Re: Painting New Plaster. Which Paint To Use?

In article <(E-Mail Removed) >,
Ed <ex@directory> writes:
> Just had my old kitchen walls skimmed with new plaster about 10 days
> ago. They look well dried out , so now I want to paint them before the
> kitchen furniture fitters come in shortly.
>
> I am thinking of going with a 50:50 mist coat of regular matt emulsion
> paint/water followed by a couple of coats of undiluted matt emulsion.
>
> Is an emulsion , like Wickes Trade just as good as Duluxe Trade
> Supermatt. Is there any significant differences between these when
> applied to new plaster? Or should I use some specialist paint, like a
> new plaster primer, to begin with?

Diluted emulsion is fine. The dilution is to help carry the paint
binder into the plaster surface, so the paint doesn't later peel off.
The more polished the plaster finish, the more diluted you need.
50% water is very diluted -- shouldn't need any more than that, and
if the plaster is rough, you can go down to 10% diluted. May vary
by paint brands, so check any guidance on the tin.

Although you want to start with matt emulsion, it probably isn't the
best finish for a kitchen or bathroom, where a more water resistant
wipe-clean finish is generally preferred. You need to hold off on
more water resistant finishes until you're sure the wall is dry, but
a skim coat 10 days ago in the summer should be dry by now.

Don't use PVA under paint. This seems to be a myth which started on
one of the TV makeover programmes. It's such a disaster for some paints
that they've started warning against its use on the tin -- you find
either that some paints just won't wet the PVAed surface, or that it
easily peels off afterwards (sometimes as you apply the next coat).

--
Andrew Gabriel
[email address is not usable -- followup in the newsgroup]