ᐅ Wall construction on lime-cement plaster (healthy indoor environment / mineral-based)

CornforthWhite schrieb:

I’m not clear why someone would actively choose that. I assume it's because of lower costs, less effort, and easier handling.

Objectively, the room climate doesn't care whether a fleece is embedded in the plaster or simply glued on.
If done properly, you can achieve perfectly smooth walls with painter’s fleece.
In terms of application, both methods are relatively similar.

For a layperson doing the work themselves, paintable fleece is much easier (I say this as someone who has tried both).
Completely smoothing an entire wall without any waves by applying joint compound (and sanding, then applying more compound, and sanding again) was something I couldn’t manage.
With paintable fleece, it’s just one sanding, one priming, one application of the fleece, and then painting. Done, baby-smooth wall.

Thank you all for the interesting discussion. I don’t know what latex walls look like, as I have never worked with them. It’s good that you warned me in advance; I probably would have regretted it later. I have now decided to go with dispersion silicate paint.

nordanney schrieb:

Objectively, the indoor climate doesn’t care whether a fleece is embedded in the plaster or simply glued on.
If done properly, you can get perfectly smooth walls using painter’s fleece.
In terms of application, both methods are quite similar.

Tolentino schrieb:

For a layperson doing it themselves, painter’s fleece is much easier (at least that’s my claim, having tried both).
Getting an entire wall completely smooth and free of waves by plastering (and sanding, replastering, and sanding again) didn’t work out for me.
Painter’s fleece means sanding once, priming once, gluing once, and then painting. Done—baby-smooth walls.

I see it a bit differently, but I didn’t express myself clearly enough in my post. We embedded fiberglass mesh as crack reinforcement into plastered walls and ceilings in an old apartment. There was a 3–5mm (1/8–3/16 inch) fine plaster skim coat over the mesh, which is much coarser in weave than painter’s fleece. In my opinion, this results in a higher quality-looking finish compared to the wallpaper-like appearance of painter’s fleece. Besides the indoor climate, what bothers me about the painter’s fleece glued onto the walls in my current rental is that you can clearly see where holes were drilled (and then filled and repainted), or where someone has scratched the wall because the texture of the filler doesn’t match the painter’s fleece. I imagine it’s probably different with embedded fine fleece, but with glued-on fleece, isn’t this always a potential issue? I’ve heard this criticism from others as well. After all, there’s no substantial “body” on the surface, so once holes are filled, it’s hard to sand them properly.

Yes, plastering and sanding is definitely more work and a bit more demanding—that was my guess as to why many people choose painter’s fleece. However, we didn’t find it too difficult to do ourselves with the right tools (the large high-quality drywall knives and a Planex sander are worth their weight in gold). After the first room, my husband got it almost perfect (and now I find myself hypercritically noticing the shockingly poor plastering in many homes done by so-called professionals—a classic “can’t unsee it” phenomenon). We will definitely do it the same way in our planned new build, but of course, it requires some practice and it’s not exactly a hobby you’d call fun.

Christadoreen schrieb:

Thank you all for the interesting discussion. I don’t know what latex walls look like, as I have never worked with them. It’s good that you warned me, I probably would have regretted it later. I have now decided to go with dispersion silicate paint.

Good choice, latex paint really is an eyesore (and also unpleasant if you want to remove it from the wall later). By the way, when our cat was very sick, she soiled the hallway walls with vomit and very runny stool, and both could be wiped off completely from the dispersion silicate paint there using a damp microfiber cloth. So normal dirt, like from a wet dog or similar, really shouldn’t be a problem.

I think there is often a misunderstanding because the term "painting fleece" is unfortunately used for many different things (it’s even used to describe floor protection fleece). I am talking about a properly heavy (150 g/m² (4.4 oz/yd²) and above) cellulose-based fleece that is vapor-permeable and very smooth to the touch. In my opinion, after painting, it simply looks like a smooth wall. Any surface texture then comes only from the paint roller.

So accidental scratches and similar damage usually don’t occur with this type of painting fleece. In my house, I also tend not to drill many holes in the walls just to end up with nothing on that spot later.

But yes, I think you’d probably notice a plastered patch more easily than on a wall that has already been fully plastered. However, it might be worth trying whether you could cut out a larger section of the painting fleece, reattach it, and repaint over it. In any case, you don’t see the seams between the fleece strips after painting.