Decorating like a pro

[beggingforsleep]

We're in the middle of house renovations and running out of money so we're doing the decorating ourselves. No big deal. I've always decorated myself before. The entire house has been replastered.

But our builder has now made me doubt myself. He says they usually fill and sand three times. Once after mist coat, then after a white coat, finally after the first top coat.

I get the filling and sanding filled bits. Not three times but at least once. But he's also said that now we've mist coated the rooms, they're ready for a light sand with 120 grit sandpaper.

Is he suggesting we sand the entirety of the rooms? Then I guess we'd need to wash all the walls down to get rid of the dust. It all sounds like so much work. But this is our forever home in as much as one can be and we've spent so much to get to this point that I want to give it my best effort.

Has anyone taken it this far before? Can they talk me through it please?!

Bugger that. My top decorating tip is caulk. I caulk bloody everything, sand what is essential and don't look too closely at the rest of it. Sand 3 times my arse, hope you don't pay him by the hour.

Ha. No I don't! He's very nice. But it's a bit like having a parent around, silently judging what you do, and I want to make him proud

God no. I fill then sand, wash (if I can be bothered) and paint. My top tip is to invest in good paint. I must do a decent enough job as the carpet fitters thought the rooms had been decorated professionally.

That seems like an excessive amount of sanding!

@Fascinationends can I just ask what you actually do with caulk? Is it easy to use?

Also, why are you filling or sanding at all if it's just been plastered?!?

Just wait till properly dry then mist coat.

Haha yeah if you're going to paint the queen's bedroom you might do that.

Once you've done your mist coat use a bright white light and it will show up imperfections. Use easy fill 20 and fill any cracks and use a scraper to scrape off any paint globs.

You can (and it's always better to) sand between coats. It isn't necessary, but it will give a better finish and will help the paint adhere. Wherever you use filler make sure you sand back so that it's smooth and not visibly filled (using your bright white light). The rest of the wall can always use a very light key with 120 grit- it will help the final finish.

The other thing to do is make sure the paint is appropriately thinned- mist coat on fresh plaster can be very wet- generally I wouldn't go beyond about 30% water but that depends on the paint and how it's going on (in the height of summer I've used paint nearly 50% water - but that is not normally the done thing, and it did require 2 coats in the end).

Keep in mind you can also thin down top coats-. I had great success in my utility room painting onto mist coat with thinned down top coat (about 10-15% water). It was a hot day in the middle of June, but it went on very easily and was dry in about an hour, so I put 4 coats on in 1 day, and it looked great.

So- for a decent finish do this:

Fresh plaster -> mist coat (20% water)
Mist coat -> fill and sand with inspection light
If the walls were generally good (your plasterer wasn't shit) then on to top coat otherwise you might need another mist coat if there's loads of filler
1st top coat -> thinned a bit (maybe 10%- fresh plaster will still drink deeply)
Check with inspection light and scrape off any more paint globs
Final top coat (make sure your brush and roller aren't overloaded- you don't want runs and streaks)

Keep in mind with fresh plaster the plaster will absorb water very quickly- if the paint is too dry it will peel- that's why you thin it out. If you over thin the paint and it's not providing any coverage, add more paint and make it thicker. It's a bit trial and error but provided you're careful you'll be grand.

Oh also- use your decorators caulk for the coving/skirting/architrave between mist coat and first top coat- when it's been freshly applied a wet brush can smooth it down or a wet finger, find which finish you prefer.

I use it to fill cracks mostly, like when you remove wallpaper and have a crack between door and wall, not massive crevices. Or where the skirting gapes slightly from the wall. It fills the gap, can be smoothed down with a wettened finger and then painted over when dry. A hole obviously needs filler, but caulk is great for edges.

@Hiddenmnetter thank you so much. This is exactly what I needed.

Just one question... do you wash the walls down after each sand? Or just use a hoover/duster?

Wipe down with a damp rag- you shouldn't need to sand so much that you're hoovering. Also, don't use your good Hoover- it will get ruined by plaster dust, get a £40 wet and dry vac from Screwfix that you can use and abuse and not worry about. You can Hoover if you want but I would still wipe down with a wet rag after.

If you're heavy on applying the filler and need to sand lots it should just be in specific areas but still the walls shouldn't need more than a wipe down with a damp rag, otherwise you're just sanding off the paint you've just applied

It's fresh plaster- unless your plasterers were rubbish, you shouldn't be doing much remedial work.

Oh and to clarify- use filler (I use easyfil 20) for cracks in the plaster- even deeper stuff (but it takes longer to dry). Decorators caulk is for filling the gaps between wood and plaster because it's flexible and will move with the wood. You can also use coving adhesive it works just as well. DON'T USE FILLER TO FILL BETWEEN PLASTER AND WOOD- IT WILL CRACK AND SHOW UP