You'll want to lightly sand the walls with a low-grit paper first, to remove any loose paint. (A 240 grit will do). It's best to use a wall sander such as sheetrock and paint contractors use.

Before painting any vinyl covered wall, it is important to clean them thoroughly of any dirt, grime, grease, etc. Don't use cleaners such as Greased Lightening, or Mean Green. Generally, a mixture of water and baking soda will do the trick.

Once the old paint flakes are removed, and the wall has a proper scuffing, you should paint over the walls first with a product such as Benjamine Moore "Fresh Start", or Kilz 2. These products have a bonding agent in them, and will allow you to paint over the slick surface of the existing wall. Allow a couple of days dry time (cure time) for both these products before applying paint.

At that point, it is best to paint with an acrylic latex.

Wow! I can't believe you're having that much trouble. I painted all my walls in our mobile home with no problems. I didn't even use primer and in a lot of cases, didn't scrub the wall before I started.

I also used the paintable wallpaper in the hallway and it stuck for 2 years. I just removed it a few months ago because I hated it to begin with.

Could the problem be the cleaner you were using?

My wallboards have been painted for over 9 months now with no problems at all. I lightly wipped down the walls just to get existing dust off and then painted the final color on - no primer - this was over the slick bathroom and kitchen walls along with the textured bedroom/family room and dining area. The kitchen wall around the sink/stove area gets wipped down every week and still looks like new. I have had no chipping/peeling or anything. The link below is from another thread - there are two groups of pictures that I posted about this same subject. We have since done the kitchen - wallboard was the same as the bathroom and was painted yellow like the dining area. I might add this house is a 1999 with two retired non smoking adults and we are the original owners. Not sure if that makes a difference...

Lynne

Here is a link that might be useful: before and after pictures

I have an idea that there are significant differences in the vinyl wall coverings used in our homes and also the adhesives on new wall coverings and probably even the formulations of paints we use.

In my case, I experimented a little before painting my kitchen. I was putting up a pot rack against a wood back board so before I put the board up there I tried painting an area without primer as well as one with primer. When all was dry I could peel the paint right off the unprimed area with practically no effort. On the area that was primed first I could not only NOT peel off the paint, I could scrub it with a nylon scrub sponge without removing any paint! So in my house, with the paint I use, I prime before I paint any of the walls. I also found that it really does seem to make the paint look better and more even - especially darker colors.

I guess it's one of those "your mileage may vary" things.

So I glad I found you all here, you have been a HUGE help! To handyme, we just fnished painting our bedrooms and living room in our MF home/cottage, we washed the walls first with TSP and water, primed with a Behr (Home Depot) primer and finished up with a latex flat paint. So far, so good! I would tint my primer next time, and was also told that BIN or Kilz are execellent products. Wondering if any of you know about painting the cabinets? Ours are darker with a gold plastic trim inlaid, and we heard about something called "Cabinet Rescue"? Any thoughts on this? Or should we just live with them the way they are? Thanks! :)

Unless your cabinets are substantially better quality than mine, I wouldn't recommend painting them. Mine are only about 1/4 thick and appear to be some sort of compressed paper product! From across the room they look o.k. and they have actually been surprisingly sturdy. But don't look close!!

Mine also have that obnoxious plastic gold trim. When we bought the place I swore that would be the first thing to go - IMMEDIATELY!! Of course I got busy and now, 3 years later, I've gone blind to the stuff...don't even see it any more. Or maybe my taste is eroding?

HI lindakimy! sorry I haven't been here, still painting....ugh! It's getting there, and I will soon have some before/after's to post. We left the wall strips, too afraid to mess with them. I think you may be right about the cabinets, ours look like particle board with paper, and maybe I will just get new knobs....and I hope I get to where I don't see the gold stuff anymore either!! I think you have very good taste, just have to know how much we can take on. I am afraid if I start this and it doesn't turn out, we will be in for an entire cabinet replacement, which I can't do, so best to leave well enough alone :) Thanks!

I painted my 2 bathrooms which have the vinyl coated wall board. It seems now after a shower, the walls are dripping with condensation. We have exhaust fans. This really makes a mess. I have to wipe them down all of the time. Any ideas as to why this is happening? Thanks.

Kelli, I painted my MH bathroom last August, and I think I see condensation more on the paint than I did on the patterned wallboard, but it certainly hasn't increased the condensation - just the visibility. I can't think of any reason why you'd have more condensation now than you had before, unless it's a season change (higher humidity). Are you sure your exhaust fans are working properly?