Help with blistering emulsion over easy-fill

Discussion in 'Painters' Talk' started by Bodgitandlegit, Nov 30, 2010.

  1. Been putting the final coat of vinyl silk on the walls of my mate's daughter's bungalow, where he had the plasterer spread easy-fill. The mist coat stayed on ok and the first full coat ok. Now the final coat is blistering and coming away from the easy-fill, leaving small holes, but only in small random areas. Total mystery to us. We've not used this easy-fill before and going by the results, probably never again. Any suggestions as to what has gone wrong and how we can treat it to prevent further blistering? The easy-fill is made by British Gypsum for use as a drywall filler. The plasterer assured us that it was better and cheaper than a plaster skim, not so sure now. Thanks for any help, Les
     
  2. oitchy

    oitchy New Member

    Oh dear, and he's a "plasterer" is he? Easyfill is a specialist product for use in dry lining i.e. plasterboard, and it's about 4x the price of multifinish - he's inept at best etc etc

    Take it all off with scrapers and sponges (you'll have an arm like Popeye by the end of it), remove the "eejit" from your Christmas card list, and then get three quotes from plasterers whose work you are able to inspect. Do it once, do it right...

    Alternatively, of course, if you can bear having Stan & Olly back, make him/them remove it
     
  3. Thanks oitchy

    not really what I wanted to hear but hey ho such is life. I shall chalk this one up to experience.Cheers Les
     
  4. StinkNugget

    StinkNugget Member

    I believe this may be contamination causing the subsequent coats to blister & peel.  Easifill produces very fine dust.  After rubbing down Easifill I dust off the walls then wash down with clean water before painting which seems to do the trick.  Hope that helps for next time :)
     
  5. Astramax

    Astramax Super Member

    I suspect that maybe the wall was previously wallpapered and the plasterer has failed to wash the wall to remove any wallpaper adhesive residue, what has happened is the water in the emulsion has reactivated the residue paste causing the failure to the easy fill. Nothing wrong with easy fill. You will need to sandpaper the affected walls and paint over them with an oil based primer sealer, this will not react with the water based paste, When dry, fill as required and sand smooth, patch prime and then apply the emulsion, job done. 
     
  6. Rueben Derrick

    Rueben Derrick New Member

    I'm also seeing this issue and while I'm seeing it every time (including a second coat) PVA did not work it made it worse. I think in most of my cases I have wallpaper behind what I'm trying to patch. Would ZINSSER B-I-N SHELLAC-BASED PRIMER SEALER be the correct approach because when I rang British Gypsum they told me to use Thistle Bondit but that's £50 and my areas is small?

    Am I mixing it wrong, I don't have lumps, these are definitely bubble that I can remove then by going over it time and time again but this is very annoying and slow.
     

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  7. Astramax

    Astramax Super Member

    Why did you use PVA as that's a big No No..........look towards Zinsser GARDZ or as mentioned an oil based primer sealer, the Brewers Albany Primer Sealer is not expensive and will do the job.
     
    Rueben Derrick likes this.
  8. Wayners

    Wayners Screwfix Select

    Stop. Muppets about... Gee... Old thread. Start new thread please if genuine post. Don't trust old threads being dug up as troll tactic
     
  9. Astramax

    Astramax Super Member

    The new post was posted by a member who has been on the forum since 2013 Wayners......................keep off the shandys! ;)
     
  10. Wayners

    Wayners Screwfix Select

    Forums are easy to hack and accounts with naff passwords. Soon as I see a 5+ year old post added too I start twitching with a warning Will Robinson.
     
  11. ajohn

    ajohn Screwfix Select

    I've had a similar problem to the OP with plaster. Too thin so water based soaks in and loosens the pva behind. All sorts can happen latter on when it's painted as well
    EasyFil would be worse as it's not completely waterproof.

    John
    -
     
    Rueben Derrick likes this.
  12. Wayners

    Wayners Screwfix Select

    I use acrylic primer sealers from screwfix with added water at about 20%. Seals fine. The no Nonsense stuff is made in France and good stuff vs the other No Nonsense paints which are made by Crown. Its the sealing properties I like with acrylic primers. Beeline sealer which is a pva emulsion is also good, and not the same as plastering pva which can't be painted over. Mist coating with contract emulsion dose not seal so problems can happen over fillers I have found. Not used contract to mist for years. Some say to use gardz which is styrene based but I don't find the need but it is a brilliant sealer.
     
    Rueben Derrick likes this.
  13. Rueben Derrick

    Rueben Derrick New Member

    Well if I started a new post someone would have told me off for not doing my own research on the forums. No trolling or hacking going on here. However, your welcome to PM me with your credit card details and pin number :)
     
    Wayners likes this.
  14. Rueben Derrick

    Rueben Derrick New Member

    I want to use a white waterbased emulsion on top, though it wise for the areas I might miss with easyfill I could have an issue if the oil-based sealer had direct contact with the emulsion?
     
  15. Astramax

    Astramax Super Member

    Have faith it will be fine, used the technique many times to bind and seal over troublesome walls.
     
    chillimonster and Rueben Derrick like this.
  16. Wayners

    Wayners Screwfix Select

    Oil based primers work fine just need to fully cure which can take days. I think you' would probably like gardz the best and coat the wall rather than just the filler. If using acrylic primer you can spot prime but because its white just coat the lot as a first coat.
     
  17. Astramax

    Astramax Super Member

    Never had to wait any longer than 24 hours.
     
  18. DIYDave.

    DIYDave. Screwfix Select

    I’ve used Gardz a few times now and had good results with it

    Used first time after stripping off wallpaper to seal the paste residue to the wall

    Just takes so long to wash the paste off with gallons of hot water and sugar soap. Think you’ve got all the paste off then odd patches of emulsion bubble up when a bit of paste you’ve missed reacts with the water in paint

    Also had problems with filler swelling up after going over with a mist coat. Had this with both Easifill and Toupret

    Filled cracks, sanded dead flat, hit with mist coat and filler swells and becomes raised against wall surface

    Did ask about this on the forum some time ago but but no one else was aware of this problem

    Happened a few times to me, can’t see what I’m doing wrong, seems worse with cracks whereas larger patches seem ok

    Last room I decorated, went over filler patches with Gardz first and then mist coated the walls, no problems

    Gardz does leave the wall a little bit slippery for 1st coat of emulsion but does a great job and no problems covering over with water based paints/emulsion
     
  19. ajohn

    ajohn Screwfix Select

    Where I have used easifil on cracks I rake it out a bit so a full depth wedge goes in. Seems to have worked.

    If there is any depth and size to easifill there can be noticeable shrinkage so often found that it needs doing again to top up the shrinkage with a touch to much. When the excess is then sanded off it can show the need for more filling. It can also take a few days to dry out completely even if mixed thick.

    Where I have had problems with plaster it's always been under 1mm thick done over pva. Fractures and lifts if really thin, fraction of a mm, when the mist coat goes on and may do the same when the emulsion goes on later. That can be were the thicker stuff can act up. One coat wonder plasterers and not bothering to work out how much plaster they need to use. There seems to be loads of them about and one coat is unlikely to work out on even slightly wavy walls.

    LOL Forgot to add that all plasterers that work correctly and produce good robust results just make youtube videos.

    John
    -
     
    Rueben Derrick likes this.
  20. Wayners

    Wayners Screwfix Select

    @DIYDave. 80g mesh sand paste residue then gardz after paper removed. That's how I do it
     

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