Painting freshly plastered walls

tom1ie · 02-03-2023 6:52am #1

Hi all,

I'm getting a wall that I have just put fresh plasterboard on, plastered today.

How long would it be before I can paint it and what steps should I take for painting, ie do I seal the plaster first after it’s dry with a mix of PVA bond and then paint over that PVA- when it’s dry- with watered down emulsion, then paint two coats of the final colour- or is that overkill or not enough??

10-10-20 · 02-03-2023 8:47am

Wait for about 6 weeks so that it's fully dry - it will peel otherwise - and then coat with a primer of watered-down paint at a ratio of 20% water, is how I did it on mine after I plastered.

celticbhoy27 · 02-03-2023 6:48pm

Noob question but does plasterboard need to be plastered ~i.e can you just tape and skim the joints and paint the rest directly?

10-10-20 · 02-03-2023 8:35pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120306741#Comment_120306741

Yea, if you're into the hillbilly look. ;)

I doesn't NEED to be done, but it's a cleaner and more robust finish with plaster on the plasterboard.

tom1ie · 03-03-2023 8:05am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120306741#Comment_120306741

I was considering doing this- but tbh by the time I would have paid for the tape and jointing compound and spent hours upon hours trying to get it right- and then the missus telling me we need to get a plasterer to fix it- just not worth it.

FrancieBrady · 03-03-2023 8:12am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120306741#Comment_120306741

Plasterboard has to be put on with a fair degree of skill and finesse to do this. Plasterboard for this method has a small indent along the edge too, and I a have seen this turned the wrong way on jobs.

If the board is put up badly it will be a bad job whatever you do and even if done right you can sometimes still see the band of jointing compound through the paint.

Supercell · 03-03-2023 8:30am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120308181#Comment_120308181

I second that, I had a fella put up some plasterboard to partition an area for me and he did the taping and skimming, I was in awe, he made it look easy and you really couldnt tell the whole lot wasnt skimmed. He told me it takes a good bit of practice and i've no doubt he was right given my own attempts at patching holes the kids have kindly put in our walls here!

GreeBo · 06-03-2023 10:10am

I've done it a few times and to be honest its fine unless you are inspecting it with a lamp.

The crucial thing really is the type of paint, avoid anything with any sort of gloss finish as it will show up every imperfection, even if its fully skimmed.

awec · 06-03-2023 9:40pm

I'd be surprised if any new build houses that aren't self build are being skimmed these days.

tom1ie · 07-03-2023 12:10pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120322920#Comment_120322920

Really? So just tape and joint?

I’d prefer plaster on my walls I think. Seems a more substantial job- rightly or wrongly.

awec · 07-03-2023 12:19pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120324640#Comment_120324640

Yes, I'd say it's the norm now for time and money reasons.

If it's done right then you won't be able to tell the difference visually unless you really look hard. Obviously skimming is better, but not skimming is not going to look bad.

If it's not done right it'll look crap.

My own house is taped and jointed, overall it looks perfect but there are a few spots where I can see the tape hasn't been smoothed in perfectly, generally where the wall meets the ceiling. But you have to look for it.

GreeBo · 07-03-2023 2:56pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120324680#Comment_120324680

And thats why they invented coving! :)

kirk. · 12-03-2023 1:23pm

They were taping and jointing back 30 years ago in Dublin far as I remember

Saladin Ane · 23-03-2023 1:04am

You'll know when it's all dried out by the colour. After that, paint on a watered down first coat before final coat. Stay away from a PVA mixrure as if the paint gets snagged there is the danger of it pulling away.

grimeire · 23-03-2023 8:12pm

I use to see whole apartment blocks tape and jointed and it was always a better finished than skimming it. One guy would nearly get a small apartment done in 1 day. it was insane.

It a lot faster and cheaper. A rough estimate of skim is 1 bag per 1.2 x 2.4 plasterboard. It's about €10 per bag. Where as a bag of joint filler and a bucket of tape and joining compound would set you back about 40 and probably do 50 plasterboards. On top of that your saving for the cost of a plaster which at the moment is about €10 per m2 which is about €25-30 per plaster board. Overall it's about 1/6-1/10 of the price of skimming.

There are disadvantages to it though in that it's not as strong/hard wearing as skim so it marks and dents easier. Also if you use metal plugs/mushrooms to fix slabs to walls then you can usually see discoloration around them unless they use a primer/sealant on the mushrooms.

gabbo is coming · 03-08-2023 11:38am

Hi, cost to slab and skim an 8m x 3m garden room, incl vaulted ceiling (which is a bit tricky with joists) ; 2500. Labour only. Is that mad?

GreeBo · 03-08-2023 4:04pm

The vaulted ceiling is whats going to kill you there, lots of measuring and cutting.

Painting freshly plastered walls

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