Painting advice

[StuartD]

Our garage conversion has finally been completed but before I can get out to the golf course the painting has to be done.

To keep costs down I decided (more like the wife decided) that I shall do all the painting.

I have never painted walls and wood from bare before so I am looking for some advice


For plasterboard walls some websites say use a PVA first to seal but others say just use watered down emulsion to or even cheap emulsion straight out the tin. Any advice?


Also the bare wood skirting and window sill need glossed white to match rest of house. Do I need to treat knots, then prime, undercoat and finally gloss? Anybody recommend any combined primer and undercoat to try and save time, or will this provide a poorer finish?

 

[thecraw]

I'd use a lining paper on the walls.

The knots also need to be treated as they will bleed back through the paint. I like painting but hate glossing

 

[thecraw]

Gloss, yip I'd recommend an undercoat as it'll give you a better finish. I'd look at the Ronseal range of gloss paints as they don't yellow as quickly as others.

Basically what work/preparation you put in will reflect in the quality of the finish.

 

[ADB]

I would use lining paper on the plasterboard walls as well as it will protect the plaster and you will get a better finish. Take the time to properly mask skirting boards and walls before you crack the paint open - it is time well spent. I use 'Frog tape' (it's green) and have found it much better than ordinary masking tape.

 

[munro007]

You will need to tape your joints first, fill in all your screw heads, then just paint away with exterior paint, as garages can suffer from a lot of moisture. As for your wood, just use an oil based primmer first, and oil based paint there after.

 

[bobmac]

You could do a St. Andrews mural inside instead

 

[munro007]

Good idea Bob, get some of your local neds in, with there spray paint tins, and bobs your uncle.

 

[StuartD]

You will need to tape your joints first, fill in all your screw heads, then just paint away with exterior paint, as garages can suffer from a lot of moisture. As for your wood, just use an oil based primmer first, and oil based paint there after.

All taping and screws filled/ sanded all done. not sure about the moisture as the garge (internal) has been stripped back then insulated better than the rest of house as it has been all done to current standards as it was the only way building warrant could be signed off.

As for St Andrews mural. Easy I could paint a field no problem!!!

 

[Alan]

Don't line it. Plasterboard is a finished surface and the porosity of the wall will dry out the paste. Just first coat with a watered down emulsion and re-fill any bad bits with the taping and touch up. For an undercoat use an acrylic water based primer then undercoat and finish. The acrylic will save any staining from the wood knots.

 

[munro007]

Then there is no need to use pva or watered down paint. Just use box standard emulsion. Jobs a good un. The only time i water down paint, is when i am using it against fresh plaster.

 

[Alan]

I water it down first as the dryness of the plasterboard rips the fur off the roller leaving fluff on the surface but everyone to their own. My journeyman when I served my time always watered it down so I learned from there.

 

[Warbur]

I used to work as a QS for a decorating contractor so can advise to some degree:

For the walls use a vinyl matt emulsion and water down the 1st coat (mist coat) to a ratio of about 50/50. This will help seal the plasterboard but also the mist coat helps to show up any areas of fine surface filling that you'll need to do (small holes etc). Don't use general ready mixed fillers that you'd buy off the shelf from B&Q as these are a nightmare to rub down and get any sort of finish on. Either use a powder filler that you mix yourself (e.g. ICI Polycell filler) or, as I prefer, you can get a premixed filler that has the consistency of mouse and this gives a great finish with minimal rubbing down. After you've done the filling just apply two coats of vinyl matt emulsion.

Woodwork want's knotting and then priming with an acrylic (water based) wood primer. Then change to an oil based undercoat and gloss. You may get away with one undercoat and one gloss coat.

Always seal the joint between skirting/wall and architrave/wall with decorators caulk (used with a skeleton gun) as this will give a good quality joint between the two materials.

You want to buy your paint from a Dulux Decorator Centre if you can (as would be used by the trade). If it's a general use room then buy their Gliddens range (a sister company of Dulux) as it's a bit cheaper. If it's a room that'll be used by young children then consider doing the walls with Dulux Diamond Matt emulsion as this is harder wearing and is also washable.

Make sure that you use oil based undercoat/gloss as it gives a far superior finish to water based products.

Here's a link to the Dulux Decorator Centre locations: http://www.duluxdecoratorcentre.co.uk/instore/index.jsp

 

[JustOne]

I agrere with all that Warbur apart from this part

Make sure that you use oil based undercoat/gloss as it gives a far superior finish to water based products.

For personal work I find that it's much better to use an oil based undercoat and then (once the undercoat has dried properly) an acrylic gloss which will never go yellow.

Anyone using oil based gloss is just looking for repeat business

For filler a boxed one from B&Q is fine, just stay away from 'PolyFiller' as it's a bugger to rub down.

 

[Warbur]

That's a good point on the yellowing. I painted my home office just 2 years ago and am staring at slightly yellow skirtings now.

The yellowing can be really bad in rooms that see little or no daylight. I recall one job that we painted where the client couldn't let-out the offices and when we had to do the final defects work (after 12 months) the store rooms quite literally had yellow skirtings - painted white originally!

The only issue we ever had with acrylic gloss was that the paint didn't "merge" together in the same way that oil based does so there were always visible brush marks. Granted, this was 5 years ago that I worked for them so paint technology will have moved on significantly. The other plus is that you won't have the horrible smell that goes with freshly painted oil based gloss. The Dulux product is Ecosure gloss.

Just thought about paint coverage as well:

For the vinyl matt emulsion work on the basis that 1 litre of paint will cover 14m2 per coat (if you have a total of, say, 30m2 then you'll need: 30m2/14m2 x 3No coats = 7 litres)

 

[JustOne]

Oil based gloss will begin to yellow.... in 3 days! So does undercoat, however if you stick a couple of coats of acrylic gloss over it then no woriies what's happening underneath.

I did used to use a waterbased gloss called Dulux Aquatech which laid off beautifully (they've stopped making it now) but nowadays most TRADE acrylic glosses are fine.... for a DIY job just stay away from ANY paint that says Homebase/B&Q/Woolworths etc on the tin, it's crap.

 

[Warbur]

for a DIY job just stay away from ANY paint that says Homebase/B&Q/Woolworths etc on the tin, it's crap.[/QUOTE]

And don't ever use the one coat stuff they sell. That's shocking stuff - there's a reason that the trade always sticks with a traditional mist and 2 coats of emulsion :thup: