Full-On Painting Weekend

I have some days off work early next week during which I plan to repair the floor.  This weekend Jan and I have worked together tirelessly to get all the painting done.  By the end of Sunday there were two coats of emulsion on everything in both the kitchen and utility areas.  I don't normally enjoy painting much but it was nice that Jan and I worked together on it, in harmony, and without too much arguing.  It was hard work, but we are pleased with the result.

Particularly pleasing was the utility area, because we had to virtually strip off the old paint first (this area has not been replastered).  Before we started, we were concerned that we might have had a damp problem here, because the paint was flaking off in places.  In fact, we attacked the walls with scrapers, and virtually all the paint flaked off.  However, there is no damp - it looks like the problem was that when the utility area was built, maybe in the 1970's or 1980's, the plaster was not sealed with a "mist" coat.  The proper layer of paint therefore had all its moisture sucked out as it was applied, and did not adhere properly to the plaster.

Here is Jan with a nice big "flake" (not the choccy type - that was eaten earlier) about to come off in Her hand.

Once stripped of the old paint, we applied a watery mist coat and let it dry overnight before painting it properly.