A wierd painting problem

[Tony Pacc]

I had professional painter paint my kitchen,he put 2 coats on ceiling and walls,2 days latter where the ceiling meets the wall it looks like he missed some spots,so he came back out to look at it,now he says it needs a oil based primer and one more finish coat,he claims because it hasnt been painted in 12yrs and the people smoked that lived here before,that the paint is "bleeding through" or something like that.When he left 2 days ago it looked fine,I have never heard of this,he used qaulity paint(Sherman Williams),anybody seen this before? thanks

[m Ransley]

Did he wash the walls, did he use latex over a gloss of perhaps oil, If no washing or latex was used on dirty grease, and worst being gloss oil your paint job wont last. Kitchens need complete prep and proper paint and primer due to cooking depositing oils on the walls. If now he said its an issue you hired a hack. Did you pay him.

[prfesser]

My significant-other paints professionally and she's seen bleed-through of *something* through the walls a number of times. Cleaning the walls thoroughly before painting is necessary but isn't always sufficient. If memory serves, she does use an oil-based primer in such cases----and THAT isn't always sufficient. Though it usually works if enough coats are applied.

Kitchens are often a problem area for painters because the oil mist generated during years of cooking soaks into the walls.

Good luck! -- Terry

[jeffc]

Oil based primer is not necessarily the solution. By "primer", I assume you mean a stain blocker. You have to know what you're trying to block (assuming it can't just be washed off first.) As a general rule, use oil based primers for water based stains, and water based primers for oil based stains (for fairly obvious reasons - oil and water don't mix and therefore can't bleed through.)

[Abe]

The painter needed to clean the walls first, then use Kilz primer to trap whatever was left.

[jeffc]

The brand is not important, the function and type is important.

[RicodJour]

We should clarify that not all primers are stain blockers - that's not clear from your post. Knotholes will bleed through either oil or latex paint or primer. Either oil or latex stain blocking primer will seal the stain, some better than others, but shellac-based stain blocking primers work best. You can also use straight shellac prior to regular primer.

In the OP's situation insufficient preparation is assuredly the problem. Kitchens, as others have noted, are problem areas to paint. Years of grease buildup can take a lot of work to remove, and what looks clean enough after an initial cleaning isn't necessarily clean enough to paint.

R