Distemper ??

[Wilson]

Came across this term recently, not heard of it before, apparently its a bit of a nightmare to plaster over !?

Anyone got any advice/guidance ?

Much Appreciated.

 

[tomcat]

its an old paint they used to use.
and yes as you said its a nightmare to plaster over, once wet it wipes of and is also dusty when dry.
best bet is to try and wipe it of, maybe with damp rag etc. you can plaster over it but it does somtimes come away so its not advisable.

using bonding agent might be a different case though as i have not used that yet im used to pva so ill let others comment on that.

aj

 

[Wilson]

Is there any sure fire way of telling if a surface has been coated in distemper prior to commencing work ?

 

[magic]

Hello their mate you can tell if a ceiling or wall has distempa in it by rubbing your fingers over the artex and if it is like dust or powdery then i would advise you to remove the artex alltogether cos if you dont then you will of skimmed whatever you are skimming for nothing cos once old artex has been wet then the water gets behind the artex and then the artex would just come away from wall or ceiling..
Best thing to do is find out if it is old artex or not by doing the finger test as we call it up here in the NORTH EAST ( if dusty it is old and has to come off ) ( if solid it will be ok to skim)
If solid then you can give a good coat of uni bond then a coat of BONDING COAT so that you get the wall
or ceiling flat then you can skim
make sure you use bonding coat , dos`nt matter how thin the artex is you should use bonding coat as you should know that when plaster dries out it shrinks and you can see the artex through the skim once its painted..
thats my advice to you anyway ......................Happy Skimming

 

[magic]

Sorry mate forgot to tell you that if it is old artex then if you just give the wall or ceiling a good coat of unibond and leave to soak overnight then it will just scrape off a piece of piss
CHEERS
MAGICMICK

 

[Wilson]

Cheers for the feedback Magic but I'm a little confused now - I thought that when distemper was applied to a surface it looked no different from your everyday painted finish rather than a textured artex type finish !?

 

[bodplasterer]

Like magic said distemper Has a dusty feel to it, and it is usually all flakey. You usually find it on old propertys. The trouble with it is that it some times peels away. If that happens try boarding over it with mechanical fixings, other than that needle gun or hack the walls off.

 

[f_man]

distemper is an old powder based paint that becomes live once made wet or plastered on. you can get around it by glossing over the distemper letting it dry overnight glue(pva) over the gloss ,then you can skim no problem have done this plenty of times myself

 

[Pug]

Artex do a product called stabilex for sorting distemper, needs 12 hours to dry though.

 

[Wilson]

Call me Stevie Wonder but I cant seem to find anything about 'stabilex' on the Artex website - http://www.bpbartex.co.uk/artex_home.htm

Have you got any links to the product so I can take a closer look?

Cheers Pug

 

[Pug]

if you google "artex stabilex" you'll find some

 

[Wilson]

So once you've slapped on your coat of 'artex stabilex' is the surface ready to be plastered or is it advisable to then slap on a coat of pva or bond it?

 

[Pug]

I've always given it a coat of pva for good measure, it doesn't say whether you should or not,but i figure it can't hurt!