Plaster Wall
After you have stripped your walls back to plaster rendering, you are ready to apply paint or wallpaper. Paint can be applied directly onto plaster; emulsion paint is the preferred medium because it acts as a sealer and is not soaked in too much. New plaster, however, must be perfectly dry before painting, or patches of discolouration may occur. If oil-based paints are used, the paintwork may blister and peel off. Furthermore, efflorescence - white, crystalline deposits of salt - can appear on newly painted walls as the salts rise to the surface of the plaster as it dries.
Wallpaper also provides a good base surface for painting over, provided it is clean, dry, not torn and has no loose areas. If wallpaper is damaged, then painting over it will just make it worse. Always make a test patch first: a dark patterned wallpaper may require two or more coats of emulsion paint to cover it. You might find that dark patterns show up through your paint several days after painting.
Fill Cracks
If a wall is in good condition, all the preparation required is to wash it down, scrape off any loose material and make good any cracks or holes with filler. Rake out any loose plaster from cracks and holes with a scraper or filling knife and fill using an interior-grade cellulose filler mixed to a creamy consistency - or, if you prefer, use a ready-prepared filler. Dampen the plaster around and inside the crack with a wet paintbrush and press the filler well in. Leave the filler standing a little proud of the wall; some fillers shrink when they dry and any that dries proud can easily be smoothed flush with abrasive paper.
Small holes are best filled with a dab of filler applied with a clean fingertip. Where a crack or hole is deep, it's best to fill it by building up in layers, allowing each to dry thoroughly.
Preparing Tiles
When you are preparing a wall for tiling, it must be clean, dry, grease-free and flat. Screws, nails and any other projections must be removed and cracks filled and smoothed down. A previously painted wall is a good basis for tiling, but if the paint is flaking, blistering or damaged, it's best to strip it off. Gloss paint should be scored to provide a keyed surface to ensure proper adhesion. If a surface is already tiled, but you want to change it, you can strip off the old tiles. This is a long and dirty job, and once started there's no going back. You'll need to chop out one or two tiles with a chisel and then prise off the rest. Wear protective goggles to protect your eyes from flying shards of tiles. Hack away any old adhesive that remains. Alternatively, to give a new look to old tiles, you can paint them (using special tile primer and paint) or tile over them as long as the old tiled surface is completely flat. Check for flatness with a spirit level. In either case, the surface needs to be sound, clean, level and grease-free, so clean it carefully with white spirit.
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