How to Plaster a Coarse Wall to Paint It

Paint won't usually hide a coarse, rough, uneven wall. That wall is going to continue to look coarse and uneven after you repaint, and in fact could look worse (if you go with a lighter colored paint). The time to fix the problem is before you paint. Skim-coating is the process of spreading thin plaster over the whole wall to fill in the low spots and smooth out the course surface.

Tarps
Ladder
10-inch drywall knife
Drywall sander
Skimcoat (thin plaster)

Instructions

- 1
  Take all the furniture out of the room. Lay out tarps at the bottom of the wall. Set up your ladder.
- 2
  Scrape the wall with your drywall knife, taking off any loose paint or plaster.
- 3
  Go over the whole wall with your vibrating sander, just enough to take off any shine.
- 4
  Spread skimcoat plaster over the wall starting at a top corner and moving down and across, using your drywall knife. Run the knife at a shallow angle over the surface so the plaster goes on very flat and thin, filling the low spots.
- 5
  Let the plaster set for six hours.
- 6
  Run your drywall knife over the surface at a steep angle to knock off any ridges or lines.
- 7
  Spread on a second coat of skimcoat plaster in the same manner as you did the first, in a thin, flat layer. Let it dry for 12 hours.
- 8
  Lightly sand the skimcoated wall with your drywall sanding pad. The wall is now ready for painting.

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