Wall painting is now a promising alternative to any other coating, be it wallpaper or tiles of various stripes. Moreover, other facing materials are also often made with the possibility of further painting, which allows you to give the interior of your apartment a unique look. However, the fundamental principles of painting have not changed over the past decades, so the correct preparation of walls for painting with your own hands must be done impeccably in order for the result to be perfect.
Considering the question of surface preparation, you should immediately clarify that a wide variety of surfaces can be painted. The following options can be conditionally divided:
Each case involves a different preparatory process. However, the most complete in terms of the stages included in the process is the preparation of walls for painting with leveling and filling. So, we will consider in detail all the necessary work, and then we will analyze what stages of work should be applied in other situations.
If a simple painting of the wall is supposed, then the greatest efforts should be directed precisely at eliminating all possible irregularities. Alternatively, you can use the following methods:
The leveled walls should be thoroughly primed and allowed to dry completely for 5-6 hours. It is better to delay the waiting time somewhat for complete drying than to start the next step on damp walls.
The surface of cement-sand plaster and drywall itself is not suitable for painting. These materials are either too porous or absorb moisture well for the paint to adhere evenly to the wall. As a result, there will be a significant change in the color chosen for painting, and all minor roughness will appear. The entire surface of such a wall should be opened with putty.
To begin with, a starting putty is selected.It contains fine sand in its composition, which allows it to be applied in a rather impressive layer of 3-4 mm without fear that it will crack.
All work is carried out using a wide spatula (60-80 cm), and a small (20-25 cm) spatula is used to spread the mortar and compare small irregularities. The putty solution is diluted in accordance with the instructions on the packaging immediately before work. Its setting time is 45 minutes. The same applies to ready-to-use mixtures, which are also opened immediately before the putty.
For painting, it is best to putty with reinforcement. A nylon mesh with a cell of 2 mm is used for this. A layer of filler with a thickness of about 2 mm is applied to the wall in the form of a strip. The width of the stripe is equal to the size of the mesh used. After that, the mesh is applied to the wall and pressed against the mortar with a spatula. On top of the mesh, another layer of putty is applied to the already finished version.
Then the putty should dry completely within 6-8 hours. Only then can you start sanding. For this, a coarse abrasive mesh with a grain size of 120 is used. At this stage, all kinds of imperfections and protruding irregularities are removed. As a result, however, the surface is still grainy and unsuitable for painting.
Finishing putty will help to remove grain and finally prepare the wall for painting. It does not contain sand or any coarse inclusions, so that the result is a smooth surface. In addition, the paint will not be able to deeply saturate the finishing putty.
The finishing putty should be applied in the same way as the starting one, however, the layer should not exceed 1.5-2 mm, otherwise it will crack as a result. With such a layer, it is much easier to achieve a perfectly flat surface without imperfections in the form of bumps or dents. Nevertheless, after the finishing putty, it is necessary to sand the surface. For this, an abrasive mesh of already smaller grain size is used, marked as 60-80. The main thing is not to comb the entire layer.
If necessary, you can apply several layers if the previous ones did not give a normal result. You can check your work using a lamp or, better, a spotlight. The light from the lamp should fall at an oblique angle to the wall, then all small irregularities and defects are shaded. They should be removed by grinding, otherwise after painting they will become visible and greatly spoil the appearance of the wall.
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To top off all work, you should wait until the last applied layer is completely dry, then sand it and be sure to prime it. Before priming, the entire surface should be cleaned of dust and fine suspended matter that remains on it after grinding. This can be done with a vacuum cleaner or dry rags, but not damp or wet. How to paint the walls should already be discussed separately.
Before starting the process of painting the walls, you need to take care of preparing the walls for painting with your own hands and not only! If you decide to do it yourself, it is very important to competently approach the preparatory work, since the final appearance of the future painted room depends on their high-quality performance.
Choice of paint - a rather complicated process, since the market is filled with a huge assortment of relevant goods. Therefore, before deciding, carefully study our article, which will describe the varieties of decorative paints for ceilings and walls.
How to properly prepare a room before painting? First of all, preparing a room means protecting interior items and other surfaces that will not be painted.
