Eliz123

We are remodeling a frame house built in 1952 with plaster walls. While vacant, vandals spray painted graffiti on some walls. (Of course they never use pastels...lol, black and red mainly) Some of the walls also have hairline cracks.
Most are credit card size or smaller...some are larger, after filling them how do you match the texture? Can you paint latex over the original Kilz, or does that take the newer latex Kilz (not as good?) The walls are oil based paint now.
How do we repair this damage and what paint do we use?

We are remodeling the home to sell as it is in another state from where we live (camping in yard is sooo fun... is a whole diff story) and even though we are on a time crunch we want to do it right where the buyers do not inherit a problem.
Thank you for your time and advice.

Underdog

I'm a wallpaper hanger so I am biased but I have had a lot of success repairing hairline and spider cracks with liner paper. Over plaster, if you use vinyl over vinyl mixed in with the pre-paste, you have a good bond. I think it's faster and more permanent than spackle or joint compound.

nealtw

Underdog; Liner paper for us uneducated types. Is there a brand name and where would we find it.

Underdog

Sorry, I need to figure out why I don't get notified in my e-mails.

This is one that they carry in Lowe's:




But they also have textures that you can paint like these:



Easy to install because you don't have to worry about keeping them clean since you're going to paint them anyway.

Underdog

Sorry, don't really understand the question.

jgold47

we've done a lot of painting in our 1920's with plaster walls. I've found that using the premixed joint compound works really well at fixing the walls. Infact we just repainted a gnarly wall with all kinds of damage (cracks, holes, gouges) basically using the JC as a skim/filler and sanding smooth. We primed last night, and had a slight issue with the killz over the oil based paint (I assume given the age) on the walls, but it was also 90 deg with 90% humidity (or so it seemed). However, a second coast of primer and it looks a+.

Underdog

My only caution would be after a few seasons. Air-conditioning and heater use tends to play havoc with the humidity levels and shrinkage of the JC. I've seen the cracks return here in South Texas.

jgold47

Interesting. We have such crazy weather swings in Michigan as well. I didnt think of that long term, but would good latex primer and paint mitigate the effects of the shrinkage? I have had such great success cleaning up these walls using the JC I am loathe to switch to something else. But let me know ASAP haha, I have an entire 12x10 room including ceiling I was going to tackle when I get home this afternoon.

Underdog

I've known painters that have washed the walls with all kinds of treatments, filled them with a quality filler, and the spider cracks return. It's the houses in the old and historic neighborhoods that are the most notorious. Plaster walls only. If there is weakness underneath, then even the larger cracks can return. Age may be a factor too if you hadn't had problems before.

You can use the liner paper only on the problem areas. I don't always cover all the walls with it. Then I float the edges of the paper to blend in.

If you have to smooth the walls anyway, it's not a time consuming process really.

Also, I mostly do this for clients that know they have a recurring problem. If it's speculation then I can't say for certain you would have a similar problem.

The key also is the Vinyl over Vinyl product added to the prepaste. Plaster is not friendly to normal wallpaper paste. VOV will stick to glass or non-porous surfaces. It will stick to vinyl wallpapers too. People wonder why border doesn't stick sometimes.
I use Roman's