Who's right - dh or me - does paint need to be ...

[emkana]

... watered down before being used on (newly plastered) walls?

I think it does.

Can't tell you by how much though

DH says he would water it down a little. Not much.

I have heard that it should be watered down. However........having said that I have just realised that the room I'm sitting in was painted in UNDILUTED paint. And yes, I did it. Seems alright to me.

Yes, you either need to put a couple of coats of watered down pva on or mist coats of paint ie. really watered down. If you don't you will probably find it will take a lot of coats to properly cover and may well crack more easily.

Yes, newly plastered walls are very absorbent.

if the wall is newly plastered i usually do a layer of pva and then a layer of primer.

yes, you're supposed to "size" freshly plastered walls with dilute paint (iirc, it's 50/50).

If you use undiluted paint, you will use a LOT more than you expect you'll need, as the plaster is very absorbent.

you can get specialist paint for newly plastered walls (as i found out by wondering why it took so long to dry)

But do you "finish it off" with undiluted paint for the last coat, or do you just keep putting on more and more diluted paint?

Yes when we had walls skimmed I remember my Dad (I was pg and bleugh and dh working loads of o/t) putting on 2 or 3 coats of watered down white paint on then the top coat undiluted

You can buy a special clear liquid to use directly on the plaster before you paint. This stops the plaster absorbing too much of the paint.

Buy a cheap trade paint tub of white emulsion and water it down by 50 per cent. This will soak into the plaster and stop it absorbing your more expensive coloured paint. The more coats of the cheap undercoat you apply the less of the expensive top coat you'll need. Two should do it though

Watered down coat on first, we use cheap own brand white matt emulsion, then use a couple of coats of normal thickness colour over the top.

Oh dear! I did it wrong then!! I put 2 coats of undiluted paint on and it's been fine.

You can get an industrial sized tub of 'paint for new plaster' from B&Q for about £18, and watch the walls soak it up. We did this, then our normal paint (Craig and Rose) and it's gone on beautifully.