I recently purchased an old 1930's farmhouse that has plaster and lathe throughout. I love old stuff and am trying to just work with the plaster. We've removed the wallpaper and I'm down to just the plaster, which is rather inconsistent and wavy along the wall. There have been doorways over the years that have been filled in or moved, so the wall changes there and the patch job is a litte...well, a lot uneven. What steps need to be taken prior to painting with a latex paint? There are patches of what looks to be a cement product on the wall currently which must have patched areas when the wall was prepped for wallpaper in 1963 (walls are signed). Is there a sort of compound like for drywall? A heavy-build primer that will fill in some of the small cracks? Any suggestions would be appreciated.

ALL LOOSE MATERIAL MUST BE REMOVED FIRST. KNOCK OFF BIG STUFF W/ A SCRAPER, LITTLE STUFF W/ A WIRE BRUSH. I'VE USED DURABOND 90 TO SKIM COAT PLASTER FOR LEVELING & PATCHING. IT CURES IN 90 MINUTES APROX. WHICH ALLOWS FOR MORE COATS QUICKLY. DURABOND 90 IS A DRYWALL PRODUCT, MOST STORES HAVE IT IN 25 LB BAGS. IT HAS TO BE MIXED W/ WATER AND HAS GREAT ADHESION QUALITIES. ONCE YOU TROWEL IT ON YOU CAN WORK IT FOR ABOUT 30 MINUTES. AFTER IT CURES IT CAN BE SANDED SMOOTH OR ANOTHER COAT APPLIED. WHEN DESIRED SMOOTHNESS IS ACHIEVED PRIME & PAINT

Thanks. I guess that you would mix it up in a 5 gal. bucket then? Someone had mentioned just using a light spackle to fill in and feather the major stuff. I also thought about using texturized paint so some of the flaws would look natural. Any thoughts on Behr's product?