Paint for poor interior surface

[rupert the dog]

My wife reckons she's seen an ad for a paint that is designed to cover flaws in poor surfaces - cracks, slight holes etc. Now this describes our bedroom walls to a T. Despite filling, sanding, filling etc the surface is still not perfect. Can anyone recommend a paint to use - we want an "emulsion" type finish. Thanks

[Simpo Two]

How about wallpaper?

[rupert the dog]

Simpo Two said:

How about wallpaper?

NNNOOO! I think that was the cause of all the woes in the first place! There were about 8 bloody layers of old wallpaper (some of which had to be seen to be believed) which I had to laboriously scrape, steam, scratch and generally scour off the walls before even getting to the current state. (Thanks for the thought, though)

[fatboy b]

Polycell Basecoat is what you're thinking of, but you may want to repair the worst with some Smoothover first. It's not really a "whole wall" solution, but it's very easy to rub down, as opposed to Polyfiller.

ETA - it's all about the amount of time/effort you're willing to put into it. If it's a big expanse, then a good plasterer will do a room in a day for £200.

Edited by fatboy b on Thursday 11th November 12:23

[russ_a]

We have never got this kind of stuff to work. As already mentioned get a plasterer in to re-skim. The wall will look 100% better when painted.

[Simpo Two]

rupert the dog said:

NNNOOO! I think that was the cause of all the woes in the first place! There were about 8 bloody layers of old wallpaper (some of which had to be seen to be believed) which I had to laboriously scrape, steam, scratch and generally scour off the walls before even getting to the current state. (Thanks for the thought, though)

Now you know why they were papered

But you can use plain white 'lining paper' to get the wall decent, then paint it. I can't see your wall but from what you describe, if you can't fill/sand it good enough, no paint is going to be enough of a 'magic wand'.

[spikeyhead]

A skim of plaster is the only way to get a large area smooth enough to paint over.

Unless, of course, you fancy artexing the wall.

[CO2000]

Don't use Smooth over as its very expensive, buy Gyproc joint filler (pre mixed & about £16 from B & Q) & using a paint scraper or similar spread onto your defects (Use mesh tape for any cracks)
Then use a 1/3 sheet sander with a fine grit paper & go over it. Hand finish with a block re filling as req'd.

You will end up with a great surface in the end (& a lot of dust!)