Who says successful painting, says successful preparation of the support. If you are looking to obtain smooth walls without any roughness, smoothing coating is your best ally. Reminder of the basics with our complete guide: from the diagnosis of your surfaces to the craftsman’s gestures, here are all the keys to successfully completing your finishes like a pro.
Before using a brush or roller, careful preparation is often necessary for a flawless finish: the application of a smoothing coating. Whether your walls have slight reliefs or small imperfections, here is how to approach this step to ideally prepare your support, without the help of a professional.
Why use smoothing coating?
So, if the walls that you wish to (re)paint have imperfections and in particular small cracks less than 2 mm thickthe smoothing coating will allow you to obtain a better finish. For larger holes, it will be necessary to use a filling or filling coating upstream.
Now that you are knowledgeable on the subject, roll up your sleeves and let’s go!
- Protect the ground with a plastic sheet.
- Cut the power and remove the switches.
- In the case of old paint, wash it walls (especially in a kitchen) and let dry.
- Sand with 80/100 sandpaper.
- Pour water in a bucket, respecting the quantities indicated on the instructions.
- Sprinkle the coating in fine rain.
- Mix with a spatula until you obtain a homogeneous dough, which adheres to the spatula without flowing.
- Apply plaster it with a plastering knife, first in horizontal strips, each time slightly overlapping, starting from the corner of the wall.
- Work then vertically as you approach the plinths.
- Use a narrower plastering knife for hard-to-reach areas.
- Let dry the time indicated, generally at least 2 hours.
- Sand using fine-grit sandpaper.
- Pass a brush, then a slightly damp sponge over the entire surface to remove dust.
- Spread the smoothing coating using a roller over the entire wall, in parallel vertical strips.
- Smooth immediately apply the coating with a squeegee (generally supplied with the kit), without applying too much pressure.
- Let dry the time indicated, generally at least 2 hours.
- Sand using fine-grit sandpaper.
- Pass a brush, then a slightly damp sponge over the entire surface to remove dust.
If the technique will be the same, coating a ceiling will prove more sporty and perhaps more complicated for some! You will of course use a stool and you will protect your eyes using a mask. You will also need to protect your walls using a plastic tarpaulin if you are only renovating your ceiling.
Coating intact plasterboard
- Apply a joint coating between the plasterboards.
- Apply a specially adapted underlay.
Coating damaged plasterboard
- Apply a filling coating on particularly damaged parts.
In both cases
- Apply a fairly thick layer of coating in vertical strips.
- Let drydust and clean quickly.
- Apply a second layer horizontally this time.
Can we paint directly on the smoothing coating?
As a general rule, the smoothing compound is not a surface to be painted. Once it is completely dry, it is better apply an undercoat to the smoothing coating before painting it. Enough to ensure optimal results for the paint and therefore for your walls!