To carry out the preparation of the walls, you need to do the following:
If possible, the room needs to be freed from furniture and equipment. Furniture that cannot be removed should be covered with a protective film and placed in the center of the room.
If you have a carpet or carpet, it is advisable to roll it up and take it out of the room. You can also cover the carpet with plastic sheeting.
The floor should be protected from paint splashing on it. This is especially true for laminate and parquet flooring.
All decorative elements in the form of paintings, panels, photos, ekiban must be removed from the walls. Be sure to make sure they are de-energized before removing lighting fixtures.
Before dismantling the panels of sockets and switches, it is very important to turn off the power points.
You may need some masking tape at this stage. With its help, it will be necessary to glue the places that are not provided for painting, but are adjacent to the surface. For example, ceiling and floor perimeter, radiators, window and door perimeter.
There are times when the walls of the room are in a terrible state, but they definitely need to be painted. To solve such a problem, decorative painting of the walls will come to the rescue. The construction market can offer decorative structural plaster, which is easy to apply and does not require special preliminary surface preparation.
Two types of preparation of walls for painting
Preparation of walls for painting can be of two types: 1. If your walls have been recently plastered, this will make the job much easier. All you have to do is putty and then sand the surface with sandpaper.
Before you start painting the walls, their surface must be washed and allowed to dry. The final stage will be the priming of the walls with a special material corresponding to the type of paint chosen.
2. If your walls have not been renovated, you need to remove the old finish. In addition to removing it, you should level the surface of the walls. This is necessary so that the painted surface is smooth and beautiful, without visible defects and cracks.
If you do not intend to level the walls, you should give preference to other types of finishes or use decorative plaster as a finish, which can later be painted with any type of paint.
How to remove old trim and paint from walls
If the future surface to be painted has already succumbed to the painting process, then it is advisable to decide on the type of paint. In order to understand what type of paint is suitable for the surface, a couple of tests can be done.
If the wall has been painted with water-dispensing paint, you can resort to special water-soluble primers that are water-based and acrylic binders. For alkyd paints, a mixture based on the same resin should be used.
To completely rid the wall of old paint, you can use the following technique. To remove old oil paint from the wall, the wall is washed with a neutral or slightly alkaline solution.
You can use 3-5 percent soda solution. With regard to water-based old paints, they are removed using a weakly acidic solution applied to a sponge or brush.
If we talk about water-dispersion paints, then the process of their removal involves the use of newspapers previously glued to the wall with wallpaper glue. Once the newspapers are fully glued, they will need to be removed, and the paint will come off with them. A 1-2% hydrochloric acid solution will help get rid of glue paint. Once it has been applied, the paint will be easy enough to remove. After the above operations come to an end, the surface of the wall should be washed with warm water. After complete drying, it must be sanded.
As far as removing old wallpaper is concerned, it can be removed using a spatula. If, during removal, some parts of the wallpaper cannot be removed, you can take a special liquid.
How to remove rust, mildew and grease from surfaces
If the surface of the wall is rusty, greasy or mildew, they must be removed without fail. The necessary fungicidal products are commercially available to combat stains and molds.
This product should be diluted in boiling water (1 liter of water per 100 g) using earthenware, enamel or wooden dishes.
It should be remembered that when working with chemicals, you should protect yourself with personal protective equipment. Therefore, always carry rubber gloves, a protective headgear, and goggles with you. If the product does get on the skin or eyes, immediately rinse them with water, and then seek medical help.
Assessment of the state of the resulting surface
As soon as the process of removing the old coating is completed, you need to inspect the surface. If there are minor differences on it, they can be eliminated with plaster plaster, which is easy to apply. After that, small roughness can be smoothed out with plaster putty.
If defects and large irregularities have been identified on the wall, then care should be taken to remove them. It may happen that the plaster coating will move away from the wall, so you need to think about its complete removal and that the walls will need to be plastered again.
