How to prepare walls for painting with your own hands: instructions for beginners | (Photo & Video)

Increasingly, you can meet homeowners who flatly refuse to wallpaper the walls of their homes, preferring the latter painting. They want to see the walls of their apartments “dazzlingly” even, smooth, without the presence of paper chic. To get the desired effect, you need to know exactly how to prepare the walls for painting - this will be discussed in this article.

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Introduction

Painted wall decoration

Choosing painting as a finishing wall finish, the owner of the apartment receives a lot of advantages:

Painting walls is easy, but getting ready is a science. If in the situation with wallpaper the situation is much simpler, since they hide even significant surface defects, then with the help of paint this cannot be done - on the contrary, it will show and emphasize all the bumps and small cracks on the wall.

In order for the end result not to disappoint, then it is necessary to strictly observe the technology of preparing walls for painting - it is not difficult to implement this, but it is quite possible even for a builder “for one repair”.

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Main stages of work

One of the options for painting the walls

All preparation can be divided into the following stages:

This list is indicative, since some surfaces do not require the dismantling of the old coating and plastering. Also, the stages of cleaning each applied layer with a construction spatula and sandpaper are skipped here.

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Necessary tools and consumables

Using a Wall Alignment Rule

Before starting construction work, you need to prepare a tool and purchase the necessary dry mixes and strengthening solutions.

Before buying dry mixes, you need to know the differences and scope of a particular dry mix.

Plaster and putty - how to choose?

For those who have dealt with the preparation of walls before, there is no need to explain the differences between these two building materials, But for a beginner, this is important information.

Plaster and putty are two different things. To visually see the difference, it is enough to feel their composition tactilely - by rubbing one or another dry mixture between your fingers, it is easy to notice the difference in the size of their fractions. In the putty, graininess is practically not felt, but in the plaster mixture it is clear.

And all because the plaster is designed to level the walls with a thick layer in order to repair large defects and smooth out large differences. The putty has a different task - the fight against such minor defects as cracks and small depressions.

Differences in the grain size of these materials entail differences in their shrinkage. Of course, it is possible to close up a large crack with putty, but, firstly, the putty will drain when applied, and, secondly, when it dries, it will shrink a lot and also crack.

Plaster and putty

Both plaster and putty mixture are produced with different compositions., which affect the maximum layer thickness of a particular mixture - this characteristic is important.

So when buying plaster, you need to know in advance which layer will be needed to level the walls with the first layer. If the maximum thickness is less than 3 cm, then one modification will do, and if more, then you will need to purchase a more expensive dry mix - the difference in price is very noticeable, so for plaster mixes of the KNAUF-Rotband family it is 50%.

Putties for preparing walls may need two types: finishing and super-finishing. By the name of the putties, it is clear that the latter has a minimum grain size. It is needed if perfectly smooth walls are formed. If the walls are then painted with a specific paint (embossed), then EK K200 gypsum putty will be quite enough.

There are numerous offers on the construction market, both for plaster and putty, of various compositions and at various prices. In order not to get bogged down in the issue of choosing one or another mixture, you need to know that for interior work the most suitable mixtures are gypsum - they are comfortable to work with and they quickly get up.

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Step-by-step instruction

Wallpaper removal

We will not consider in detail the stage of dismantling the old finish layer. It is unnecessary to talk about how to remove wallpaper or tiles, what tools to use. It should only be mentioned about the dismantling of the old paint layer, which in most cases is difficult to remove.

Since the wall will be plastered, it is not necessary to clean all the old coating, it is enough just to apply numerous notches on the wall surface so that the plaster has something to grab on to.

Preparing the wall for plastering and its primer

Before you start plastering, you need to prepare the base well for this. The walls in new buildings, as well as in old apartments, are regularly plastered, so they need to be tapped for hidden defects.

A dull sound means that the plaster has come off and needs to be removed. Also, the surface is checked for the presence of small cracks in it - the latter need to be expanded with a spatula.

We remove all unnecessary

in new premises, where the walls and partitions are lined with gas silicate blocks, you need to remove excess masonry glue with a spatula.

After this procedure, the surface is primed - this is a necessary operation. The primer holds fine fractions on the coating, and, in addition, evens out the moisture absorption of the wall, reducing its porosity throughout its entire length. This allows the plaster to dry evenly, which has a positive effect on the quality of the plaster layer.

Some people ask the question, what is better to use a concrete contact or a primer? It all depends on the surface to be treated, - concrete contact is most effective for processing especially hard and smooth surfaces, also suitable for forming a protective film on painted surfaces.

Where the primer is not able to penetrate deep into the surface, they are treated with concrete contact - concrete slabs, drywall, painted surfaces.

Plastering

If the wall is curved, then the application of the plaster layer is understandable. But if it is even, is it not better to putty it right away? Let it be a plasterboard or a concrete slab, you still need to plaster - these surfaces are not intended for finishing, they do not have enough adhesion for putty, you need to form an adhesive layer.

