Hello, my first time in this forum so go easy on me please... I've made a bit of a pig's ear of the prep work on my toilet walls and made one mistake after another (at least it’s the smallest room in the house). Walls were painted in blue emulsion, I wanted to lighten them up so have gone for off-white. Rough sequence of events: - cleaned walls, sanded lightly, filled cracks & rough areas where plastering was a bit shoddy - quite extensively - with ready mixed fine surface filler. Went over these with an old tin of plaster sealer/primer (I think, but it may have been an old tin of undercoat – that was many weeks ago…) - painted (with a 4" roller) using an old tin of Craig & Rose 1829 chalky white emulsion - it smelled of something between vomit and cat's urine. I used 3 coats, filling & rubbing down a bit between coats - the finish wasn't too bad but not great, and the wife didn't like the colour (or the smell), so - Filled gaps, sanded again, then went over it with a Dulux Once (yeah, I know a pro never would..), and I had a few patchy areas mainly where I hadn’t kept a wet edge, but also a lot of small indentations - filled gaps around door, windows & skirting with a good quality waterproof silicone sealant (!) - realised silicone sealant was a pretty bad idea – dug it out & re-filled with Geocel Painter's Mate - didn’t like the Dulux Once colour, so filled/sanded & repainted with a different Dulux Once. I used a good quality 9” roller and went as quick as I could, but I still ended up with a poor finish. I had trouble keeping a wet age, maybe partly because of the filling, maybe the bad paint, maybe poor application (or all of these), but mainly I guess because I didn’t prime or undercoat properly. Plus the pock marks were worse than before I’ve now sanded down extensively again (120/180 grit, with half a dustpan full the last time), but I still have lots of small pock-marks (see photo – that’s about 2" x 1" - difficult to see clearly, but hopefully you get the idea), and I guess a very porous surface. I never used a mist coat or any diluted coat, but did I paint over some of the plaster/filler patches early on. Tbh, the walls don’t actually look that bad after the sanding down, but I don’t think it’s worth trying to sand any more. If I’d taken a step back and read up a bit more earlier on I might have saved a lot of hassle, but I am where I am… Any suggestions on what I need to do to conceal the pock marks to a reasonable degree and ensure the next top coat (Wickes Vinyl Matt) doesn’t sink into the walls within seconds? Can I get away with just using one or two diluted coats of the Wickes before 1 or 2 final coats, or should I use Zinsser BIN/123, or …what?
Tee hee Ady, after this last sanding down, it might be a good idea to seal and prime your walls to make them 'even', so that there's no areas of greater absorbency or porousnessness (that's a real word *) than others, and your hopefully-final coats of paint go on smoothly and evenly. At least two good products to chose from - Zinsser Gardz or Everbuild 406 (I think I'd go Gardz as it's more geared towards this). So sand down, wipe clean, brush (wide) or roller on the sealer. Allow to dry. Come back on here and give me a big kiss . If the wall looks rough after the priming, then perhaps consider a creamy fine surface filler and a large plastic trowel - I think Polyfilla did a product like this, didn't they? I wouldn't be looking to actually 'skim' coat the walls, just scrape the surface so's these little pimples are filled. Allow to dry, and then give it all a light final sanding - 600 grit or similar. (* no it isn't)
That's actually quite funny... I had a lodger about 25 years ago and he artexed his bedroom on his first night to cure a few 'imperfections'. Neither the before or after are quite as bad this time... Maybe the photo isn't that clear, but it's lots of small indentations rather than raised ridges. I think I just need something that smoothes over what I've got, and creates a half decent base for the next coats...
Devil's Advocate, thanks for the advice - much appreciated. I'll try the Gardz out this weekend & let you know how I get on. Might not be able to give you a big kiss, but happy to make a donation to a charity of your choice if this works out...
Ooh - that's a good point. An alternative is to line the walls with and insulating 'paper' which is around 3mm thick and will add very useful insulation (help reduce condensation...) as well as provide a smooth finish ready for painting. It's been mentioned on here a few times - what the 'ell is it called? Thermorock or summat?
'Wallrock'. http://www.wallpaperdirect.com/prod...e-roll/68664?gclid=COmAnsbP7s0CFbEW0wodv0kMWQ I think that link is to a thin one, and you can get thicker for better insulation values if you need.
The insulating paper is WallRock Thermal liner which I believe has to be lined over with WallRock Fibre Liner, you can use Fibre Liner on its own though. Not really a product to use unless the walls are really crazed up.