Modern interior design provides a huge range of different options for decorative wall decoration. Among them: paneling, tiling, wallpapering. One of the most popular technologies is painting walls. This option has many advantages. First of all, it is a wide range of colors and the ability to quickly and inexpensively radically change the interior style of the room. But few apartment owners who decide to make repairs on their own know how to properly prepare walls for painting.
The specificity of the staining technology is that the wall must be prepared with great care. A thin layer of paint and varnish composition will not be able to hide even the smallest flaws in the painted surface. The technology for preparing walls for painting depends on the type of surface to be painted, the material from which it is made, and the type of paint. In general terms, preparation for painting walls in a new building without preliminary finishing consists of the following stages:
Rough leveling with basic plaster.
Surface putty: starting and finishing.
Primer.
Coloring.
The wall, which has already been processed by any means, must be cleaned from the old finish right down to the very base. Only after that you can start preparing the wall for painting.
Plastering involves preliminary preparation of the bearing surface. Depending on the material, it may differ slightly in nuances.
Before preparing the walls for painting, you should familiarize yourself in detail with all the stages of work. In a new home with raw walls, you need to determine how smooth they are. To do this, use a long building level or a plumb line. By measuring the entire wall area with the instrument in both vertical and horizontal directions, you can get a complete picture of all deviations from the norm.
According to the SNiP regulations, the permissible value of the "blockage" of the wall is no more than 0.5 cm for every 3 m. In case of a larger deviation, it is necessary to align with plaster.
For the convenience of work, beacons are installed along the entire wall - marks made of even metal tubes or wooden slats. They are installed on the mortar patches as follows:
Placed 2 starting beacons at the corners of the wall.
Twine is pulled between them in the upper and lower parts.
The rest of the beacons are placed along it every 0.8 - 1 m.
When installing intermediate beacons, they should not be pressed tightly against the taut twine. Otherwise, there is a possibility of its gradual deviation outward. There should be a gap of 1-2 mm between the beacons and the thread.
Then a plaster mortar is laid out on the wall and left for 0.5-1 hour. After it dries slightly, it should be pulled out using a rule or a wide spatula, and the beacons should be removed. After 12 hours, when the plaster has set, the final leveling is carried out with a metal grout or a wooden screed. Plaster mortar can be purchased at a hardware store in the form of a dry mixture, or made by hand - the proportions of various solutions are given in the table.
It is easiest to plaster a brick wall, thanks to its embossed structure, to which the mortar clings well. In this case, the plaster can be applied directly to the wall, only by cleaning it from dirt and treating it with a primer. The need and method of priming when preparing walls for painting with your own hands will be discussed below.
For high-quality plaster of monolithic reinforced concrete walls, it may be necessary to increase its adhesion. The modern technology of casting the monolith provides for the use of collapsible formwork made of sheet steel or laminated panels. This makes it easier to install and dismantle the formwork, as well as get a smoother surface.
But an overly flat concrete surface also has its drawbacks. The wall, smooth to a glossy sheen, has a very low adhesion index - adhesion to any finishing compound. As a result, coating with any solution will not be durable.
To increase adhesion, the concrete wall is pretreated with various abrasive or percussion tools: a grinder, a mason's pick, a hatchet, a chisel, etc. As a result, the surface is covered with incisions or a rough structure.
Another option for increasing adhesion is plaster mesh. It is attached to the concrete by means of dowels and nails and serves as a solid base for the plaster mortar.
Wooden surfaces have poor adhesion to plaster solutions. This is due to the physical characteristics of the wood, as a result of which any mixtures will not stick to it.
The wooden wall must be additionally prepared for plastering. For this, a plaster metal or fiberglass mesh is also used, or shingles - thin wooden slats - are stuffed on the surface in a criss-cross pattern.
The mesh can differ in the diameter of the cells: the thicker the plaster layer, the larger the mesh should be used.
If the concrete surface is sufficiently flat, you can completely do without applying the base plaster, but it is not recommended to place paint and varnish solutions directly on the cement surface, be it monolithic reinforced concrete or cement plaster. First, they have a large number of small pores. Secondly, their surface is not as smooth as we would like: at the joints of the formwork panels, sags and joints inevitably appear, and along the entire area of the wall there are areas of small shells and other defects.