Thick layer - throws a solution on the wall, and then remove the excess

Therefore, having checked the surface geometry with the rule, they proceed to plastering. If the maximum layer is predicted to be more than 3 cm, then the wall will also have to be reinforced with a building mesh, or even plastered over the lighthouses.

If the wall is relatively flat, then the plaster is applied as thinly as possible, only to create adhesion for the next finishing layer of putty.

The mixture is kneaded with a mixer or a perforator with a nozzle, in the proportions recommended by the manufacturer. Let it brew for 5-10 minutes, mix again and get to work. The consistency of the solution should be like thick sour cream - the plaster should not drain from the spatula.

The plaster is applied to the wall with a wide spatula, sweeping movements. The movements should be confident, even, with the same pressure on the spatula. You should not get hung up on the accuracy of strokes, because small defects (stains) will subsequently be removed with a spatula, and the surface will be sanded.

Sandpaper and primer

Don't Forget About Protective Equipment

As soon as the first layer rises, - 2-3 hours for plaster. Start sanding the surface. To do this, use a 250 building skin, insert it into the holder and remove the sags and other irregularities in a circular motion - if the cells of the skin are clogged, then the layer is not dry enough and you need to wait.

After sanding, the surface is primed. It is not necessary to use concrete contact, now a regular deep penetration primer will do.

Forming corners and puttying

If the surface is even and there is no need for a second plaster layer, proceed to reinforce the corners of the room. To do this, use a paper or polymer-mesh corner-forming tape - it is needed in order to strengthen the corners and prevent the risk of cracks in these places.

Corner shaping tape - something like this

It is glued with putty, which will be used for further work. To do this, using a narrow spatula, a thin layer of the mixture is applied and a corner-forming tape is applied to it. It is carried out with a spatula, thereby pressing it to the surface and at the same time removing excess “adhesive” solution.

This operation is carried out in all corner joints of the walls with each other, as well as walls and ceilings.

After strengthening the corners, proceed to the finishing putty. The requirements for the batch are the same as for the plaster mixture, with one difference - the amount of batch. Since the consumption of this mixture is less, then the batch must be done accordingly. The life of the mortar is 20-30 minutes, and unlike cement mortars, its duration cannot be extended.

The purpose of this layer is to remove minor defects from the surface of the walls, but not the smallest ones. Therefore, at this stage, special attention should also be paid - all the smallest flaws will be removed when applying the next layer.

Wall puttying

After the first putty layer dries, the stains are removed with a spatula, and after that the surface is sanded and primed.

You can primer as a fly brush and roller, and with the help of a spray gun (pulverizer).

The second layer is formed with putty of the same grain size or less.

After drying, the layer is rubbed with sandpaper with a smaller fraction (400) and after the latter has dried, they proceed to the next stage.

Formation of fiberglass

Fiberglass is intended for the main purpose - reinforcement, those. preventing the risk of cracks on the surface of the walls.

There are no special requirements for the adhesive solution, - Both ready-made adhesive compositions (liquid) and dry ones, which must be diluted with water, can be successfully used. The latter are good because they are economical - they can be cooked as much as needed, and the rest will be securely stored.

Bonding fiberglass

On the construction market, you can find adhesives of the following brands: Quelyd, Oskar, Pufas, Bostik, Kleo and many others. All of them are suitable for gluing fiberglass and differ from each other in the presence of certain plasticizers in their compositions.

Glue is applied to the walls with a fly brush, roller or pulverizer. In the latter case, the adhesive composition, if necessary, is diluted with water. The canvas is applied and it is pressed with a spatula to the surface of the wall - the same actions as when pasting wallpaper.

To control the uniform application of the adhesive on the wall, color can be added to the adhesive. In many ready-made adhesive mixtures, a color indicator is already present. Also, this measure will help to control the uniformity of the application of the finishing layer of putty.

After gluing and drying the fiberglass, they proceed to the final stage of preparing the walls for painting.

The last layer of putty

Light to help

No need for pre-priming here. since the fiberglass adhesive already acts as an adhesive layer.

The putty is applied in two layers - both the first and second layers are sanded and treated with a primer. The last layer is recommended to be applied under side lighting - this way all the flaws are better visible.

The second layer, if possible, is made with a mixture with the smallest grain size and rubbed with fine sandpaper. After the final priming and drying, the wall surface is completely ready for painting.

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Conclusion

Walls for painting

After reading this article, it may seem that the process of preparing for painting walls is difficult, but it is not. The work is painstaking, but not difficult. You just need to set aside a few days for work and devoting two to three hours a day, not in a hurry to complete it.

VIDEO: High-quality wall preparation for painting. Video lesson. All stages

High-quality preparation of the wall for painting. Video lesson. All stages

How to prepare walls for painting with your own hands: instructions for beginners | (Photo & Video)