Paint finishes

[Jocelyn]

Started to investigate colours and finishes for our rooms now. I found a note from the vendor saying that they had mixed some emulsion with water and limewash to paint some of the walls. I found, in the shed, the 'mix' and discovered that they have used an emulsion from' Focus', mixed it with neat lime and water. Oh my gawd------ can I put my decent Rose of Jericho paint, ( some rooms will be distemper and some emulsion) over the top of this cocktail of lime and cheap emulsion, or shall I have to some how get it off?

Also they have lined the bedroom walls with cotton backed paper which has not been properly applied and is coming off. A peep underneath reveals that the walls have been stripped back to the original plaster and distemper finish. I have always found 1000 ml lining more than adequate, giving me a good surface for my chosen paint finish. (Don't worry I am leaving the room with the medieval wall painting in until the spring, when I shall enlist the help of a conservator, when I have saved up her fee!!)

Most of the unlined walls are lumpy and bumpy with filler and roughly
applied plaster patching, so I assume that I shall need a heavy grade sandpaper. I'm not wanting smooth walls, just to get rid of the DIY blobs.!!

The metal window frames in a couple of bedrooms have been painted with gloss from the same establishment aforementioned and all the grit and muck has been painted in as well. How do I deal with that?

All comments welcome.

Jocelyn

PS I haven't worked out how to get a piccy on the forum yet.
and, where are you Moo?

 

[Gervase]

Oh bum! The focus emulsion is probably alkyd based, so you'll want to get it off, otherwise your walls will have an impermeable plastic film on them.
With the metal frames, just use old-fashioned Nitromors or Klingstrip. Don't use heat, as the expansion of the metal could crack any glass in the windows.

 

[NT]

It all depends on the finish, which depends on the mixture. Try a bit and see. Good chance it'll work fine.


NT

 

[Moo]

Jocelyn -
I'm rattling with iboprufin as my sprained sacro-iliac joint (?) gradually heals. I can think of very little except the discomfort. Most frustrating, too, as there are very few things I enjoy doing that don't involve vigorous movement of some sort.

Not so incapacitated, however, as to be unable to limp down the cellar steps to the computer to keep abreast of PPUK, and the saga of your new house.

A thought : I bet you'd be as bored and frustrated as I am if you hadn't found all those interesting problems (aka challenges). Otherwise, you'd have bought something dinky from Mr Hopkins. **


** a Norfolk in-joke; Hopkins Homes seem to be building on every spare acre of land round these parts.

 

[Penners]

Jocelyn

I agree with Gervase. The inclusion of Focus emulsion in your predecessor's patent paint stew makes it sound distinctly dodgy from the breathability point of view. However, that mixture should be fairly effective in covering up those awful medieval wall paintings (GASP! :shock: ).

I imagine your next thought will be: how to get the emulsion/lime mix off? Hmmm - not sure about that one. I wonder whether the inclusion of lime in it would reduce its adhesion sufficiently for it to scrub off with some sugar soap.

I hope you manage to post some pictures soon. You'll have to upload them to one of the many free websites that allow this (http://www.truprint.co.uk for example), then post the url of your picture as part of a message, using the URL tags before and after it.

Dying to see the house!

David

 

[Penners]

I bet you'd be as bored and frustrated as I am if you hadn't found all those interesting problems (aka challenges).

I once went on a ghastly management training course, whose speaker insisted that the words "problem" and even "challenge" were totally forbidden. "There are no problems - only opportunities", he smirked.

One of our dour sales team later referred to a lost sale as "an insoluble opportunity"!

 

[MDE]

I have found that a home-made mix of water, caustic soda and wallpaper paste removes emulsion - leave it on for an hour or two before scraping off. Take all the recommended precautions as the mixture is caustic.

 

[Gervase]

Sounds rather effective that - a sort of home-made Klingstrip (which, after all, is only caustic soda in a binding medium which I assume to be kaolin or similar)

 

[Ian Bond]

I once went on a ghastly management training course, whose speaker insisted that the words "problem" and even "challenge" were totally forbidden. "There are no problems - only opportunities", he smirked.

One of our dour sales team later referred to a lost sale as "an insoluble opportunity"!

Very funny - I often find myself "Up to my neck" in opportunities!

 

[Penners]

I have found that a home-made mix of water, caustic soda and wallpaper paste removes emulsion - leave it on for an hour or two before scraping off. Take all the recommended precautions as the mixture is caustic.

Thanks MDE, that's a handy tip. Roughly what proportions of each constituent?

 

[Moo]

Why don't we form a consortium and sell it at a price that undercuts the big boys?

 

[Penners]

Great idea. MDE can make it and you sell it. I'll be a consultant on commission.

 

[MDE]

I've no idea what the proportions of ingredients ought to be. I put a sachet of wallpaper paste and about 1/3rd plastic coffee cup of caustic soda into a quart of water.
Be careful - I left a paint brush in it for a couple of hours - not a pretty sight, so imagine what it could do to your skin.

 

[Moo]

Sounds just like Peelaway!

 

[Sue Wilkinson]

Hi Joycelyn

I think you should try to remove the 'brew' if you want breathable walls to control damp issues. That particular brand of paint is rubbish in my opinion, mind you most of the commercially available paints in the UK are rubbish, just some are worse than others.

Apart from the other suggestions for removal you could also try a hot air gun and paint scraper or a steam wallpaper stripper and scraper. Both work for emulsion. Chances are that the people who first used this sort of mix didn't scrub the distemper off underneath first so it will probably come of quite easily.

If you don't have a damp issue in these rooms (because its upstairs or just no sign of one) you could save yourselves some work, give the walls a good brush with a stiff brush first and then coat with either distemper or emulsion from Rose of Jericho. Check with them first, but I think the oil based distemper would be best.

Also worth speaking to Ty Mawr Lime in Wales? They are full of useful knowledge and advice on paints etc.

Re the walls without lining paper, yes, just sand them down. Don't use too course a paper. If you can use wet and dry it might make life more pleasant. I've not done that, but sanding plaster is a horrible job and makes a terrible mess.

Those with paper on that's peeling off, I'd strip. Then either reline after washing the old finishes off (its the chalky distemper that's stopping the current paper sticking on), or just repaint.

For our photo's you could try http://www.flickr.com, for free upload space as well.

Sue