ᐅ Experience with paint-on or roll-on plaster

Hello,

our basement will be delivered with smooth-formed concrete walls (except for the stairwell, which will be fully wallpapered and covered with the same tiles as the ground floor).

Since we plan to set up a guest room in the basement, we are considering applying a paintable or roll-on plaster finish to the walls and ceilings in the rooms.

Has anyone had experience with this and could possibly recommend which plaster would be best to use?

Best regards,

Dirk

Just applying plaster alone probably won’t look very good, as it won’t cover any unevenness. At least not with the decorative plaster that is applied with a paint roller, since it’s too thin for that. I would likely glue gypsum fiberboards using dabs of adhesive and then treat them with plaster after filling the joints. With proper workmanship, this will look significantly better, can easily be done yourself, and won’t look like a makeshift solution afterward.

Hello,

yes, just using the plaster alone won’t work – that’s clear.

What would you recommend to make the joint edges of the individual concrete elements smooth?

Probably filling and sanding – what would be the best filler compound to use?

Can the brush-on plaster also be easily applied on the ceiling? Or is it better to use traditional wallpapering and then painting there?

Regards,

Dirk

So, we only used plaster on the ceiling because wallpapering there would have been too tedious. Depending on how uneven the concrete is, filling can also become quite labor-intensive. In the basement, we didn’t apply plaster to the bare concrete blocks; instead, we attached drywall panels throughout, which our predecessor had glued on in blobs. This already provides a certain basic level of flatness. Although I would never use drywall panels myself, but always gypsum fiber boards. In my opinion, cardboard has no place on walls (although I’m sure every drywall installer would disagree with me – whatever). I’ve seen what the previous owner’s cleaning water did to the drywall panels; everything slowly disintegrates. Also, sanding old plaster off drywall panels is a nightmare because the cardboard backing comes off entirely.

I wouldn’t just fill in with compound, it’s too exhausting and expensive. I once tried to even out old rough plaster (gypsum-based plaster) on the ground floor with filler compound as a test. The alternative—simply tearing off the drywall panel along with the plaster from the wood panel underneath, where it was just nailed on—is much easier and faster. Filling takes forever and is annoying. Plus, you still have to sand it, and once isn’t enough. It’s more like: rough filling, sanding, fine filling, sanding, finishing filler, and possibly sanding once more.

So, as I said, I prefer glued-on gypsum fiber boards, since you only need to fill and sand the joints once.

Hello! Would a textile plaster (decorative plaster made from natural fibers) be an option for you? It also makes the basement feel cozy. Additionally, it provides some sound insulation, which might be important when dealing with concrete walls.