Painting new plaster is an easy task once you know the basics. It isn’t difficult to paint a new wall, but there are a few extra steps involved that make painting a newly plastered wall different from regular walls.
1. Drying time
The plaster has to be allowed a chance to dry completely before you apply the paint. Due to its permeable properties it soaks up moisture quickly and will have an uneven finish if not dried out enough first. As a rule of thumb, plaster takes 4 weeks or more for this process to complete but it can be sped up with heaters or opening windows when possible! If applying paint when the plaster is still wet, your new paint job is likely going to crack and peel off – make sure they’re completely dried before applying any emulsion!
2. Remove imperfections
The key to painting new plaster and getting a good finish is having the right preparation. If you want your plaster job to come out perfectly, sand off any imperfections with some light pressure using a minimum 120 grit paper and pay close attention where walls or ceilings meet. Be careful not to damage the surface, you just want to remove any lumps, bumps or drips.
3. Mixing up you mist coat
Mist coats can be made by mixing three parts emulsion paint to one part water. This mixture will act as a primer coat and is easily applied with a roller although it will be runny and can drip everywhere so you have to take extra care.
4. Getting you mist coat on the wall
Once you’ve properly prepped the area, it’s time to apply your mist coat. The watered down emulsion will soak into the fresh plaster and seal the porous surface. This guarantees good adhesion of your choice of top coat and vastly reduces any long term issues of flaking or peeling. Conveniently this light uniform colour will show up any floors in the plaster so this is a good point to fill and sand them before adding your colour.
5. Apply your topcoat and admire your work
After all that hard work doing your prep your wall is ready for your chosen colour of topcoat. Normally two coats of top coat would be advisable to get the coverage you need for a high quality finish. That’s it, painting new plaster really is that easy.
When painting new plaster I would recommend Dulux Supermatt as an ideal Emulsion to mix up as a mist coat, it’s high quality and relatively inexpensive. It can be bought from Screwfix here.
Don’t fancy doing it yourself? I can paint any newly plastered walls with my Airless Spraying service. It’s the best way to guarantee a flawless finish on your newly plastered walls.