Paint Cracking and Removing Paint From Plastered Walls

[turneruws]

Hi,

I've recently purchased my first house so to say I was a DIY novice would be an understatement.

I've got two problems with a dining room I am trying to decorate in which two of the walls were plastered approximately 5 / 6 weeks ago

1. The Newly Plastered Walls: I've recently painted these with a white matt, however when the paint has dried it appears to be cracked, very small cracks that you can't notice from a distance, but are visable when you get close up. I was wondering if anyone knew why this was and how I can rectify the problem?


2. Repainting the existing walls: The walls in the dining room that weren't replasted I have also painted with white matt - however the paint is now cracking more dramatically, to the extent that I can peel this off with with my hands to expose the old plaster beneath in certain areas.

Again I was wondering if anyone know why this was, and what the best remedy to stop this happening would be - if I were to remove all of the existing paint to get down to the plaster could I use a heat gun to do this?

Apologies fo my lack of knowledge, any help would be greatly appreciated

Thanks
Chris

[shanshan]

Hi,the first thing to do would be to lightly sand down the walls to remove any flaking paint.Then get some pva which you can buy from any builders merchants and mix with water,it will tell you how much to use on the back of the can/carton and then apply to the walls you want to paint.Once dry use a good quality emulsion ie:dulux trade,leyland paint etc and paint the walls.This should solve the problem. :D

Hope this helps

[turneruws]

Hi,

That's great, many thanks for your help - would you not recomend using the heat gun to remove the paint to then start afresh on the plaster?

Thanks
Chris

[shanshan]

Hi,
No,I wouldnt use a heat gun as you could end up doing more damage than good to the wall.If once you have finished putting the first coat on and the wall feels rough you could face fill it.