Decorating for shafts of Sunlight

[Spinny]

So what type and standard of decorating is needed to deal with shafts of sunlight onto walls ?

This is just mist coated at present and looks and feels to the touch perfectly fine in ordinary light. However once the sunlight shines across it flaws and almost vertical striations show up.

Will this disappear when painted ? Is something particular required to get a good finish ?

 

 

[-rick-]

I've heard it called a level 5 plaster finish though I'm not sure that's entirely the right term in the UK. It's done at the plastering stage not painting stage, though I'd guess you could do a lot of sanding to get there.

[jack]

28 minutes ago, Spinny said:

Will this disappear when painted ? Is something particular required to get a good finish ?

 

We have almost the identical situation on a large wall high up in a double-height section in our kitchen.

 

My best guess (based on our experience) is that it will be exactly the same when you paint it. 

 

I doubt you'll be able to completely sort it, but you could try some judicious sanding with a long, flat sanding block to knock the high spots off, followed by careful application of scraped on filler with a wide trowel to fill any low bits.

 

 

The affected wall in my house is almost east-west, with a large window to the east. In our case, there's only a short period - a few minutes, I guess - on sunny mornings in Autumn where this effect is visible. We decided it wasn't worth trying to do anything about.

[Nickfromwales]

Pole sanding will be your friend. 
 

Apply about 5 generous coats of Leyland high opacity Matt white paint and leave to dry for a week. 
 

Then when you sand, the paint acts as a surface filler. 
 

You’ll almost instantly see plaster pop through here and there, where the highest of high points are, and you just then avoid those thereafter.

 

The more you repeat this process, the better it’ll get. 
 

Don’t sand in one place, you need to do long random strokes.

 

Good news is you only really see this where the sun is an enemy and not a friend. 

[Spinny]

2 hours ago, Nickfromwales said:

Good news is you only really see this where the sun is an enemy and not a friend. 

Not sure what that means - only in hot climates ?

 

Yes house is roughly East facing at the back, so we get the morning sun pouring in. Rather nice to see it when you come down in the morning. And one of the nice things about rooflights is having sun beams moving around the room.

 

I also have a rooflight flush with the top of a wall for the lighting effect. Guess I may somehow need a level 5 finish there. The spouse is going to have a lot of sanding to do, and I am going to have a lot of cold suppers.

 

Now googling level 5 and seems debateable whether it is done by a third plaster coat or as part of decorating. Seems difficult to tell how much is down to the thin mist coat crudely applied and the paint texture, and how much is down to flaws. If I could just find an artificial sun I could try experimenting.

[Big Jimbo]

Can i be honest. I would be dissapointed if that was the finish that my plasterer left for me. I'd be putting a coat of easy fill over that. Then a large rotary sander with a very fine grit paper to get it better than what it is now. Sorry, if i'm the odd One out.

[Oz07]

What about this one i seen on a job the other year. It did catch the sun but my God it was rough. 

[Oz07]

The big boys get their agents to go round with a bit of copper tube, shine torches up the wall right on the angle and they draw on the wall with the copper all the rough bits. Then a man comes with easy fill and a cordless big makita disc sander and puts it right. It's literally a process of the build with the state of some of the site plastering. Called patchers. Round my way the plastering firms also do the decorating so there's no quibbles about who's job it is. Perhaps @nod does similar?

[nod]

It’s really poor skimming Looks like it’s been done with a silly flexi float or speed skim It should be closed off and flat 

 

Heres one I did earlier 

It should look and feel flat before it’s mist coated 

[Spinny]

33 minutes ago, Big Jimbo said:

Can i be honest.

It is the only way to be.

I actually thought the plasterer was ok this time, but I have naff all experience of plasterers. All I can say is in other light, including the ceiling downlights it looks fine. I can run my fingertips over it and it feels fine.

 

[Nickfromwales]

2 hours ago, Spinny said:

Not sure what that means - only in hot climates ?

Where the thing shines...... tough crowd, man.

[Nickfromwales]

2 hours ago, Oz07 said:

What about this one i seen on a job the other year. It did catch the sun but my God it was rough. 

I've seen better rendering outside ffs.

 

That's total dogshit.

[Big Jimbo]

10 hours ago, Nickfromwales said:

That's total dogshit.

Say it like it is @Nickfromwales . True. Factual. Dogshit.

[Mr Punter]

13 hours ago, Oz07 said:

What about this one i seen on a job the other year. It did catch the sun but my God it was rough. 

 

If those handrail brackets stand off 100mm and their shadow is 2000mm, the shadow exaggerates the imperfections 20 times, so a 1mm deviation or lump shows as if it is 20mm.  I don't think anyone could get this looking good with that light.

[scottishjohn]

10 minutes ago, Mr Punter said:

 

If those handrail brackets stand off 100mm and their shadow is 2000mm, the shadow exaggerates the imperfections 20 times, so a 1mm deviation or lump shows as if it is 20mm.  I don't think anyone could get this looking good with that light.

my old mate barry if he hadn,t  already had a stroke   would have one looking at all this crap plastering

 are there no decent plasters anymore ?

