Painting directly onto plaster v. lining paper - who is right?!

[Tinkjon]

My dad is doing our decorating for us and he insists on lining the walls with lining paper first, before painting. He says that paint can peel off a bare plaster wall, and if we want to change it later we can't remove the paint (well duh, we'll just paint over it again!) and all sorts of other things. Whereas I would prefer to paint directly onto the plaster (once plaster has been sized, and using a mis-coat first of course) because (a) I think lining paper peels off more than paint (especially in a room like a kitchen or bathroom) (b) if you need to do something with the wall eg. chop a bit out, as happened last week, then you're left with a raggedy edge of paper that can't be fixed without re-papering the entire wall, whereas you can just fill the edges and paint over it if it's not papered. Also it takes more time and money to line a wall first!

I can't get him to agree to do it my way, even though it's my house! Who is right?! Does anyone have experience of peeling paint or paper in kitchens? eberywhere he has put lining paper up it/s peeling away from the walls, argh, I hate it but he will NOT listen.

bloody hell, why won't he do it the way you want as it is your house?
presumably he is doing it free of charge?
maybe if you paid someone you could have it how you want, or do it yourself

p.s. I think you are right

My parents did have a problem with paint peeling off when put on a bare plaster wall. However, I think that they'd failed to prepare the walls with diluted paint, which is what we've always done and none of our paint has ever flaked.

We have painted straight onto plaster in our kitchen and not had any problems (didn't tile splashback areas either).

Our decorator says it's better not to line with paper.

WE painted straight onto plastered walls, as advised by plasterer.
WE did use diluted paint the first coat though.

It's fine IMHO to paint directly on to plaster, in fact unless you line the walls very well you are likely to get a smoother finish.

However DH and indeed my SiL who decorates for a living both insist on lining the walls first.

I think you speak sense tinkjon but I let my DH have his way over this one here

You are right, its fine as long as it is sized and white washed first.

I never line unless the walls are in a mess and we've had no peeling yet.

use new plaster paint - 2 coats I think. I wouldn't paper!

We've always painted onto plaster, never had a problem.

Oh, I tell a lie, we had a damp problem and everything sort of bubbled a bit and grew fur but I don't think lining paper would have helped

I think if your plaster is horrible then lining paper can give you a better finish, but otherwise, it's not necessary.

But if he's doing it it doesn't matter either way, does it? If you want it doing your way and he refuses - do it yourself, or pay someone to do it.

oh, forgot, we have paper in the kitchen that is painted, and over the cooker it's a bugger - I think the steam is fucking it up.

the only real advantage of lining the walls if it is new plaster is that you will get cracking on plaster over the first 6-12 months. This is not visible if you line the walls. That said I never line the walls!

you're right and make sure you use kitchen, bathroom paint if you want to avoid mould, peeling
but
if your dad is doing you a freebie you'll have to accept his decision.
I think you should diy.

either is fine but it does depend what look you want. painting onto plaster looks cleaner and some say, therefore, modern, but painting onto paper looks slightly more aged. doesnt make alot of sense to me to be very honest... and a bit of a waste of time to paper..

Painted on plaster and it looked patchy even after 3 coats.. But then it needed replastering!!
Good luck.

Thanks everyone! Of course now that most of you have said that you would paint straight onto the plaster then it makes me feel even more irritated about it all

Compo, he says that if he's doing it then it has to be "done properly" (ie. wrongly ) and he won't do it unless he's allowed to do it his way as he can't bear to do things slapdash. Can't afford to have someone do it, sadly and I can't do it myself.

Hecate, the reason it matters to me is because I hate peeling wallpaper. He says "oh it won't peel, it'll be fine" but every single bit of papering he's done has peeled!

Yep - straight onto plaster. Diluted first coat - slap it all on for the second

Mind you - if your plastering isn't top notch then lining paper will hide a multitude of sins!

I've got kids so NEVER line first as they will no doubt smash something into the wall and mess up the paper (learnt from experience)

I had my hall, stairs, landing, lounge and dining room replastered 3 years ago, painted directly onto plaster. We slightly diluted 2 coats of white cheap B&Q value white paint on it followed by the colour we wanted which I think was dulux.

Still looks great today, no peeling.

The only room not to be replastered was the kitchen, previous people had lined it and then painted it, it is peeling behind the radiator and above the extractor hood from the steam. Flipping nightmare, looks awful.

Plus in a kitchen you want to be able to wipe down the walls every now and again.

I will say that my Dad who is in his 60's still unplugs the TV at night because when he was about 3 their TV blew up. I think your Dad has out of date info and plastering etc has come a long way.

i've just stripped paper off my hallway walls to reveal good-ish pink plaster...

can i just paint (diluted coat first) or do i need to size it?

am velly confuzzled...

DP'S mate is a plasterer and advised us just to paint straight on to plaster.We did and it has been fine.

What does sizing plaster mean?

yes our predecessors painted directly onto plaster in the bathroom, and paint is peeling.

We papered first in kitchen, and paper is not peeling!

oh, and we have bathroom paint in the bathroom, and it is mouldy, in spite of always leaving door open, and opening window whenever possible.

fizzylemonade, LOL about your dad's memory of TV blowing up

Sizing walls means sort of sealing them. You put wallpaper paste on them and it stops paint being sucked into it. I wouldn't imagine that you'd need to size walls that have already been papered as they've probably been done before papering.

Hmmm, so seems like we're going 50/50 on the lining now...

I think it depends on the finish of the wall, papering is usually done to hide imperfections, so if you have an older house and older plaster walls then it may be worth lining them first, but you also need to be good at lining or else you don't end up with a good finish, if you have gaps between the paper or overlap etc, it won't look good.
If you have a newly plastered wall then the finish will probably be better if you paint straight onto the plaster, but you need to make sure it has dried properly, has been sealed and you should put at least 2 mist coats of paint on as an undercoat (mist coats are watered down emulsion usually add 25% extra water) or you can buy new plaster paint or proper undercoat.
Then you can put on the top coat of which you usually need 2 coats.
The paint should not peel off, it would only usually do so if the surface is not prepared properly, or if the wrong paint is used in the first place, or there is a problem with ventilation/damp.
So your dad is not wrong, or right