# Forum Home Renovation Painting  Undercoating Gyprock

## gregt

I have to start painting our reno and was looking for some Acrylic undercoat for the new gyprock. There seems to be a few around and of course they all say their product is better than the rest. One was called "Gypseal" at $220/20ltr :Frown:  . Any ideas on the best economical way to do this job that I am looking sooooo forward to starting.
Regards
Greg

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## markharrison

I just used the cheapest acrylic sealer I could buy. As far as I can tell, they're all the same. 
I must put on hundreds of litres of paint over the years, and all I can say is, never again!

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## peter_sm

I just used a name brand sealer. The one in particular I used was Solver brand.

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## Dean

We used "Evencover Professional". Has done a good job so far and dont think it was too pricey off memory.

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## munruben

I just used a cheap sealer last time and it worked well. I have also used an acrylic paint and that seemed to work just as well as the sealer. $220  seems a bit dear for 20Ltrsr but then again I havent been looking at them lately.

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## gregt

I spoke to the paint shop and the guy said not to worry about preping the ceiling. He said no-one does it anymore just the walls! Some how I doubt that is the case but I was a bit worried as he "should know".

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## MrFixIt

Hi  

> I spoke to the paint shop and the guy said not to worry about preping the ceiling. He said no-one does it anymore just the walls! Some how I doubt that is the case but I was a bit worried as he "should know".

  I guess "no-one does it anymore" because idiots like him tell less knowledgeable people not to do it. :Doh:   
If you WANT to do a PROPER job then YES do seal  :2thumbsup:  the ceilings especially if there is any posibility of steam/moisture gathering in he area. 
GOOD preparation make the rest of the job go much easier and produces a better result. I would think that the paint shop guy is a "retailer" not an ex painter. 
Also, you many notice "flaws" or defects in the gyprock after the sealer has been applied. If so such problems are more easilyt resolved BEFORE you put on the final top coat of paint  :Smilie:  
WHY would you want to use expensive PAINT directly on gyprock and have it soak in to the gyprock possibly in an uneven finish? SEAL IT FIRST  :2thumbsup:  with a good quality sealer - any good quality sealer will do. 
The Gypseal is probably for use on "real" plaster not Gyprock that has athe paper cover. 
FWIW, I just repainted the master bedroom in my house. This house is 30+ years old. It was not built by top quality tradesmen (unfortunately). This room has been painted at least FOUR times. This repaint would now be the fifth coat of paint. In the process of preparing the wall I had to scrape back some of the paint. Hmmm? "That paint is a bit loose!" scraped a bit more, hmmm MORE paint is coming off?? 
It ended up that I had to peel *ALL* the paint off the wall. It came off in SHEETS almost like wallpaper. *I am referring to ALL THE PREVIOUS LAYERS OF PAINT!* :Shock:   It was right down to the plaster!! 
The image with the white line across the wall is where I put the scraper under the paint and walked across the room, the paint just peeled straight off. 
So, IMHO you can't beat GOOD preparation.  :Biggrin:   This wall now has TWO coats of sealer on it and even now there are still a few "pinholes" in the plaster finish. 
It turned out ok though I really should have done more work on the newly sealed wall. :Frown:

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## ADDS

I have worked for a painter who uses ceiling paint as his undercoat, it worked well, stuck to the surface well, was cheap, but extremely difficult to sand or prep up. Bare gyprock needs an undercoat. If the undercoat is thick, make sure you water it down a little bit, so you can roll it out better. The best undercoat is paperfaced sealer made by haymes, is about $200 for 20lts. The beauty of this product is it hides the flushing marks on gyrock walls the best. One coats looks like you have put two coats of paint on. I paint for a living and would only use this on my house.

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## cyco

hey gregt gypseal is wattyl's trade plaster sealer not a bad product but there is better around, i just find it a bit thin and some colours don't cover over it quite as well, but you could always tint it to your wall colour, price you were given is a bit over the top, i just looked up the trade price and i pay $85 for a 20lt.
with the ceilings you don't have to seal them unless you are using a product other than a flat ceiling paint(flat as in sheen), the main thing is to get any excess dust off, that applies to the walls as well. the sealer want stop any more moisture unless you use an oil based sealer as all acrylics are porous, in saying that i seal most ceilings as it is a cheaper product than ceiling paint and i put 3 coats min on everything.
just find a plasterboard sealer at a good price and paint away, i'm pretty sure that if it's a brand name it does what it's ment too. 
simon

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## Tools

Mr.fixit, those pics look like the walls are solid plaster rather than plasterboard...am I right? 
Tools

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## MrFixIt

Hi  

> Mr.fixit, those pics look like the walls are solid plaster rather than plasterboard...am I right? 
> Tools

  Yes, you are correct. 
I used it as an example of the NEED to seal/undercoat before painting, not specifically as a reference to gyprock though  :Smilie:  and to highlight the fact that there are some idiots "out there" that SHOULD know better  :Doh:   when they are providing advice.

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## gregt

Here's another bit of advice I was given today from the Paint Place. 
"You should not undercoat new Gyprock for 6 weeks!" :Frown:   
I didn't want to argue with the lady because she was quite a hotty :Biggrin:   
Any thoughts on that one? 
Greg

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## Cobber

I went to the dulux store and bought the trade undercoat/sealer...20 litres...about $160 i think.  Was cheaper than Bunnings although Bunnings sells topcoat cheaper for some reason.

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## rod1949

I'm about to start painting a whole houseful of gyprock. Saturday I went to Bunnings and priced Wattyl Id Sealer/Undercoat at $138.00 for 10lts. Then went just down the road to the Wattyl Trade shop and for the same price ($138.00) bought *two* 10lt tins of it.

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## Jacksin

This is getting a tad off topic but Bunnies have a 'deal' with Wattyl in SA that IF Wattyl Trade centres sell any paint quantities less than 1ltr, Bunnies wont stock their product. 
So if I want small quantities of paint for touch-ups etc I go to a Trade centre where I purchase 1ltr (for Bunnies price of 500ml) On larger quantities I still go to the Trade Centre as I don't like Bunnies staff.

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## Metal Head

> Here's another bit of advice I was given today from the Paint Place. "You should not undercoat new Gyprock for 6 weeks!" I didn't want to argue with the lady because she was quite a hotty   Any thoughts on that one?  Greg

  Hi Greg, 
I will be painting (sealing) gyprock sometime in the next 3 weeks so I was interested to know if that comment was true. However, I went onto the CSR home page and got a PDF file (on the link below) about the material but I didn't see anything about leaving it for 6 weeks. I will send an email to their technical department (within the next fortnight) to clarify the remark.  http://www.gyprock.com.au/technical/...958A4CE598.pdf 
In the meantime can anyone else give an opinion on which sealer is best?, or have all the painters given their opinion? 
Cheers
MH

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## rod1949

The literature says "make sure the joint treatment is thoroughly dry before applying a sealer".  Lets face it, the muck has to be thoroughly dry before it can be sanded.

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## Metal Head

> The literature says "make sure the joint treatment is thoroughly dry before applying a sealer".  Lets face it, the muck has to be thoroughly dry before it can be sanded.

  That is why we presently have our 2 oil heaters in our laundry and toilet so when the plasterer returns tomorrow morning it will hopefully be totally dry.

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## rod1949

> That is why we presently have our 2 oil heaters in our laundry and toilet so when the plasterer returns tomorrow morning it will hopefully be totally dry.

   Well thats blown our carbon credits.  Yep I know what you mean, where I've laid the muck on a bit heavy its taken at least 2 days to dry.

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