painting bare walls

Discussion in 'Painters' Talk' started by iamcatboy, May 24, 2007.

  1. iamcatboy

    iamcatboy New Member

    Hi. I have stripped the walls in my house down to the plaster and want to paint them. About 50% of the wall is smooth but the rest is rough like fine sand paper. how do i smooth out the walls so i can paint them. Do i use an electric smoother / sander or do i have to put paper back up and paint over it (which i really dont want to do. Cheers!!
     
  2. jjay66

    jjay66 New Member

    Much quicker to line the poorer walls than face fill them with filler and rub down. It's a very dusty affair and you are bound to miss areas which will become apparent as you start to paint.
    Use a 1000 grade lining paper. It's easy after a while- just follow the label instructions re mixing paste and allowing paper to soak. Dont forget to size the wall first so you can slide the paper into position. Use an artexing tool or similar (30cm rectangular plastic spatula with a wooden handle) to smooth the paper on and remove air bubbles. Trim the paper with a sharp snap off blade using the straight edge of the spatula as a guide. Hang the first few drops in an inconspicuous area until you hone your technique.
    Good luck.
     
  3. NoOneSpecial

    NoOneSpecial New Member

    As I hate wallpaper.......

    Sand it.

    Get yourself a decent sander, one which can be connected to a vaccum otherwise you will have a dust storm on your hands.

    Get the worst of the roughness off, old plaster is soft so be careful and don't use a coarse paper.

    Mist coat it and then you will be able to see any imperfections that need filling.

    Before starting wait for all the replies about lining paper........!
     
  4. Welsh Decorator 42

    Welsh Decorator 42 New Member

    I would agree with 66', far better off with a good grade of lining paper, and I dont agree with No one's post about sanding it, the potential for going through is reasionable and then you are in to much more work, re skiming ect, given that they "hate" wallpaper, they must like a serious amount of hard labour, and shed loads of time on there hands to go about it in that manor, to try and sand an area such as you describe would be a soul destrying task!
    Get some 100 or even 1400 grade lining, hang it, paint it, job done!.
     
  5. jcts

    jcts Active Member

    give the walls a good rub down first though because it might show up under the paper. also any other prep such as filling etc will need to be done before you line so, if it looks ok with a coat of paint over the bad bits then you wont have to line. however if it is still visible you will have to line my friend
     
  6. Telmay

    Telmay New Member

    Before starting wait for all the replies about lining paper........! This is about the only thing you said that is worth reading!

    Trying to sand down and fill and of course wash off 100% all old paste is a long job and not allways worthwhile. Give the walls a quick run over with a hand sander and then identify areas that need making good/rubbing down and complete that task first, then size your walls and hang lining paper, depending on the state of walls you can go for 1000 or 1400 grade lining.
    Once the paper is on it will also give you a uniformed surface to paint over the walls, sometimes the areas wher you have sanded may flash through unless you have apllied a good few coats of paint.
    Unless your going to re-skim this would be the way forward.
     
  7. Burlington Bertie

    Burlington Bertie New Member

    Hi. I have stripped the walls in my house down to the
    plaster and want to paint them. About 50% of the wall
    is smooth but the rest is rough like fine sand paper.
    how do i smooth out the walls so i can paint them. Do
    i use an electric smoother / sander or do i have to
    put paper back up and paint over it (which i really
    dont want to do. Cheers!!

    Why don't you want to line it? If it's done properly it will look much better than painted over the plaster. You would not even know it's been lined.

    As for the comments about sanding all the walls, try using a belt sander for 1 minute - you will soon forget this idea :)
     

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