Decorating FAQs

There are many different varnish products available, but they basically fall into two groups - water-based varnish and polyurethane varnish.

Water-based products are quick drying, easy to use, low odour, environmentally friendly, non-yellowing, and you can wash your brush in water.

Polyurethane and solvent-based products take 16-24 hours to dry, have a strong smell, have high VOCs (volatile organic compounds), need white spirit to clean up with, and can yellow with age.

Generally, polyurethane products are slightly harder wearing than water-based. All varnishes can darken the surface to which they are applied.

Only use 'floor varnish' on your wooden floor.

Using a cream cleaner and an old toothbrush can clean up sealant and grouting quite well. Mould should be treated with a fungicide such as Cuprinol No More Mould or Polycell 3 in1 Mould Killer as ordinary cleaners will not kill off the mould spores.

If the grouting is only discoloured, there is no need to replace it. You can use a grout-whitening product to freshen it up, or alternatively use a coloured grout reviver to add a new look to the tiles.

If some of the grout is missing or in really bad condition, you will find it better to scrape out the old grout using a grout rake. Use an old toothbrush to brush out all the loose grouting, before replacing with new waterproof grouting.

To paint a concrete floor it is best to use a floor paint specifically for the purpose. There are various makes available on the market that are suitable for concrete. All floor paints are tough and durable, but for a garage or workshop floor use Garage Floor Paint.

To prepare the floor for painting, make sure the surface is clean, grease free and dry. Any loose flaking material should be removed using a wire brush and vacuumed up. Use an exterior filler to repair any cracks in the surface. Newly laid concrete should be left to dry-out for at least one month before painting, and any salt deposits should be removed with a wire brush.

Before painting with solvent-based floor paint, bare and powdery surfaces should be sealed with a concrete sealer first.

Use a chemical paint stripper or brick cleaner to remove the paint. This can be a hard job because of the heavy texture.

Stipple a chemical paint stripper or brick cleaner onto the paint and use a scraper to remove the surface paint. For ingrained paint use a stiff wire brush to help you shift it. You may need to reapply the stripper. Follow the instructions carefully and try a test patch first before leaving the product on for too long. Follow the manufacturer's instructions.

Rinse the bricks wells after stripping the paint. Using a high-pressure jet washer will help shift any remaining paint.

If the caulking is cracked it is probably over cured and will not be easily removed using solvents. You will have to scrape it out, which is not too difficult if it is cracked. It should preferably be replaced by a caulk, which remains mastic, but if you want it to a specific colour you may have to go for one of the acrylic based sealants.

To prevent the next coat of paint from peeling, you will need to start by brushing down the walls to remove any loose sandy material. Then apply a stabilising solution.

The final step is to use an exterior masonry paint such as Sandtex or Dulux weathershield.

Firstly, you will need to allow the plaster to dry out thoroughly before decorating. You can usually see a change in colour as plaster dries. Once the plaster has dried, a white powdery deposit called efflorescence will form on the surface. Wipe this off with some sacking and repeat until the efflorescence ceases to appear.

Painting

If you are painting the surface only use paint suitable for new plaster, as vinyl emulsions will not allow moisture to escape. Dulux Trade Supermatt is specially designed for this purpose and comes in white and Natural Hints. Several thin coats of paint can give a better finish than one thick coat.

You can also buy special Plaster Sealer which can be used before painting on bare plaster, plasterboard and powdery surfaces.

Wallpapering

If you decide to wallpaper, you will need to 'size' your walls. The size will do two things: prevent the bare walls from absorbing the paste on the back of your wallpaper; and make it easier to slide the wallpaper into position on the walls. You can buy size or you can apply the same paste, as you would use to hang your wallpaper. In both cases, spread evenly with a paste brush over the whole surface.

Your problem is caused by dust coming under the skirting board and entering the carpet. This could be accompanied by moisture but you would probably have seen other signs of this moisture.

To overcome the problem you should lift the carpet at the edges and check that there is no gap below the skirting. If there is, fill it using a silicone sealant. It is important that the floor floats relative to the wall and only a silicone sealant is sufficiently resilient for this. You can then glue a small quadrant or Scotia bead to the skirting. Your carpet, if you are careful, should go back in position without cutting, although it may require some adjustment depending upon how it was originally laid.

Small holes and dents can be filled with interior filler, but if the hole is too large the filler will fall into the gap behind the plasterboard.

To fill medium sized holes you will need to patch the hole with an off cut of plasterboard.

• Trim the ragged edges of the hole with a sharp craft knife, to create a square even hole.
• Cut a piece of plasterboard big enough to fill the hole and overlap it by 25mm. Make sure that it will go through the hole you have cut. The idea is that this piece will be stuck to the back of the plasterboard.
• Make a hole in your patch piece and thread some string through it knotting one end round a nail to use as an anchor.
• Apply some adhesive to the front of your off cut. Put the off cut through the hole and using the string pull it up against the inside of the hole. Hold the string tight. You can then fill the area using interior filler.
• Once the filler has dried cut off the string, and apply a skim coat of filler flush with the wall.

