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Painting Problem

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Reply to
Jim K..
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Eldest daughter and Son-in-Law have a problem with painting some walls and a ceiling, mainly the latter.

The room was previously painted- looked like ordinary emulsion. Condition of walls wasn't great and there was some (non-original) coving they removed, made good walls, cleaned down etc, and proceeded to paint.

They've used the type of paint before, while they are new to DIY, SIL has taken to it rather well, the the finish he got on the first room was darn good. However, this time, the paint has been nothing but trouble. It has peeled in several places- no obvious reason, some where he'd made good, some not. They removed the peeling paint, applied sealer*, tried again, still it peels. Walls had been cleaned so no grease etc. It wasn't the 'bubbling' you get when there is a solvent issue, this is peeling. No real evidence the room has been occupied by a smoker etc. We'd previous checked for damp with a meter- no issues.

I've run out of suggestions- other than contacting the paint manufacturer (or of course covering it, which they don't want to do). It isn't cheap paint, although I forget the make.

I've never had emulsion peel before, in fact I don't recall any real issues applying it- although I don't pretend to be an expert at it, I just follow the instructions and use reasonable quality paint- one of the 'brands' or even B&Q etc, which has always been fine.

*the sealer was in case there was an issue with the previous layers of paint etc. I thought it may work and a search on the internet confirmed this. It hasn't made much difference, if any.

Has anyone any ideas, please?

Reply to
Brian Reay

Emulsion & similar paints tend to peel if they have too much glue in them. Try a bit of unspecial emulsion, see if that works.

NT

Reply to
tabbypurr

Long shot, is the room well ventilated while being painted, or maybe there is one of those water evaporating coolers in the house? Brian

Reply to
Brian Gaff

Pretty sure there isn't a 'cooler' but I will mention it. As for ventilation, given the recent heat, I'd assume he was working with the window open but I will check.

Reply to
Brian Reay

Ah, that is interesting.

I believe the paint is something they were recommended to use in the other room which they had replastered and was something 'special' for newly plastered walls. As it gave good results, they used it again.

I'll give him a call. Thank you.

Reply to
Brian Reay

Probably not related but when I had to paint some interior walls in Turkey (temp 30-40 C) I had to water dilute the paint, if not it dried and started peeling. So possibly temperature is drying it too quickly.

Reply to
ss

I have also been looking into this in recent weeks. Special paint for new plaster is usually watered down basic matt emulsion - not vinyl or silk or bathroom/kitchen paint etc. The idea seems to be you want it to sink into the plaster rather than sit on the top.

This YouTube video shows the effect of using the wrong sort of paint too soon.

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Having said that I don't think using paint for new plaster on old stable surfaces should have any adverse effect.

Reply to
Chris B

The only time I have had bother like that is on very old walls with some parts being exposed nearly pure white lime mortar rather than plaster. The emulsion paint refuses to bond to the highly alkaline lime. A litmus or pH paper will show you if this is the case.

If it is an acrylic based sealer it will fail the same way. You may need a thin skim of plaster across the whole wall to bury the offending lime.

Reply to
Martin Brown

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Reply to
alan_m

I put a well-watered-down coat of ordinary emulsion over our new lime plaster, and I've had no trouble.

Andy

Reply to
Vir Campestris

ISTR It starts to flake off in places after about two or three years.

But only in the places where the pH is particularly alkaline - sometimes you can get away with it.

Reply to
Martin Brown

If the alkalinity is the problem why would old lime be worse than new?

Andy

Reply to
Vir Campestris

Probably because the original stuff wasn't really as well mixed as it should have been and some bits are very alkaline. If you were only ever going to use a lime wash on it then there isn't a problem.

Modern organic polymer paints don't get on with some of the very old limewash type surface finishes that were used in the pre-1900's.

Reply to
Martin Brown

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