To remove sagging and joints, the walls are sanded for painting. As a result of the high porosity of concrete, the consumption of paint sharply increases due to its increased absorption. To avoid waste of material and repair minor defects, putty is used. It has a fine structure, and when applied to a plastered surface, it makes it smoother and more even.
Putty differs from plaster in its composition. Cement, gypsum or polymers are used as a binder in its production. A finely dispersed structure is obtained through the use of fine-grained quartz sand and chemical plasticizers as a filler.
The putty solution goes on sale either in the form of ready-to-use formulations or in the form of dry mixtures. The method for preparing dry compositions is quite simple: water is poured into a bucket, to which the mixture is added in the required amount. The proportions for the preparation of the solution are usually given in the instructions for use placed on the package. To putty the wall, you will need the following tools:
Bucket or other container for solution.
Wide and narrow spatulas.
Grout.
Work should be started from one of the upper corners so that drops and splashes do not fall on the already treated surface during work. The finished mixture is scooped out of the container with a narrow spatula and evenly distributed over the entire length of the wide instrument. After that, with smooth, sweeping movements, the putty is applied to the wall.
Plastering with finishing compounds can be used as a material for processing immediately prior to painting. They differ from basic plasters in a thinner filler structure and in this respect they are closer to putty solutions.
The thickness of the application of both putties and finishing plaster mixtures should not exceed 3 - 5 mm. After the solution has dried, the entire surface treated with a putty is cleaned with a grout or fine sandpaper. To speed up the process, you can use a grinder and trowel.
When working with it, you should use protective goggles and a respirator to prevent dust from entering the mucous membranes and into the respiratory system.
The preparation of walls for painting provides for their mandatory treatment with primers. The primer can achieve several results:
Increase the adhesion of the supporting base.
Prevent wall damage from fungi and mold.
Strengthen the surface.
Make the wall water-repellent.
Adhesive primers are used to treat smooth surfaces and increase the adhesion of the wall to the paint. This is achieved by introducing quartz into the primer composition, which allows you to make any perfectly smooth surfaces slightly rough to the touch.
Antiseptic compounds should be used in rooms with increased dampness - they do not allow mold and mildew to develop on the treated wall.The glue included in the primer strengthens the surface and prevents cracking and flaking.
Due to its increased fluidity, the primer penetrates into the smallest cracks and pores, filling them. Thus, the paths of water access to the thickness of the wall are blocked, and its premature destruction is prevented. Together, all this significantly increases the service life of the painted surface. The technology of preparing walls for painting involves the application of primers before applying each subsequent coat of finishing.
To increase efficiency, the primer should be applied in several layers. Each subsequent layer is applied only after the previous one has completely dried. This usually takes from 3 to 10 hours and depends on the type of soil-composition, air humidity and room temperature.
Experienced finishers recommend applying the layers crosswise: if the first layer was applied with vertical strokes, then the second should be applied horizontally. Thus, the entire surface of the wall is primed better.
When choosing primers and putties, one more point must be taken into account: their compositions must be compatible with each other. It is better if they will be based on the same material as the paint you plan to use.
It is often necessary to paint walls already covered with other finishing materials. In this case, the specifics of the preparatory work depends on the characteristics of the surface to be treated.
If you need to paint a tile, then the main task will be to give a smooth surface a rough structure, for which an adhesive primer is used. It is applied to the tile with a roller or brush in two or three layers, after which you can start painting the wall.
Before painting walls covered with special wallpaper intended for painting, special preparation is usually not required. It is enough just to wipe them with a damp cloth, removing dust from the surface. True, some manufacturers in the instructions for use recommend pre-coating them with special primers.
Surfaces covered with wood panels or battens should first of all be sanded with sandpaper or a sander. Then the wooden base is covered with special primers for wood or drying oil. They reduce paint consumption and increase the wood's resistance to fungal and wood-boring attacks.
Small defects should be putty with special compounds developed for finishing wooden parts and surfaces.
