and how well the room is ventilated. Our kitchen ceiling was skimmed earlier this year and we painted it after a week.

You shouldn't need to seal it but you should paint first with 50/50 paint and water. User cheap white emulsion for this.

mis-coat like what MisterW said.

Ah okay, ta :)

thanks everyone - will give all the tips a try.

my dad always says 80% emulsion to 20% water. Google sizing walls and that should tell you.

Should add that that tells you about wallpaper paste, but principles are the same for paint. HTH

Yep, what MisterW said. Our plasterer said to mix the emulsion with water until it was 'like milk', which we found a useful guide as the thickness of emulsion varies. If it's too thick you'll know about it, because it will kind of 'bobble'.

We used cheap B&Q value white paint not watered down in any way, we had our entire downstairs replastered.

Just wait until the plaster is dry then paint. If you water down the emulsion it is really hard to put it on the walls (very messy)

The mis-coat is just because the plaster isn't sealed so it sucks the paint in like a sponge.

It is just so you don't waste too much money putting 4 coats of your very nice paint on the wall, better to use cheap paint underneath.

I took paper off a wall, leaving bare plaster, and it sucked up dulux undercoat then 3 coats of value white emulsion and still looks patchy and thin.
The wisdom at our local is to paint the walls with a solution of pva glue and water before painting as normal. That's what the decorating man says anyway . I haven't tried it yet.

I painted (am still painting) 7 newly plastered rooms. I am using the b&q paint for new plaster. The plasterer said I could paint when the plaster went pink ( took about 2 weeks).The walls painted 8 weeks ago look good, the one wall i didn't wait quite long enough for has gone orange! ooops, repainting that one.

Ours is being done atm.The plaster dried and the miscoat went on today.ultra matt emulsion watered down half and half .

My BIL is a decorator and he reccommends 50/50 solution of PVA /water.
We did this on our extension and it worked really well.

Thanks goodness they weren't winding me up Flossie