Painting Over Plaster Walls

You can pour good quality paint into a pan and use a roller to evenly apply the first coat of paint to the plaster walls.

Painting over plaster walls. Cover the floor with drop cloths. How to paint old plaster walls move the furniture to the center of the room. Calciminealso known as kalsomine or distemper is essentially ground chalk blended with water with glue as a binder. Even with a good coat of primer plaster walls are notoriously thirsty for paint.

Using a roller for open spaces and brushes around trim and borders spread an even coat of your choice paint. Priming and painting the plaster walls. Fill the holes and large cracks. Plaster can be easily painted with the same techniques as drywall.

Any small holes and indentations should be filled with spackling compound. To save time and paint use a stain block or a basecoat emulsion on these patches. Plaster walls in older homes often display small dents dings cracks and nail holes that must be filled or smoothed over before a new coat of paint can be applied. Apply a high quality primer on the plaster wall and allow the primer to dry for the maximum amount of time.

Popular throughout the 19th century and into the first third of the 20th calcimine paint had a dead flat soft pastel look that permitted builders to finish plaster walls quickly. Gently scrape off any loose or flaking plaster with a putty knife. Calcimine paint is not very durable. Inspect the walls for damaged areas of plaster and use a scraper to remove crumbled flaking pieces.