Painting new plaster - any tips?

[Inspirachion]

Well Kitchen diner walls and ceiling now plastered and ready to paint.
'Tis a big room (what were we thinking).

What's the quick easy cheap way to paint new plaster please?

[exhausted renovator smiley face]

Water down the first coat of pain (50:50) so that it soaks into the plaster otherwise you risk the paint peeling off. Should only take one or two more coats after that.

Water down some PVA glue, paint it on, wait to dry then apply first coat of paint. This will stop paint from soaking into the plaster.

Ditto the replies you have already had. The watered down paint acts as a primer. I have painted numerous newly plastered surfaces and they have needed two or three coats of paint on top of the primer.

Pva glue

So ....cheap trade matt emulsion, watered down then applied with what?
Big brushes, rollers or paint pad things? [dreams of spraying machine]

Need to be efficient and effective as poss to limit DS's babysitting needed - this is one task he cant really join in!

I've had my attic replastered and was advised to just put one coat of trade paint on.
Apparently the one coat seals the plaster as you put it on.
It covered in one coat, it was very good quality thick paint though.

Nononononononononononono!

Never put PVA glue on a surface which you hope one day to paint! The emulsion will soften it (since it is not waterproof) and prevent proper adhesion. It is more likely to bubble or peel.

As described above, the correct thing is to apply a matt emulsion, thinned down with water. This will soak into the surface instead of just lying on the surface, and so give better adhesion. You can use a cheap white emulsion for the mist coat and the first coat if you like, this will even out the absorbency and colour of the wall so that your more expensive finish will go on easily and cover better. The even surface will also make it easier for you to see any remaining blemishes so you can smooth (and mist) them before applying the finish.

If you apply emusion to bare plaster, it absorbs all the water from the paint, making your brush drag, and leaves the solids lying on the surface, which again gives poor adhesion (the same happens with brick and especially concrete) so always apply at least one mist coat thinned with water.

Dulux Trade Supermatt is very good as a first coat on new or strippped plaster.

If it is an old wall, make sure you clean off all old wallpaper paste with warm water and a scraper before painting.

Thanks. Its lovely new plaster and I want to do a good job.
Big brushes, rollers or paint pad things? Roller I think for the big areas?

Paint roller or paint pads are far more efficient and give a better finish than paint brushes. Professional decorators only use paint brushes with emulsion for the fiddly bits. If you can get used to a roller you can cover a wall pretty quickly.

the thinned mist coat is about the texture of milk, so I use a soft brush.

For water paints like emulsion, the synthetic bristles (often yellow-ish white) are better that natural hog, which goes floppy in water.

For the finish coat, I use a furry roller, after cutting in the edges with a 2" brush.

Oops. I meant to use a roller when using unwatered down emulsion for subsequent coats.

Right thats us sorted then with the next project, want to get the paint on before the tiler and kitchen fitter come after new year. Thanks very much

Walls will probably get damaged again after the tiler and the kitchen fitter have been - don't get too disheartened but do have extra paint to touch up.

Harris make a bigger roller than normal...works well - might be called vanquish - get a big - huge tray tray and always have a small roller, a paint brush and a damp cloth to hand. I have found newly plastered walls to be very tricky to paint...tricky to aviod edge lines (something to do with the new eco friendly paints I was told)....often you'll need to water down the paint itself. And I don't know what I do wrong but I always end up putting a mist coat and 3 proper coats on - otherwise I just can't get a good solid finish.
And after doing all this and busting my butt - we have settlement cracks ...I'll be painting this house forever!

Any suggestions for the cracks pigletjohn please? We have similar here (new plaster, def not structural)
TIA

if the plaster is new and it's shrinkage cracks (very narrow, like spiders webs) try knifing in readymixed Fine Surface Filler. Press it in very very hard, and use a metal scraper to scrape off any excess flush with the surface (this is far easier and cleaner than sanding) while it is still soft.

old plaster and wider cracks have to be widened before filling, and there may be loose scabs that have to come off.

Thank you! It is definitely shrinkage cracks. I presume you can sand the filler once it's dried, ready for painting?

the plasterer we used say to get pv adhesive and water that down, cheaper than paint for the first coat.

I've just re-plastered both my house and a few bedrooms at my Dad's. I used wick's trade new plaster paint, he used watered down emulsion. Mine has turned out better. It's thicker and one coat has covered evenly.

you'd be (un)lucky to find a decorator who agreed with him

EtInTerraPax

if you use a broad metal scraper, on fresh filler or cheesy plaster, you should be able to get the surface perfectly smooth without sanding.

if you feel you must use sandpaper, make sure the filler is perfectly dry and hard (or it may pill) and use a very fine grade. If you sand the actual plaster you will take off the polish and it will go rough. It will make dust.

Thank you. It has already been painted , and the cracks appeared later, so plaster is covered over.

Pigletjohn - our builders didn't prepare our newly plastered walls with thinned down emulsion as recommended above and several flakey patches have appeared. Would you recommend sanding down and starting again?