Treat plasterboard before decorating?

[Rtony]

Hello All,

I've plasterboarded what will be a bathroom and taped & plastered all the joints.

I'm not going to plaster it, I'll be tiling around the bath, emulsioning and papering the rest.

Can anybody advise me on what to do before I get to the decorating stage, please?

Do I prime it or seal it, prime it then seal it, seal it then prime it, undercoat it, or something else?

Thanks,

Tony

[Gyn_Paul]

Have you used the green hydrofuge placo? it's especially for damp situations like kitchens/bathrooms. If so, then something to stop you expensive paint being absorbed like the proverbial sponge is what you need. I've used old, cheap white emulsion. I've also used thinned down pva glue to size and seal the boards before now. Really all you are doing is blocking the porous structure of the paper/plaster (if you've ever tried dripping water onto a stick of chalk, you'll remember just how much it will absorb  before appearing to be wet).

If you've used the standard grey placo, then you'll need a proper sealer sold for 'wet' plaster before you paint it (Assuming your bathroom-to-be is of the damp, condensed variety!).

paul

[Weedon]

I would advise you seal the plasterboard with a PVA mix before you do anything else to it.  Primarily because if in the future you use a steamer to remove old wallpaper you will not have a barrier for the p/board. I am not sure if sizing the plasterboard before wallpapering is as effective a barrier as PVA, I suspect not.

I am now firmly conditioned to PVA ing all surfaces and then emulsioning  or tiles in the bathroom/kitchen and b****r the wallpaper as life is too short and in my case getting shorter.

weedon

[Rtony]

Thanks both for replying to my question.

I've used the grey plasterboard (I've been told I should have used Wedi, but it's too late now) and someone's given me a tub of plasterboard sealer. So I'll seal all the boards with that. There's no need to PVA on top of the sealer is there? 

I'm going to have a go at skimming the boards around the bath with plaster, then, if I don't make a complete carve up, I'll PVA the plaster before I tile. As for the rest of the room, I may skim it & paper it, or if I can rub the jointing compound down well enough I may emulsion it as you suggest.

Thanks,

Tony

[Weedon]

When you fill the gaps if you use Enduit de Lissage and Enduit de something else (usually next to it on the brico shelves) you use one of the Enduit things as a filler and one as a smoothing coat.  One of them dries quite fast and is usefull for the deep joints and the other one dries slower and you use a damp sponge to feather the edges without the need to rub down.  I found it quite good to use and not being the most patient of DIYers couldn't waste all that time rubbing down and choking on the dust of something I had taken ages to put on.  After a short time of using the smoothing coat you get used to how long to leave it before going over it with a sponge and if you make a mistake and make more than you need just trowel it over more of the flat plasterboard as a skim coat.

weedon

Don't forget also that there is a special bathroom emulsion

[Bobc]

 "Hello All,

I've plasterboarded what will be a bathroom and taped & plastered all the joints.

I'm not going to plaster it, I'll be tiling around the bath, emulsioning and papering the rest.

Can anybody advise me on what to do before I get to the decorating stage, please?

Do I prime it or seal it, prime it then seal it, seal it then prime it, undercoat it, or something else?

Thanks,

Tony"

Tony,

If you have used standard plasterboard for your project then it is probably to late to change to green plasterboard which is the minimum for bathrooms.

For the areas that you are going to tile then prepare with Weber et Broutin Fermasec which you can get from any decent professional carrelage supplier. You can find one on www.gapsa.fr

For painting purposes, standard plasterboard, be it grey, green or red does not need any sealing before painting.

If you have not gone too far down the road, then consider taking out the plasterboard and lining your bathroom with Wedi panels (www.wedi.de) Initially a high cost but once done will be there forever.

Regards,

Bob Clarke
http://perso.wanadoo.fr/grindoux