Thank you for your report!
We have received your report and it is currently under investigation by a forum moderator.
Advice for preparing and sealing floors and walls for acrylic painting
Welcome to the forum.
Here you can discuss all things art with like-minded artists, join regular painting challenges, ask questions, buy and sell art materials and much more.
Make sure you sign in or register to join the discussions.
Hang on Studio Wall
This is a Studio member-only feature!
Join our Studio membership and save your favourite Painters Online content, from gallery artwork to step-by-step guides, to your own online mood boards. Create your go-to place for inspiration and learning. Plus, members can also enjoy a range of exciting features including monthly art videos and a digital magazine library.
If you are already a Studio member, simply login to your account.
Not a Studio member? Why not try our free 30-day trial - no commitment, no credit card required
Message
Posted
I am not an artist but will be employing an artist to paint floors and walls to make a themed Air B+B house.
I would appreciate your help in suggesting suitable materials to prepare and seal walls and floors which will be painted using acrylic paints.
The bathroom floor may have a textured painting using acrylic texture paste.
Floors:
Concrete (Previously painted - needs either repainted or paint removed)
Plywood (new, we will fill joints with some filler, not sure which yet)
Walls
Typical drywall and brick plastered walls (UK term), drywall with mud skim (US term) - considering covering with lining paper / wallpaper as a base, but maybe better to paint some base material directly onto the wall?
Please give recommenadations for:
Preparing the various surfaces to give a fairly smooth and resilient surface with a base colour.
Materials to cover the finished artwork - for floors I assume some tyoe of clear resin to pour onto the floor, not sure about walls.
If there is another forum that would be more apropriate for "building art" please suggest.
Thanks in advance ColinKin
Posted
I would think that the artist you are employing should know all of this. Acrylic “ painting” paint is very durable and not unlike the acrylic paint you paint walls with. So if what ever surface you intend to put art work onto would be suitable for household paint it should be ok for artist paint , eg undercoat with a matt neutral finish.
Clear varnish to finish , I would think heavy duty on floor surfaces like several coats .
This is from a complete lay persons perspective it's how I would go about it.
It might be good to ask around in D I Y retailers or as I said initially the artist who will be creating your thing of beauty. It sounds great fun. Post pics when it is finished.
Posted
Agree with the two replies you've had. I've never done this myself - far too much work for a kid of my age now, too - but an uncle did: using acrylic paints on plaster, the plaster first primed with acrylic 'gesso'. Last time I looked, his efforts were still in place, which made them around 40 years old. Painting on plaster, wood, any absorbent/rough surface, should be possible with acrylic. You probably won't be wanting it to last for generations - and it might not.
If your artist is using real artists' acrylic paint, mind you, it's going to be expensive on the scale you propose; and if it's decorators' paint, it won't give the best results - but you should get something impressive, depending on your artist's skills. On YouTube is a young American painter going by the name of Mural Joe: he does a lot of this sort of work and it may be interesting and perhaps helpful for you to take a look at a few of his videos.
Do post the results here when you have any to show.
Posted
Thanks for all the replies and suggestions for further research.
The artist has experience of painting but not on domestic walls, hence I want some answers to ensure the walls and floors are prepared correctly.
I am awaiting a reply from a paint manufacturer for a suitable product to prepare the floor.
It appears that an acrylic primer will be suitable for the walls. I am awaiting a reply from a manufacturer for suggestions for water based or solvent based.
Any comments on suitable paints (preferably from UK suppliers) to do the actual mural. I do take the point that acrylic paints for canvas will be much too expensive as they come in very small quantities - I need Litres / Gallons.
Thanks ColinK
Posted
If you're going to go for artists' materials, then visit the Jackson's art catalogue site - a Google search will find them. There are some suppliers of acrylics who offer them by the bucket, as it were - large quantities, relatively affordable price.
Otherwise, you're probably down to decorators' paint, household acrylic - which you're not going to find very subtle. I think the Vallejo company offers liquid acrylic in large quantities, but I haven't used it so can't really comment on it. But see what the Jacksons, or Great Art (Gerstaecker) websites have to offer. Acrylic, in one form or another, is just about the only paint which will do the job you want - oil and tempera might have been used in the distant past, but those techniques would be extraordinarily expensive if employed today. And not easy to employ, either. Paint in aerosol cans is another possibility, depending on your artist's technique.