Painting Disaster Help

Vas_Guy

Hi,

I placed an undiluted layer of white emulsion paint on a newly plaster wall last week, on Saturday I went to put the first coat of soft sheen and the brush strokes from the emulsion are visable through the first coat and in other places I put the emulsion on too thick.

Should I sand down the areas that the emulsion is too thick, if so what type of sand paper should i use?

Should I give it a 2nd coat of watered down emulsion?

Help please

garyh3

hi vas_guy

not an expert but I would sand down with fine sandpaper over the thick areas.. If you go do down to the plaster I would use a roller rather than a brush which will give a much smoother finish. Again I would just light sand (using fine sandpaper) and then put on you finish coat.

regards

Garyh3

Wertz

Ouch. The first coat on a wall is probably the most important for this very reason.
Probably got a lot of "orange peel" texture from the roller too....this and the brushstrokes happen when the dry plaster sucks the moisture out of the paint too quickly as you apply it, which is why the first coat should always be thinned.

Get a metre of sandpaper of grit p120-p240, a pole sander and pole and a dustmask and sand the matt back to smoothness. Don't dig into the wall, just light and firm letting the paper do the work.
Don't thin your soft sheen, just be sure to spread the paint out well and apply 2 coats. When rolling up to the "cutting-in" around switches and doorframes etc, come as close as you can to the brushing and it's also bets to ensure edges are wet...if you're doing this on your own try taking the room(s) on a wall at a time, rather than doing all your brushing firs and then all the rolling...it stops build ups and uneveness in the lustre of the paint film.