How long to wait to paint new exterior plaster finish

Kashkai

As the title says, how long should I wait until I can paint the newly rendered plaster finish on my house. Obviously, I'll wait until May or so but is this sufficient time for it to thoroughly dry out as I don't want to have to redo it.

Also, would I have to seal the new plaster work to prevent the paint soaking into it, similar to polybonding interior plaster work?

tacklemore

To the best of my knowledge, I think 1 year is the waiting time. Thats what I was told by my builder anyway. As far as I know, you can paint straight on it, and it should be ok.
Good luck in your new castle!!

squire1

I've heard 12 months too so I decided to leave it until during this spring/summer (rendered last February).

I've been thinking about it recently and was going to ask if anyone could recommend a good quality/long lasting brand of paint to use. Application method? No. of coats? Preperation required? etc.

I presume you will find this info useful too Dave so hopefully I'm not hijacking your thread.

mad m

Well I have never gone wrong with Dulux weathershield. There should be no need for a primer before hand if render is in good condition.But this depends on whether the render has dirt/bird crap etc,obviously wash it off before painting.Two coats should be fine but there is no harm on an extra one for good measure. If you go the spraying route it will use alot more paint plus if your not experienced it can be messy. You have to cover everything before you start spraying and take in wind conditions as spray will carry for hundreds of yards.

I'd recommed using a good quality sleeve plus a good roller poll(dont want a cheap one breaking on you after the first few dips). You also have to take into account covering up your ground below before painting.Either use a roll of felt(some might have one laying in a shed after building work) you can customise/cut the felt to whatever your needs or get some good sheets.

davelerave

i'm a sparkie so i don't know much about paint but i used to hear that it should be left for a while but now i see all the painters doing it straight away while the plasterers scaffolding is still up.i asked a painter there a couple of weeks ago and he said it's best done straight away cos it soaks up the paint
but i don't know which is right unfortunately

Wertz

"Best done straight away" lol....aye so he can get paid and avoid having the bother of setting up his own scaffold reach.

Rendered concrete should be left for about 6-8 months depending on what time of the year it was done....leave it any longer and a fine film of algal growth will form (especially on north facing walls) and hinder the adherance of the finish. If you do it too soon, the concrete cures underneath the dried paint and leads to hairline cracks in the paint film. In some instaces, the uncured render can bleed through the paint and spoil the colour.

Like Mad m, I like dulux weathershield too....used an acrylic exterior latex by fleetwood recently too and that was some good stuff....but in terms of logevity I've only ever seen the results of the dulux after a few years and it seemed to stand the test of time. That said, most of the brands carry a 5 yr promise these days.

Coats depends on colour....white is a bitch and unless you know how to put on heavy (but even) coats, it's gonna take 3. Creams have great hiding power, yellows less so (no idea why), light blues/greens/pinks you should be alright with two....anything in dark colours that are not made with white base can be tricky to get to cover; some of the deep yellows/ornages and reds are recommended to have a coat of heavily tinted white applied as a base.

Exterior walls are a pain, try to work ahead of the sun; painiting a wall in direct sunlight is blinding. Also keep an eye on the clouds...nothing worse than your lovely new colour all over the driveway. Xeterior latex is touch dry in about 20 minutes but it isn't rainproof for about 2-3 hours.
Do not attempt to paint outside if it's below 6 degrees; paint can outright refuse to cure and wash off at the first sign of rain.

Oh and keep things covered; exterior is a tough product to remove once it dries....I've seen many a neighbours car get a speckling over the years