Alternative to skimming

[BB78]

In the process of preparing to decorate & I'm finding the old paint if flaking off the exterior walls & it looks like the walls weren't sealed/mist coated when they were first plastered.
The plasterer I have skimming the ceilings reckons I should skim the walls but at £200 a day he would say that & with an £800 overspend on 1 job financially skimming the walls is not an option.
I'm planning on painting the walls in pale colours using mid sheen emulsion which is going to show up any imperfections (i.e. scraper marks). If I carefully scrape/sand the flaking paint are any of the commercial "smooth over" products worth the money? better still I've got a Crown Trade Centre locally; is there a base coat/undercoat/primer or trade product that masks minor imperfections prior to painting?

 

[Stevethetiler]

How bad are the imperfections? are they more than 1mm or so?....ive found that using some wet and dry blocks to sand out imperfections works wonders....can give you a nice surface to paint.....if it hasnt been sealed at all, give it a lick of obliterating emulsion or pva mixed down to 1 part pva to 5 parts water. that shoudl seal it ans stop you spending a fortune on paint.

 

[JohnD]

PVA is not a good idea if you are going to paint the wall.

Correct way to seal the plaster is to give a mist coat (or two) of matt emulsion thinned with water per the instructions on the tin. I usually use white as it is cheaper than colours and will level out the absorbency and the base colour of the wall, preventing patches or filler showing through, before you apply your decorative coats.

 

[kjacko]

Easy fill with a squeegee works ok. I work with decorators who will do complete walls with this rather than skim. Its an arguable point to be fair, but they do make it look good.
Easyfill is good for smaller areas. Once dried sand down and repaint.

 

[Stevethetiler]

I suppose, upon reflection watered down PVA is prob not the ideal thing to use...obviously i use it alot to seal plaster but then im tiling the wall!

That easy fill (gyproc) stuff is great ive heard and a bag of it goes miles if your using it to cover minor blemishes. (available from b & q)

 

[BB78]

I'm just covering raw plug holes that have been filled & sanded back and scraper marks where the old paint is peeling and needs taking off before repainting. Nothing major but I want the finished result to look good & as I've chosen light colours flaws will show through.

I've bought Macpherson's version of Covermatt & will dilute by 20% to mist coat the walls that have been skimmed. Should I use 1 or 2 coats of this over the other walls as a base coat perhaps?

 

[lesleychu]

So is this Easyfill product really easy to use. I have taken paper off an old pretty messy wall - lots of holes and polyfilla/distemper lines. Was thinking of just sanding but dont think it will cover blemishes. Anyway. how easy is it to use?

 

[kjacko]

easyfill is 'easy', pardon the pun, but seriously, once you've mixed it to the right consistency, which again is easy, its so simple to apply.
If you use a proper float for it you get better results. Its really good for flattening out uneven bits as well becasue feathering it in is also easy.
Then you just rub it down after.

Easy! (sorry )