Advice from paint experts please!

[ebaxter]

Hi, I need some advice from anyone who has lots of decorating experience. We have an extension that's just being finished and the existing house is all being replastered so I've got lots of paint required.

Firectly I found a paint today for £10 for 10 litres which will cover 130m wondered if that will be suitable for the base coat or whether I should be forking out for a better paint or one for new plaster?

I've been told to mix the paint 80 to 20 water but wondered whether that's becuase it's best to do that or to make your paint go further as so much gets absorbed?

Any advice welcomed.

Thanks

The paint should be diluted on new plaster and you will need at least two coats after that. If you like the paint colour, I wouldn't worry about the price. Do the diluted coat then another and see how you feel. The great thing about paint is if at that stage you decide you don't like it, you can always choose something else and just go over it.

Was going to do the base coat in white and then my actual colour in two coats, they are quite neutral colours.

Have read somewhere my base coat can't be a vinyl matt does anyone know if that's correct or not?

Thanks

Never heard that, can't think why it would make a difference. I wouldn't fret too much - get the colour on the walls, it's such a boost after building work.

I have also heard that you shouldn't use vinyl for the watered down base coat (miscoat/mist coat -- have seen both spellings, no idea what's right). Apparently if you use vinyl for that it peels off the walls. If you Google both those terms you'll read a lot about it on DIY forums (probably too much!). I have no practical experience of trying vinyl, just was put off by reading about it. We have just done the new plaster of our whole house with a vat of watered down bog standard white emulsion.

There was a thread going earlier this week you might like to peruse too Painting fresh plaster.

I stand corrected.

many hours of paranoid Googling...

For the first coat I would use cheap white emulsion, diluted probably as much as 50:50 which makes it a bit of a pain to put on because it's so runny. Be prepared for lots of mess, but if it's a new extension and you haven't got carpets (or whatever) down that might not matter. You'll end up covered though .

The next coat (or probably two) should also be porous so that the plaster and mortar can continue to dry out. One result of this is that you can't use a washable paint, which is a nuisance if you're doing a room where the walls are likely to get dirty (kitchen, playroom etc) but might not matter if it's a bedroom. If you want to put a washable paint on top you should probably wait six months or so.

def don't use vinyl, it will just peel off the walls.

you need a mist coat (it's called a 'mist' coat as it is diluted/thinner than ordinary paint) which is just diluted emulsion paint. this preps the walls for the top coat - freshly plastered walls will absorb a lot of paint.

personally i would not use vinyl paint for the top coat either if the walls have been recently plastered. i like to give fresh plaster plenty of time to dry out and always use flat matt paint. vinyl paint doesn't allow moisture in or out and if the plaster isn't totally dry then this could cause problems later on.

some people reccomend using 50:50 PVA on fresh walls. i wouldn't do this as you are effectively sealing the plaster and again this can cause problems if the plaster isn't completely dry.

i think you can't go wrong using plain matt emulsion.

Thanks for the advice, Cleggy was going to use the Dulux Endurance range as I have small childern and a dog. Plus I was going to use the specially formulated bathroom and kitchen paints are these a no no then?

They are a no no for at least six months. We built a new kitchen a couple of years ago. We painted it the colour we wanted but in an emulsion. A year later it was filthy (kids, dog, cooking) so we painted over it with a washable paint in exactly the same colour. No big decisions about colour schemes at that stage, just a couple of days' painting. My advice is that it's worth using a washable paint but it's also worth waiting before you put it on.

I guess that's not exactly what you wanted to hear - sorry.