Silicate paint or just normal dispersion paint?

Hi everyone,

the painter is scheduled to come the week after next, and now the urgent question arises about which colors to use. In our construction contract, we only have the standard dispersion paints listed; the question is, is it worth switching to silicate paints?

We have lime-cement plaster in the basement and the wet rooms and otherwise lime-gypsum plaster in the house, which is only to be painted. Wallpaper/fiber fleece will only be applied to the ceilings.

Upon inquiry, the painter offered to use silicate paints (from Sto) completely. The surcharge would be about €1500. We have about 920 sqm of surface to be painted; a rough research shows a price difference for the material for one coat of primer and one coat of paint of just under €1000. If he assumes that in some places he might need to prime twice, the surcharge is still somewhat reasonable; at least it's not an exorbitant price.

But is it worth it? Are silicate paints really better? The more you read about it, the more confusing it gets — it seems to be quite a matter of belief?

Best regards,

Andreas

Wallpaper/fiber fleece is only applied to the ceilings.

Unfortunately, I can't answer your question, but in this context, I wonder what quality level your plaster has.

For reasons of price/performance, the plasterers we spoke with recommend Q2 + fiber fleece. Alternatively, Q3 would probably be more expensive; furthermore, the fiber fleece protects against damage from impacts or similar. For ceilings that you wallpaper over, we were told that no fiber fleece is necessary; they can be painted directly as they are smooth/flat enough.

As mentioned, this comes from the plasterers, but a friend who is a painter also recommends this setup because the additional sanding and filling beyond Q2 is said to be very time-consuming and costly.

Do you have Q3 or higher, or is it Q2 and still smooth and even to the eye?

Thanks and best regards.

Funny. We were told that with the appropriate tools it would be difficult _not_ to achieve Q3. This is now the standard for suitably equipped companies. Who else has experience?

We have Q2 as a smoothed plaster finish and want it exactly like that. We don’t like those perfectly baby-bottom smooth walls. You can see every little imperfection there. Somehow we just find the slightly rougher version more beautiful.

We never gave much thought to the ceilings, that’s specified in the construction standard by Büttner (our general contractor). But that’s another idea, maybe you can make a deal with the painter about that.

Best regards,

Andreas

I would only use silicate paint for rooms with lime-cement plaster. Where gypsum plaster was used, the wall's absorption capacity is very limited anyway. Ceilings, if delicate elements --> prime, fill, sand, whitewash. I would not do more than that there.

We have Q2 Kalk-Zementputz, but very smooth, painted directly with Sol-Silikatfarbe - looks good... at least where the children haven’t played wall running yet But I also think paint on fleece will get dirty. Ceilings are plastered, sanded, and painted. Also looks good.