Painting new plaster

When you have had either walls or ceilings plastered or skimmed over with plaster you need to know how to paint them correctly to get a long lasting finish.

Firstly ensure they are dry, this will depend on what plastering you have had done. One thing not to do, start painting colour samples on bare plaster, due to the brushes that come with the samples and how thick you apply the sample you will see this on your walls forever unless you rub them down, best to paint on some lining paper or plain white paper, you can then move it around the room and see the colour in different lights. There is a previous post about this Colour samples and testers.

To Paint new plasterwork

Firstly get some sandpaper, not too course, as you don’t want to ruin the new plaster, around 120 grit and lightly rub over the plaster to remove any splashed plaster or drips of dirty water. Then brush the area down to remove any loose dust.

Next, you may well think it’s simply a case of deciding on a colour and painting over the new plaster? STOP!
You should never paint new plaster with a vinyl emulsion as this will sit on top of the plaster leaving a skin or layer that could peel off. You should always paint new plaster with a ‘New Plaster Sealer’ or a non-vinyl emulsion.

I use a non-vinyl emulsion and is my preferred method. I use a matt emulsion, typically white to seal the plasterwork before using a vinyl emulsion colour over the top to complete the job. The ‘New Plaster Sealer’ or a non-vinyl emulsion will soak into the new plasterwork and the finish coats you apply will adhere to this first ‘mist’ coat.

You don’t have to worry about covering the plaster totally, you just need to give it a ‘mist’ coat (as it’s known) to seal the plaster, you’re not looking for complete coverage and opacity.

Once you have mist coated your new plaster you can now apply your choice of finish coat and colour.

Paint Calculator

You may find my paint calculator useful to help work out the quantity of paint you require to mist coat your new plaster and also for your final finish coat. One thing to note, new plaster can be absorbent so slightly more paint maybe required than normal to get a good depth of colour and a good finish.

A review of Dulux Trade Diamond Matt

“A tough, washable matt emulsion with 10 times the durability of silk emulsions” – quote Dulux Trade

I was recently asked by TradeXpress to review the Dulux Trade Diamond Matt, Pure Brilliant White emulsion; I used this product both on a ceiling and walls to review this product.

As I opened the tin I thought it had more odour then the normal trade paint, but maybe that’s just me. It isn’t a strong smell and doesn’t linger so wasn’t an issue. I was impressed by the opacity and how it covered the artexed ceiling I painted. I was also impressed with the whiteness, it certainly was a pure brilliant white.

The paint went on well; the coverage is on par with normal Matt emulsion although slightly less at 16m² per litre. However, drying time is increased with a recoat time of 4-6 hours compared to 2-4 hours of vinyl matt. Touch dry will obviously depend on the conditions in which you are working but for me it took around 3 hours for each coat to fully dry.

Durability and Stain Resistance

The big selling point of this paint is of course it’s durability and stain resistance and the fact you can wash marks off without getting that ‘buffed sheen’ look you normally get from vinyl matt emulsions. I have tried rubbing a small area of the wall I painted and I couldn’t see any obvious signs of a sheen appearing.

The Dulux Trade datasheet (447) for this product states it is suitable for use in Kitchens and Bathrooms due to it’s moisture resistant properties. For this review I used Dulux Trade Diamond Matt Pure Brilliant White on a Kitchen ceiling and walls in a cupboard. I am confident this paint will hold up well in the area’s I used it.

The Product comes in 2.5 and 5 litre cans and of course you can have any colour mixed with colour tinting.

The only downside I can see would be it’s price, at over £15 per 5L can more than traditional Dulux Trade Vinyl Matt and the colour mixing prices at around £70 for 5 litres. However, saying that, I feel if the job calls for a tough durable stain resistant paint I would use this product.

For more information see the TradeXpress website or find them on Facebook: TradeXpress UK or Twitter @TradeXpress.

VOC in 2011

Many of you may of heard about VOC’s but are unaware what they are and what it all means.

VOC stands for Volatile Organic Compound, what that you may ask, VOC’s are solvents within solvent-based paints such as gloss, undercoat and varnishes. These solvents evaporate into the atmosphere as the paint dries. You can tell how high the VOC’s are in a tin of paint normally by the distinctive smell you get off from them, gloss has a high VOC content where as emulsion has a low VOC content.
If you look at the side of the paint tin it will have a symbol and also some writing about the VOC content in the tin.
VOC’s contribute to environmental air pollution and in turn damage the ozone layer.

In the past year there has been a lot of news in the press about paint being ‘VOC Compliant’. From the 1st of January 2011 the sale of non-compliant products will be forbidden.

So can I still buy and use non-compliant paint

As from January 2011 you are unable to buy non-compliant paints, as it is now illegal to sell them. If you have older paint, say in the garage or shed, you are still allowed to use them. It maybe worth thinking about if you will need more paint than what you already have as the new VOC compliant paint may differ slightly to the older paints you have.

Search online for more information about VOC’s and the current law.

Useful links

Some related links:

• Dulux
• Crown Paints
• ICI Paints
• Wikipedia – Volatile_organic_compound
• British Coatings Federation