Decorating woes - paint cracking!

[Johnny Vodka]

Room plastered a few months ago, plenty of time for plaster to dry, wall "sealed" with watered down wallpaper paste, first coat of matt paint applied and hairline cracks appearing. Googling so far suggests applying a product called Zinsser Peel Stop. Any thoughts? Thanks in advance.

 

[danski]

Never heard of using wallpaper paste. Always known 50/50 water/emulsion to seal plaster- ‘mist coat’. Then as many coats of emulsion to get the desired finish.

Reading quickly, it sounds like the plaster has sucked all the moisture out of the paste which has caused it to crack.

Not t sure how to rectify

Eta...Zinsser make good products.

 

[Johnny Vodka]

So do you think I could just mist coat over the top of that and take it from there?

 

[Epona]

Zinsser is excellent stuff and what the professionals use - pricey though, but may end up saving you money in wasted paint if you have a problem surface.

 

[izz]

Is it cracked all over Johnny Vodka ?

E2a sorry I couldn't see it properly. Hmmmmm. A mist coat couldn't make it worse, you could try a small section. Sorry to be so little help.

 

[Saunders]

What a bummer. Is it all the walls or just in small area? Things I would try; sanding it back to plaster in a small area, and re mist coating with watered down paint followed by coat of emulsion; speaking to the plasterer about what’s happened and see if they have any suggestions; I guess it’s also with trying mist coat on the cracks. I’ve used Zinsser products and they are very good
I am not a decorator

 

[Epona]

Aye, you'll want to sand it so there's no flakes of paint and you've got an even surface, before doing anything else no matter what else you do (and I do recommend Zinsser after that, but if you have plenty of paint there's no harm other than if it goes wrong a bit of time wasted in trying a mist coat instead - a test area first is a sound suggestion).

 

[Callie]

Not heard of the wallpaper paste coat either? Dilute PVA onto bare brick but no WP paste! I wonder if water based paint onto that is what is causing it?

 

[Johnny Vodka]

Hopefully on the way to getting it fixed.

On sanding that patch down, it actually sands back to smooth paint - so maybe the paint (rollered on) has been applied too thickly?

That particular wall is the worst for cracking. (I tried a test patch on another wall.) When I prepped it with wallpaper paste, the mixture was a bit runnier than the solution used on other walls, so maybe it didn't seal properly.

I've now put a mist coat all over. Will see what that looks like when it dries. Any cracks showing through, I will probably just sand till the paint is smooth and then apply another proper coat.

The ceiling was painted yesterday with two coats of matt on plaster sealed with wallpaper paste and it looks fine.

 

[Saunders]

Hope you’ve solved the problem. I’m curious about why you used wallpaper paste to seal the new plaster, particularly if you intended to paint it. As I understand it, the point of a mist coat is to prime it for bonding, rather than to seal it. Again, not a decorator

 

[campanula]

You don't really even need to seal the skim coat (although PVC/Unibond is traditional) - just apply a diluted first coat of emulsion. I think the wallpaper paste almost certainly the cause of this.

 

[A380]

For a 'take off and nuke the entire site from orbit' solution. Lining paper. It's the only way to be sure.

 

[Johnny Vodka]

Hope you’ve solved the problem. I’m curious about why you used wallpaper paste to seal the new plaster, particularly if you intended to paint it. As I understand it, the point of a mist coat is to prime it for bonding, rather than to seal it. Again, not a decorator

My mum, who is helping me (i.e. doing most of the work) recommended the wallpaper paste. Google it - it is something people do, though mist coat is much more common. As I said, looks like we sorted the patches from the other day, though more appeared on a new patch painted yesterday. Going to have to sort that myself!

 

[Saunders]

Go your mum, I have been that woman. I had a quick look yesterday and then just now and I wonder if the instructions for priming the new plaster are different depending on whether you are planning to paint or paper the walls. Anyway, glad you’ve sorted those problem patches out.

 

[Johnny Vodka]

Go your mum, I have been that woman. I had a quick look yesterday and then just now and I wonder if the instructions for priming the new plaster are different depending on whether you are planning to paint or paper the walls. Anyway, glad you’ve sorted those problem patches out.

There are definitely examples of people priming with wallpaper paste for painting if you google. My mum loves decorating/artsy stuff and desperately wants to get involved/come up with ideas. I got a bit of a lesson in decorating but she was pushing me on to learning stencilling skills. Slight stencilling disaster today, eventually 90% fixed, but that's a whole other story... I might post a pic tomorrow!

 

[circleline]

Are products like this worth time and money, or not? To cover uneven, patchy walls and ceiling, as a cover-all base-coat? Plaster skim not really an option and wondering if I could get away with this. Would be grateful for anyone's advice/opinion.

Polycell 3 in 1 Basecoat

Polycell BaseCoat is a unique undercoat for walls that completely covers all common wall imperfections in one coat. Contains Polyfilla technology

www.polycell.co.uk

 

[platinumsage]

IME it'll be a bit better than just putting emulsion on, but don't expect perfect results as it's not a substitute for re-plastering.