How to putty walls DIY - preparing walls for wallpaper or painting

How to do it yourself, apply the leveling and finishing layers of putty. Preparing walls for wallpapering or painting - plastering, sanding walls

Hello everyone, in this material we will talk about putting putty on the walls, or, in other words, about preparing walls for wallpaper or painting.

Plastering walls is the most important operation, the guarantee of which is the result of quality during further work, such as painting or pasting walls with wallpaper.

Without proper preparation of the walls, during the subsequent pasting of them with wallpaper, various difficulties may arise, such as: partial or complete peeling of the wallpaper, divergence of wallpaper seams or the impossibility of normal joining of wallpaper canvases, protruding bulges and concavities of the walls giving shadows and glare on the glued wallpaper.



When painting, the surface of the wall, in general, should be perfect, since a thin coating of paint is unable to hide any defects, on the contrary, emphasizing and revealing them even more.

Walls with strong deviations are subject to preliminary plastering, the complexity of which depends on the unevenness of the walls themselves.
 Walls with a slope or strong defects are leveled with plaster along the beacons, while walls with minor irregularities, porous with small (local) defects can be leveled by applying a thin leveling plaster layer.

The plaster layer is applied where defects and deviations of the walls cannot be covered with a putty, the permissible thickness of which is too small for this.

Tool used to putty walls

To putty the walls, use a spatula, one of which is narrow (overlay), and the second is wide, the width of which depends on the specifics of the putty surface.
 

For example, in cramped conditions and narrow spaces, it is more convenient to work with a not too wide spatula, but it is much more convenient to putty on large surfaces with a wider spatula, thanks to which you need to make fewer movements, as well as fewer marks and transitions from the tool remain on the wall.

When working with a wide spatula, more physical effort and skill is required.

The first (leveling) layer of putty

To prepare the walls for wallpapering, it is enough to apply two layers of water-soluble polymer putty. Why two layers? Everything is very simple, as a rule, the first layer of putty is applied with a thicker (leveling) layer, and it may not lie quite evenly.
After applying the first layer, risks and cavities may remain on the porous wall. The first layer of putty is made in order to maximize the leveling of the surface.



If you do not have enough experience, then after applying the first layer, significant irregularities may remain on the surface of the walls, which are best removed before applying the second layer. In such a situation, the unevenness must be sanded with a bar with sandpaper or a sanding mesh.

If the 1st layer was polished, then before applying the second, it is advisable to dust the wall surface by applying a layer of reinforcing soil.

Second layer of putty

The second layer of putty is applied already on a homogeneous surface and in a thinner layer, due to which the putty surface becomes even and smooth.

It is possible to apply the second layer on the scraper, thereby achieving a perfectly even and thin layer without transitions and notches from the spatula.

Identification of defects on the wall and their removal

After applying the second layer of putty, it is necessary to visually inspect the walls, the remaining defects must be sanded with a bar with sandpaper.



It is possible to quickly identify defects from puttying on the wall with the help of a directed bright light, installing the lamp as close to the wall as possible and directing the light from the lamp along the wall, irregularities, if any, will immediately become noticeable, casting a shadow on the wall.

In some cases, it may be necessary to reapply local putty in specific places, after which dry, these places are sanded, and the entire wall is treated with strengthening primer, after which it becomes ready for wallpapering the walls.

Such preparation will allow you to perfectly glue the wallpaper, make a normal joining of the canvases, and also, during subsequent repairs when removing the wallpaper from such walls, pasting with new wallpaper without additional repair of the walls.

The third layer of fine dispersion putty before painting the walls

In a situation where it is decided to paint the walls, after two-layer application of polymer putty, in order to achieve an ideal surface, it is advisable to apply another layer of fine-dispersion putty.

To apply the finishing layer of putty, I personally use ready-made putties, the so-called pastes, which are an ideally balanced material, it is convenient to apply such a paste, it has an ideal consistency for work. And with a sufficient level of skill, the application of such a paste can be done without global subsequent surface grinding.

A finely dispersed putty will allow you to close absolutely all pores and transitions, after drying of which, the surface becomes absolutely smooth and perfect, ready for painting even with a roller with a very fine nap.

Watch the video on how to level the walls with your own hands using putty

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