DIY Doctor UK DIY Forums

Firstly, brilliant forum loads of advice, pleased to have found it. 8)
(I'm afraid I'm going to be one of those people who asks more questions than gives advice, :oops: )

I live in a concrete prefab high-rise and I have never been able to paint the walls that successfully. The walls are basically large concrete slabs, as far as I'm aware there is no plaster on them. In some rooms I have wallpapered and painted over that which works ok, except that I'm pretty lousy at hanging wallpaper.

I'm working on one room at the moment that was never papered, in places the existing paint hasn't taken to the walls at all in many places and is bubbling and flaking off.

I just wanted some pointers as to the best preparation really, do I treat the bare concrete bits in the same way as plaster? I've seen quite a lot of advice on painting plaster, but none on concrete. I'm not after a perfect finish, but I do want the paint to stick.

What I'm doing so far is scraping off the loose paint, then sanding the edges where it's come away. I'm going to give the walls a wash with sugar soap after that, and then an emulsion mist coat. am I doing it right or is concrete not suitable for painting on with emulsion?

Thanks in advance for any help.

Doug.

==edit==
Well after having scraped, sanded and washed I've found that loads more of the old paint is bubbling up and I'm scraping that off. I bought a tin of dulux rich matt white emulsion and I painted the whole wall with a 1:1 dilution, it seems to have taken fairly well, although while I was painting it on, more of the old paint bubbled away which I scraped off as best as I could and painted over. I guess I'll probably need to sand again before the next coat, at least in the places where I had to scrape paint away. I'm then going to do a more dense mist coat, and then a final coat of neat paint. I'll report back on how well it works.

After doing a more dense mist coat 5:1 paint:water I am still getting some bubbling. Oh well, back to scraping and 1:1 mist coat. :(

I will get it finished someday :lol:

I had this problem for years, although I was painting mdf, not walls...

This might sound rather bizzare but I really recomend it.


Wallpaper all of the walls with the most plain matte paper you can find.
they spray them with slightly muddy water (bare with me, this is better than it sounds) once its dry, paint over it. I used poster paint, but I'm sure what ever you have been using would be fine.

works wonders.

Gruff xx

[quote="Gruff McStumble"]I had this problem for years, although I was painting mdf, not walls...

This might sound rather bizzare but I really recomend it.


Wallpaper all of the walls with the most plain matte paper you can find.
they spray them with slightly muddy water (bare with me, this is better than it sounds) once its dry, paint over it. I used poster paint, but I'm sure what ever you have been using would be fine.

works wonders.

Gruff xx[/quote]

Sorry to sound idiotic, but WTF is MDF?

Muddy waters? really?

I did consider papering but I foolishly figured that painting would yeild a quicker result.

Poster paint :lol: really?
MDF = Medium Density Fibreboard, it's like chipboard but smoother, the theatre and film art department's best friend.

[quote="døugie"]Muddy waters? really?

I did consider papering but I foolishly figured that painting would yeild a quicker result.[/quote]

I ALWAYS paper then paint. It's the only way to really secure a nice finish in my humble opionion. xx

Cheers gruff, I'll keep that in mind next time I do it.

You need to prep concrete with a good alkali resistant acrylic primer before applying ANY decorative finish whether paint or paper.

The first person to suggest PVA as an alternative wins this weeks prize of a visit from the Krays (or their successors)!

Cheers