The final stage is the choice of paint. Almost any type of paint and varnish composition is suitable for painting interior walls. The main thing is that it matches the taste of the owner of the apartment as much as possible. After all, the main purpose of painting the walls is to add aesthetics to the room and create a cozy atmosphere.
Water-based. The most popular type of coloring compositions today, the main advantage of which is the creation of a film that is permeable to air. Thus, they do not impede free gas exchange through the walls of the building.
Latex. Their feature is a flat and smooth surface that protects the walls from moisture penetration. This coating is recommended for use in rooms with high humidity levels.
Acrylic. It is created on the basis of acrylic resins. Differs in resistance to abrasion and ultraviolet light, vapor permeable. Suitable for painting all surfaces: plaster, concrete, wood, metal, as well as for outdoor use.
Oil and nitro enamels. The classic version, used many decades ago, which is durable and durable. Among the disadvantages are high material consumption and persistent chemical odor.
Observing the technologies and requirements of building codes, it is quite possible to make high-quality preparation of walls for painting with your own hands. . The main aspect influencing the technology is the characteristics of the processed surface.
The video shows the process of preparing walls for painting.
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Today, wall painting is a worthy alternative to any type of finish and therefore is very popular. The most difficult stage in any finishing work is preparatory work.
The scheme of plastering and painting the wall.
And decorating walls for painting is the most difficult task. The requirements for it are very high. Only impeccable preparation will allow you to achieve the ideal quality of the painted surface.
You can paint different types of surfaces. They can be conditionally divided as follows:
smooth putty surface;
textured surface;
smooth surface of facing material (wood, tile, wallpaper, plastic);
embossed surface of facing materials.
For each case, there is its own technology for preparing walls for painting. But the most complete process of preparing a surface for painting is leveling and filling the surface. Consider what stages of surface preparation you need to go through in order to start painting it.
Scheme for removing old wallpaper.
Removing old wallpaper is sometimes not an easy task. But this must be done. To facilitate this work, the wallpaper must be moistened abundantly with warm water, sometimes more than once, using a sponge or roller. When the wallpaper is well saturated with water, it will become pliable to remove. First peel off large pieces of wallpaper and then remove the remaining small pieces with a spatula.
Sometimes it happens that the wallpaper is glued so tightly that you can remove it with pieces of plaster. This is not scary, since the surface for painting will be thoroughly putty in the future.
Finally, sand the walls well with sandpaper or a float.
Old paint removal scheme.
coarse sandpaper;
metal brush;
putty knife.
First of all, you need to determine what type of paint is applied to the wall. Rub the wall with sandpaper. If the paint remains on the abrasive, it is a water based paint. If the paint is easily removed from the abrasive by gentle shaking, then it is alkyd or oily.
Remove paint from the wall carefully. To remove the oil paint, the walls must be treated with a 5% soda solution. And to easily cope with water-dispersion paint, use wallpaper glue and old newspapers. The walls should be coated with glue and newspapers should be glued. When the glue is completely dry, the paint will easily come off along with the newspapers. The method for removing adhesive paint consists in applying a 2% hydrochloric acid solution to it. The wall will bubble and the paint can be easily washed off.
When the paint from the walls is completely removed, they need to be thoroughly washed, dried and sanded.
Paint application scheme using a spray gun.
Grease, rust or mildew stains can easily show up on the painted surface. Therefore, even at the stage of preparing the surface for painting, you need to get rid of them. Mold can be removed by treating the affected areas with fungicides. Grease stains are removed with a baking soda solution. Rust is washed off with water, and then this place is treated with a solution of copper sulfate (for 1 liter of boiling water, 100 g of sulfate).
Observe safety precautions when working with chemicals. Wear rubber gloves and safety goggles. Choose clothes that are comfortable for work and wear a hat.
The scheme for aligning the walls with the lighthouses.
The technology of preparing any surface for painting is aimed at eliminating all irregularities. This can be achieved in several ways:
sanding the existing coating;
plasterboard wall decoration;
plaster and putty.
Surface sanding is suitable for concrete surfaces when they are solid, solid and undamaged. To do this, it is enough to remove a thin layer of plaster using a grinder. Old coatings are subject to mandatory treatment with antiseptics and priming. All minor damages and areas with mold are cleaned and putty. The level difference should be no more than 2 mm. When this result is achieved, you can start filling the walls for painting.
