What is a mist coat?

To put it simply, a mist coat is a watered down coat of paint which is applied to bare plaster before you apply two unthinned coats of paint as normal. Dry plaster is a really permeable surface (which simply means it will soak up any moisture really quickly). Watering down your first coat as a ‘mist coat’ will help the plaster to soak up the paint and create a bond between the new plaster and the paint. For new plaster it is critical that you start with a mist coat, which leads me quite nicely into my next section… what will happen if you don’t mist coat?

What if I don’t apply a mist coat?

Without the mist coat you’re likely to have very poor adhesion between your paint and your plaster. This can often result in your paint cracking, flaking or even peeling off in sheets in some instances! As I mentioned, adding water to the first coat helps the plaster to really bond to the paint as it's able to soak it up due to the paint being thinner. 

How do I apply a mist coat?

Now to the important part. We know what a mist coat is (a watered down coat of paint) and we know when we need to apply one (to newly plastered walls) now its key to understand how to apply a mist coat!

1. Ensure your plaster is dry. Most new plaster tends to be a skim coat onto plasterboard and luckily it dries out relatively quickly (you’re looking at 4 weeks tops!) If you want to speed up this process keep the air flowing in the room by opening windows and utilise your heating or a heater but remember to use this gently! If you don’t let the plaster dry out before you start you could end up sealing the surface which wouldn’t allow any water trapped inside the plaster to escape and could cause issues such as paint bubbling and cracking.

2. The perfect paint to use as a watered down mist coat is the same paint that you’re using as your top coat. For example if you’re using the Blend Scrubbable Matt, you can just decant some of this into a scuttle and add water to it for your mist coat. Then for your topcoat use 2 coats of the unthinned paint! The same goes for our Blend Matt and Eggshell. We would not recommend using Eggshell as a mist coat and Matt as a top coat, as there’s a chance the Matt paint won’t adhere and may craze. You can use the Eggshell as the mist coat and top coat however

3. Mix up your mist coat! The rough guide for mist coats is 10% water and 90% paint. 

4. Now it’s time to get it on the walls. Rollering will be much easier for large areas but be mindful that as it's watered down and therefore thinner. Beware of splattering!

5. Once your mist coat is dry it's time to apply your two final coats of paint. Remember this is the exact same product as your mist coat but this time without being watered down.

That’s Mist Coating!

So there you have it! It's really quite a simple process once you know how, especially as it's all done with one product!

As always if you have any questions just drop us a message, call, email and we’ll talk you through anything you need to know!