[scottishjohn]

19 hours ago, Spinny said:

So what type and standard of decorating is needed to deal with shafts of sunlight onto walls ?

This is just mist coated at present and looks and feels to the touch perfectly fine in ordinary light. However once the sunlight shines across it flaws and almost vertical striations show up.

Will this disappear when painted ? Is something particular required to get a good finish ?

 a decent plaster    to start with 

 do they not polish it these days  that will show all the problems before you get to painting, 

Edited October 7 by scottishjohn

[Mr Punter]

2 minutes ago, scottishjohn said:

are there no decent plasters anymore ?

 

No.  The building industry has been de-skilling for years.  Most people on site are average at best.

[Spinny]

1 hour ago, Mr Punter said:

 

If those handrail brackets stand off 100mm and their shadow is 2000mm, the shadow exaggerates the imperfections 20 times, so a 1mm deviation or lump shows as if it is 20mm.  I don't think anyone could get this looking good with that light.

Excellent point. 

You also see it with the slimmer, perhaps 10mm deep circular plates on the inside of the handrails against the wall. Their shadows extend perhaps 200mm down the wall.

[Nickfromwales]

1 hour ago, Mr Punter said:

 

If those handrail brackets stand off 100mm and their shadow is 2000mm, the shadow exaggerates the imperfections 20 times, so a 1mm deviation or lump shows as if it is 20mm.  I don't think anyone could get this looking good with that light.

They haven’t loaded up the joints first, not even an attempt here afaic.

 

Thos was (is) screaming out for another set over the existing. It looks like it was attempted in one heavy set tbh.

[Nickfromwales]

1 hour ago, Mr Punter said:

 

No.  The building industry has been de-skilling for years.  Most people on site are average at best.

Agreed.

 

That’s why I keep tempting the best one I’ve seen in ages to come away to work on my jobs. He’s worked for other members here, about to do another shortly (EWI + thin coat rendering, then dot & dabbing and skimming the interior for us). 
 

When you see a methodical, conscientious plasterer at work you soon realise it takes time, experience, patience, and a lot of GAF.

 

Without the latter, no trade will shine.

 

I’ve watched ‘my’ chap stop / start the plastering on ceilings, and even gallery-height walls / stairwells (in accordance with temporary stairs out / final stairs in etc), and you’d struggle to tell that this happened, and that’s before the decorators had his crack at it.

 

I met one plasterer down in Dorset a few years back and I offered him double his day rate to come away to do another clients new build house for me, and he just smiled and shook his head. He was drowning in work at home, purely from reputation. His work was probably the best I’ve ever seen.

 

These people are still out there, but none are young. Look hard peeps, as the walls are the things you’re left staring at for a bloody long time! 
 

Too many of the “that’s good enough” posse, or others who say they can plaster but it’s not their trade or 1st profession.

 

A very good DECORATOR (not painter) is another thing people just fail to recognise the importance of. These can be the difference between good and excellent, for not much more investment. 
 

Excellent plastering can be slaughtered by a poor painter. 
 

Choose these two trades well folks. 

[Kelvin]

I was disappointed with our plastering too. Fortunately there are only two areas where we have this problem although it did change our lighting design a bit as wall lighting will also highlight it. I did as described above. Sand m, easy fill, sand repeat until it was flat and then several coats of paint. 

Edited October 7 by Kelvin

[Mr Punter]

26 minutes ago, Nickfromwales said:

They haven’t loaded up the joints first

Looks like they did, with Super Skunk.

[Nickfromwales]

High opacity paint (specifically designed for new plaster) can be pole sanded with relative ease. 
 

I always say to start with a good obliteration, so maybe 2 coats sprayed or 3-4 coats by roller, and then pole sand it back. 
 

Then coat again to cover the bits of plaster that breaks through, on the high points, and examine the wall again (in areas where it matters) and this will yield great results off the bat without getting the filler out. 
 

You use the HO paint as a surface filler, and it’s quite chalky, which gets you to the pint where you can see if filler is actually necessary.

 

Beware aggressive sanding methods, as they’ll send you backwards not forwards, gouging and troughing the surface making it worse than when you started.

 

Watched a guy in one job in Gravenhill apply filler, then sand it all back off, to then sat (expletive deleted) and apply more filer, which he then sanded back off…. then (expletive deleted) again and then more filler. And repeat. 
 

Just simply couldn’t comprehend that it needed very light filling, and even lighter sanding. 

[Nickfromwales]

1 minute ago, Mr Punter said:

Looks like they did, with Super Skunk.

A LOT of that goes on. Just crazy.

 

2 roofers (father and son) refused to go up on the roof until they’d had “breakfast”. 

[scottishjohn]

when I asked my plasterer why he was not polishing it 

the answer was that the paint would not stick

 

that was  a cop out so i would not see the undulations 

 

 I still have a complete wall in my garage  at old house that barry did 

 

never painted it  cos i think it would have been a worse finish with paint 

 LOL

 unfortunatley he had his stroke  a year before my new house was ready for plastering 

 hes ok now but not got the strength in his arms and shoulders to do plasetering 

 his party trick  was to grip a normal rafter with his fingers and do pull ups 

 thats a grip

 

at 70!!!

 

 he.s 80 now