A complete replacement of the plaster is required when there are significant differences in level and exfoliated areas. Plasterboard finishing is also suitable for this case. It all depends on your preferences and financial capabilities.
Finished smooth plastered walls must be carefully primed and left to dry completely. It is not recommended to proceed to the next step with damp walls.
Materials and tools for applying putty:
starting and finishing putties;
a bucket for preparing a mixture;
drill with mixer;
wide and small spatula (60-80 and 20-25 cm);
trowel for leveling putty;
rule;
reinforcing nylon mesh;
abrasive mesh of different grain size and grater.
According to the technology, it is not recommended to paint directly on cement-sand plaster, since its surface is very porous and strongly absorbs moisture. Therefore, the paint will not evenly fall on it and the color may change. Any surface roughness will also be visible. To prevent this from happening, putty must be applied to the surface of the wall.
The first layer of putty is made with a starting putty, which allows to apply a layer of up to 5 mm. The putty must be diluted in accordance with the instructions on the packaging. This must be done immediately before applying to the walls. The ready-to-use putty solution in a bucket must also be opened immediately before use.
It is recommended to putty for painting using a reinforcing mesh, the mesh size of which is 2 mm. To do this, apply a layer of putty 2-3 mm thick on the wall, attach a mesh to it and press it well with a spatula. When this coat is dry, apply another coat of Starter Filler.
Very often, novice craftsmen make mistakes, trying to achieve the most even surface from the very first layer and smooth out all the protruding stripes remaining from the edges of the spatula. This is not necessary at all. In this case, the main thing is that there are no strong depressions and there are no unpatched areas. It is enough to run a spatula 1-2 times along the transitions between the stripes, and sand the remaining irregularities after drying. The mortar should not be applied in too small portions, as in this case large irregularities cannot be avoided. With the accumulation of experience, such disadvantages will be minimal.
After applying the starting layer of putty, it should be allowed to dry - 6-8 hours. Then you can start sanding the surface with an abrasive mesh size 120. This removes any rough surface irregularities. At the end of the wall, you need to prime and let them dry.
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The final stage of the wall finishing technology before painting involves the application of a finishing putty. Due to the fact that it does not contain large impurities, the wall surface is perfectly smooth. The paint applied to it will not penetrate deeply into this finish layer.
The finishing putty is applied in the same way as the starting one, but the thickness of its layer should be no more than 1.5-2 mm.
Paint application scheme using a spray gun.
Otherwise, this finish layer may crack. A thin layer of this putty allows you to achieve a smooth surface.
When the finish coat is completely dry, it should be sanded with sandpaper or mesh to a minimum grit size. When doing this, try not to sand this layer completely.The finish layer is quite gentle and sands very easily, use a minimum of effort. It is recommended to wipe using a lamp or spotlight, the light from which should fall on the wall at an oblique angle. This will show all surface irregularities and imperfections. It is necessary to achieve an ideal surface, since after painting the wall, all defects will be visible.
If necessary, you can apply another coat of finishing putty for best results. Apply it to the sdir. To do this, a little putty is applied to the spatula and almost perpendicularly "ripped off" along the surface. Thus, all small irregularities, scratches and pores are filled. This creates a perfectly smooth surface.
The surface of the wall must be cleaned of dust left after sanding and primed. You can clean the surface with a vacuum cleaner or dry cloth.
If water-based paint is to be applied, then the primer must also be water-based. You can also use an acrylic primer. Enamels require the application of an alkyd primer.
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If the walls are wooden, then preparing them for painting will be different. Wooden surfaces are sanded, and in the presence of deep defects, they are putty with special compounds for wood. After that, the tree is treated with compounds to protect against pests. If desired, it can also be covered with stain. The wooden surface can be painted or varnished.
Video (click to play).
Preparation of textured surfaces for painting (wallpaper, decorative plastering) consists only in priming. Wallpaper should be primed with a special adhesive, and decorative plaster with a deep penetration primer.
