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Some require primers and/or undercoats to provide a base suitable for painting. Frankly, these are best avoided as they generally look horrible - if surfaces are really bad, it is best to get them skimmed.īefore painting any surface, it should be free from dirt, grease, rust, dust and loose flakes of old paint. "Coarse" and "ripple" finishes are applied with a roller others have to be applied using a wide filling knife. These days most people want to get rid of any textured coatings, but believe it or not they are still being sold - not only as a decorative feature (mainly for ceilings) but as a cover-up solution for tatty surfaces. For plasterboard walls with extensive damage it is better ask a builder and a plasterer to replace the plasterboard, which may be expensive but worth it. Replastering requires two coats: a basic, coarser plaster followed by a smooth, thinner skim coat. Get a professional plasterer who knows about these things to take off the old as well as apply the new. You could save money by taking off the old plaster yourself but, frankly, this is messy, hard work and you could end up taking off more than you should - thus making the job more complicated and expensive. Despite the chat room complaints, a plasterer's fee normally represents good value for money, even when skimming.įor walls with big holes, large cracks and lots of loose plaster, it is often necessary to get the wall, ceiling or whole room replastered. ![]() ![]() This is a job for a professional plasterer who will use all their experience to do the job far more quickly and more perfectly than you could ever hope to (unless you fancy enrolling in a plastering course yourself ). Prior to skimming, a coat of a PVA (polyvinyl acetate) "bonding" is applied to stabilise the surface to provide something for the plaster to stick to. Skimming involves putting a thin coat of plaster on top of the existing plaster and is the best way to achieve a smooth finish on walls that are generally a bit battered or have large areas of damage or uneven surface, which would be difficult to finish well using a filler. Not all are popular on the DIY chat boards, though, and they're not cheap, either. Products for more severely damaged surfaces are more closely related to plaster than paint, but for those nor wanting to employ a professional plasterer, there are supposedly "easy to use" options available that are generally non-toxic, with a low-VOC content. For best results, make sure you remove as much of the loose stuff as possible first. Other base coats such as Polycell's Problem Wall Treatment are formulated to stabilise surfaces with flaky paint and loose plaster. Bear in mind the plasticky additives could affect the porosity of the wall/ceiling and create a damp problem or make an existing one worse. Odour-free, easy to use and soluble in water (making it easy to wash the roller out), they can cover in one coat, although two may work better on tricky surfaces. They must be put on with a fluffy roller, which gives a slightly textured finish that's part of the cover-up. When filling very deep holes, the filler often shrinks into the hole leaving a "dint", so you may have to fill these twice.īase coats consist of a thick paint augmented with fillers and plasticisers formulated to fill and cover hairline cracks and minor imperfections on ceilings and walls. Filler shrinks when it dries so leave it protruding beyond the wall's surface, then sand it flat when dry with fine paper. The multi-purpose powder form is cheap and ideal for sporadic small holes, but for larger areas where consistency is required the ready-mixed is more convenient. ![]() The range includes water-resistant versions for bathrooms and kitchens and flexible gap fillers for use in cracks between two surfaces where movement can occur. ![]() They are easy to use, soluble in water and available as a dry powder (to be mixed with water) or ready-mixed in a tub or tubes with shaped nozzles, for squirting a neat and even amount of filler around edges and corners. Small holes, hairline cracks and minor damage can be filled easily using a filler (Polyfilla being the most famous) which is put on with a filling knife or scraper.
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