For larger holes, you need to cut back to a vertical studding, add in some horizontal timber battens (called noggings), you can then cut a piece of plasterboard to fit the hole exactly, and nail into the studding and battens. You can then fill and sand flush with the wall.

This is a lot of very hard work, especially on ceilings. You can use a steam wallpaper stripper to soften the textured coating and scrape it off, which is a very messy and sticky job. Wash the area well after stripping, with hot water and detergent. You may need to repeat the process and do a second scraping. If the surface has been painted, you will need to score through the paint to allow the steam to penetrate.

Nitromors make a Textured Paint Remover that can be used to help soften the paint.

There are also lots of products now available to use to smooth out unwanted textured surfaces, especially if the pattern is not too pronounced:

• Artex Skimcoat, which does not need any plastering skills.
• Covertex is a paint that can be used to restore a textured surface to smooth.

Alternatively, you could apply a skim coat of finishing plaster. It is a job requiring some skill and you can only achieve a smooth finish with some practise. It may be better to get a professional to apply the skim coat of finishing plaster.

Never try to sand off a painted textured surface, as this creates a lot of very unpleasant dust, which could be dangerous.

Views differ as to whether it is possible to paint kitchen worktops, whatever they are made of. Our opinion and that of many paint manufacturers is that it is not possible to paint a work surface in a kitchen. A painted worktop would not be durable enough for its normal use and isn't recommended as a food preparation surface.

As a good alternative you could tile your worktop or have it laminated.

You can have your walls re-skimmed with plaster; this is best done by a professional, as it is a difficult job to do yourself if you have no experience.

However, if the walls are not too bad it may be possible for you to repair the walls yourself:

1. Remove all loose and flaking material.
2. Use interior filler in powder form to fill the larger holes. Build up the filler in layers, allowing to dry each time. Do not try and fill the hole in one go as the filler will shrink and fall out. If you have lots of large areas to fill, using plaster is more economical.
3. Use the interior filler to skim over uneven patches. This type of filler is the easiest to apply in very thin layers using a filling knife. You will need to sand when dry so as to blend in the repaired areas into the wall surface.
4. You may need to fill and sand some areas several times to achieve a smooth even surface. Spending some time doing this will greatly improve the wall.
5. For cracks around door and window frames use ready mixed flexible filler, and smooth off while wet as these fillers can be difficult to sand.

If necessary, you may need to hang a 1000 grade lining paper to give you the best surface to paint on if your walls are still slightly uneven.

You can buy thicker flexible paints that will cover minor flaws and cracks. Look at Polycell Evencell for a smooth finish, as this works very well and is easy to apply. It is only available in white, but can be painted over.

Coving is relatively simple to fit into a room. The polystyrene type has been designed with DIY in mind because it is light and easy to handle. However, the plaster coving does give a perceptively better finish but is heavy and requires more skill in handling. The major difficulty is having to mitre the corners of the coving.

In both cases you will need to cut the coving to fit the lengths of the walls, mitre the ends and apply adhesive to the bottom and top edges.

Always cut the coving for the whole wall before you start to check your mitres. With the adhesive on the back of the coving push it into place on the wall and hold for approximately one minute. Paint when you have completed the whole room.

Vinyl flooring tiles are very easy to remove and replace.

To remove the old tiles use a wide scraper, a 3-inch wallpaper scraper is ideal, and a hammer. If the tiles are difficult to remove a blast of heat from a hairdryer will help. Once you have the edge of a tile up it is relatively simple to strip off.

If there are any thick patches of glue remove them by using 'Toluene' - an adhesive remover, this product is also known as Evo-stik Adhesive Remover.

Once you have removed all the tiles check the surface level of the remaining adhesive. If, as is probable, this is protruding or there are holes on the floor, skim over the whole floor with self-levelling compound. This will take 48 hours to be ready for laying your new tiles.

The process is very simple, however it is difficult to achieve an even design all over. Using an artex roller, apply one coat of artex over an area of approximately 1 square metre, then create your desired patterned finish, for example, stippling, waving or combing.

When you have completed the first area repeat this procedure until the entire ceiling is covered.

To paint a concrete floor it is best to use a floor paint specifically for the purpose. There are various makes available on the market that are suitable for concrete. All floor paints are tough and durable, but for a garage or workshop floor use Garage Floor Paint.

To prepare the floor for painting, make sure the surface is clean, grease free and dry. Any loose flaking material should be removed using a wire brush and vacuumed up. Use an exterior filler to repair any cracks in the surface. Newly laid concrete should be left to dry-out for at least one month before painting, and any salt deposits should be removed with a wire brush.

Before painting with solvent-based floor paint, bare and powdery surfaces should be sealed with a concrete sealer first.