Have never been a fan of lining walls & then painting them,all to easy to snag the paper especially if you got kids. I have been having ceilings dropped in my old house . In the hallway, the plasterers had to remove the door frames as they needed to put new plaster from the ceiling to the picture rail due to there being a big bow in the wall. That is all good, but the paint which would have been painted only a couple of years ago before I bought the house, is peeling. I started chipping away at it and removed the paint off one section of the wall. What I now have is an old plaster chalky wall that when you run your fingers along, you have a yellowish dust all over your fingers. The wall has indentations and raised in some areas where someone has previously put a filler or something, (I am not sure what it is) - I am thinking that the wall needs to be skimmed? After reading how to do this, I am not game to give it a go myself. Just so I sound like I know what I am talking about with the Plasterers, what will need to be done before it is skimmed. I get a little nervous that I will be taken advantage of being a single mum. I personally wouldn’t use it unless the sand was really loose or the render is brittle. I do know lots of painters that do use it for these reasons on new render – almost like a mist coat and also for some other reasons. But I believe this can affect the coverage. Hi, May I suggest for optimum performance that you use TRADE products rather than the retail equivalents.

Thank you kindly for taking time out of your day to answer my questions. It is greatly appreciated.

Pallet agreements which are about to expire

It is recommended to scrape off the powdery surface with a stripping knife first, and then use abrading paper to rub the wall before applying one or two layers of stabilising solution.

Kingfisher “Weatherflex Stabilising Solution” is a solvent-free, fine particle, pure acrylic ester copolymer primer, sealer and stabiliser for masonry. The smooth render is fine. But the roughed up render is what I'd describe as chalky. I can brush off loose render with my fingers. Hi again Dave - I don't have a smartphone or an Iphone, but nonetheless my son has worked something out. I hope you can see from the images. I honestly would like to have a go at fixing myself, and from what a friend said the other day, he doesn't believe that it needs to be re-skimmed, just prepped, but I know he has very different standards to me, and will I be happy with the end result. I am about to re-paint some stonework outside my house. It has previously been painted, but in areas it is a little flaky and kind of like white dust build up, think it’s salt or something like that. Below is a sample of questions received on the subject of stabilising primers… White dust on stonework?

🍪 Privacy & Transparency

A highly penetrative, clear, solvent based stabiliser for use on most exterior masonry surfaces & exterior grade building boards. Use to treat chalky surfaces. It is important to know how to recognise what surfaces would benefit from using stabilising solution on them, because using it when not absolutely necessary can actually be detrimental to the quality of your wall. Allows painting of new render finishes and re-pointing repairs without alkaline contamination of the paint, which would otherwise delay painting by up to 2 months.

The kind of dust they mean is like a chalk board, where you can wipe your hand over it and it'll be covered. Then it'll reappear again over time. My Paint Guide is the UK's number 1 painting and decorating resource. We use our years of expertise to review thousands of paints and paint accessories to find you the best option for your project as well as offer simple-to-follow DIY guides. Unfortunately, it sounds like whoever painted your home didn’t use stabiliser in the first place. Have you ever encountered lime paint on a ceiling? I’ve tried to roll the ceiling and it’s just pulling off in strips. Will a stabilising solution help? Whilst you may be eager to repaint the areas where the paint is coming off, chances are, there’s more to come. My advice would be to wait a few months and reassess. At least then the process of removing the paint will be much easier. At that point you’ll want to rub down the entire surface, use a stabiliser and then paint as normal. It's just the time element, or more to the point, time versus money - skilled labour don't come cheap

Wall Stabilising Solution

I had an extension built which was rendered. The plasterer roughed up the smooth render to try and make it textured like the rest of the house (not very successfully, but that's by the by). I need to repair a shed door. The top half of the door has a frosted window and the bottom part had square panel. Some peeps seem to think that lining paper covers all damage with either no or little prep required You may find that this process removes a lot of the loose particles on the surface, presenting you with a solid surface which can easily be primed with a thineed solution of masonry paint. I would not normally advise painting since this is going to present yet another barrier to any trapped moisture evaporating away naturally without causing further damage.

When it comes to painting any exterior wall, we highly recommend opting for the Emperor Paint range. Emperor Masonry Paint is the most advanced masonry paint available in the UK thanks to its super hydrophobic technology. It is not only water repellent but it is highly breathable, self-cleaning, heat retaining & verified by the Energy Saving Trust. Emperor has undergone independent scientific testing through a 25 year accelerated weathering process. After 25 years of heavy weathering, a wall painted with Emperor Masonry Paint showed no signs of deterioration in aesthetic appeal or performance. This is why Emperor Paint offer a lifetime guarantee on their waterproof masonry paint & masonry cream. If this be the case then scrape off any loos paint, allow to dry out over a period of a few weeks and paint again. You may well find this is an ongoing process or it may be isolated to one or two problem areas. If your exterior walls are chalky or are in less than optimal condition, applying a primer is highly recommended. Each paint manufacturer offers their own primer which they will recommend to use in combination with the masonry paint you opt for. If You Are Using A Specialist Product There are a number of scenarios that can dictate whether to use a priming layer or not. If The Masonry Is SoundA stabilising solution & a primer serve the same purpose meaning there is no need to apply both a stabilising solution & a primer. When To Use A Primer Or Stabilising Solution Eventually I repainted with a water based masonry paint. Every year since then the paint has bubbled and I have had to scrape and repaint. Always remember that applying some sort of exterior primer is one of the most important preparatory steps before applying any sort of paint. It provides both an increased quality and adhesion of paintwork, as well as protection to the wall itself. When Should You Use Stabilising Solution? The builder has since sealed the outside but has advised using stabiliser on the render on the inside before painting to prevent anything coming through. I’ve read a lot of bad things about stabiliser so good idea or not? RD However, once it’s rubbed the surface below is relatively solid. I am worried that if I paint the surface with sandtex it could bubble if I don’t stabilise.