How to Prepare Walls & Ceilings for Painting with Wickes

It's vital that all surfaces are properly prepared before painting to ensure that the finish is long-lasting and looks professional. Learn exactly how to prepare wall and ceilings for painting with this step-by-step guide from one of our Wickes experts. We cover everything from cleaning the walls to tackling cracks, preparing new plaster, and efficiently removing old wallpaper.

Follow the bellow steps to get your wall and ceilings ready for painting!

1. Room Readiness & Cleaning
Remove or cover all furniture, protect floors, and ensure surfaces are completely free of grease and dust.

2. Preparing New Plastered Walls
Ensure new plaster is dry, then apply two coats of mist coat (watered-down emulsion) or specialist paint before the final top coats.

3. Preparing Existing Painted Walls (Repairing Cracks)
Wash the area with sugar soap, fill cracks with filler, allow to dry completely, sand smooth, and brush away all sanding residue.

4. Removing Wallpaper (The Best Finish)
Score, soak, and strip the paper manually, with chemicals, or by steaming, then clean the exposed plaster with sugar soap.

Before you get started ensure you have all the necessary supplies and tools:

Shop Wickes filling knives here: spklr.io/6001BcQHv
Shop Wickes sanding blocks here: spklr.io/6003BcQJc
Buy a Wickes Steam Stripper here: spklr.io/6004BcQzg
Shop Wickes Stanley Knives here: spklr.io/6004BcBFj
Buy Solvite Wallpaper Remover here: spklr.io/6009BcQr3

Watch more videos from our painting and decorating list and learn how to wallpaper a room, fit coving, or paint a room and paint interior woodwork!

youtu.be/QYx5J2TaFh0
youtu.be/2q4GmPzQUK8
youtu.be/wiMthgaFBoA
youtu.be/911StYlz1vM

Find all the information and advice you need for your painting project by visiting our decorating Ideas & Advice section: spklr.io/6003BcjjW

For more painting tips and techniques, head over to our painting and decorating how-to guides: spklr.io/6001BcjeD

Subscribe to the Wickes YouTube channel here: youtube.com/user/wickesvideo

For more tips and general advice on how to do it yourself from Wickes, you can visit:

Wickes Website: wickes.co.uk/
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Wickes Twitter: twitter.com/Wickes
Wickes Pinterest channel: uk.pinterest.com/wickes/