# Painting rough Plaster



## Nestor_Kelebay (Jun 17, 2008)

You're scared you won't be able to contend with a rough surface on a wall. You just need to know some tricks.

There are two ways to skim coat over a wall:

Method #1:
A. Buy a "V" notched adhesive trowel, and apply drywall joint compound (thinned with some water to make it easier to spread) with the "V" notched side of the trowel and allow to dry.

B. When dry, knock off any blobs of joint compound that are sticking out of the trowel ridges, and apply more thinned joint compound holding the trowel upside down so that you fill in the trowel ridges with more joint compound using the un-notched edge of the trowel.

Method #2:
C. Do the same as in "A" of Method #1, but then...
D. Mist the drywall joint compound with a spray bottle so the surface is wettER, and smooth down the joint compound trowel ridges so they're flat using the un-notched edge of the trowel.

In both cases you'll spread a pretty uniform coat of joint compound over the wall which you can then sand smooth, prime and paint.

And, ALWAYS, ALWAYS, ALWAYS when doing plastering or drywall work, have a bright light close to the wall you're working on to exagerate the roughness of the wall. This will give you a much better mental image of where you need to add joint compound and where you need to remove it in order to get the wall smoother. When the wall looks OK under such critical lighting, it'll look perfect under normal lighting.


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## slickshift (Aug 25, 2005)

If you have rough plaster and want it smooth, you'll need to replace it with sheetrock, or "skim coat" the whole nine yards with a thin layer of joint compound

*There is something to be said for keeping that old school rough plaster look in an older home
It's trickier to paint...well, to make it look good...it's harder to choose lines and such...and choosing what to sand, how far, etc...
You want to make it look like "it's supposed to look that way"
One of the best most rewarding jobs I've been on we kept that old stuff
Even the plaster repairs (for electrical) were plastered a little sloppy on purpose to keep the look
Some areas we had to sand a little smoother, some not, some we didn't decide until after a coat of primer, some not until after the first coat of paint
(some trim we even left broken!...with a little smoothing from fillers an caulk)
The end look was totally killer and would be difficult (if not impossible) to replicate at any price


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## robut (Aug 22, 2007)

Nestor_Kelebay said:


> You're scared you won't be able to contend with a rough surface on a wall. You just need to know some tricks.
> 
> There are two ways to skim coat over a wall:
> 
> ...


This sound like a lot of work ( But ) rewarding . I'll have to see the condition of the plaster.
I can do This. I can do this I can I can.
Deck hand


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## robut (Aug 22, 2007)

slickshift said:


> If you have rough plaster and want it smooth, you'll need to replace it with sheetrock, or "skim coat" the whole nine yards with a thin layer of joint compound
> 
> *There is something to be said for keeping that old school rough plaster look in an older home
> It's trickier to paint...well, to make it look good...it's harder to choose lines and such...and choosing what to sand, how far, etc...
> ...


 ^Thanks I must see what's under that wall paper. 
Then go from there.
Deck hand


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