Day-old latex paint is peeling, not over oil-based. What's happening?

3 years ago

I used Valspar Signature satin paint (paint/primer in one) on previously painted bathroom walls. Today, any little bump to the walls, and the paint is peeling off in bubbles. It even did this on a fresh patch of drywall mud, so it can't just be the fault of the old paint. I tested with denatured alcohol to make sure the old paint was not oil-based. I'm worried about the whole project but certainly don't want to start over by removing a fresh coat of paint. Any ideas of why this happening and what to do now?

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PRO

HALLETT & Co.

3 years ago

It’s always the surface prep. The old surface should have been cleaned, sanded lightly, primed, and then painted. Paint and primer in one only works when you know exactly what’s on the wall. Maybe what’s on the wall now is latex, but a million things can be preventing adhesion- cleaners, Murphy’s oil soap, pledge, hairspray, skin oils.....

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Comments (14)

sloyder
3 years ago
Sounds like improper surface prep.

https://www.house-painting-info.com/articles/interior-peeling-paint/#.Xv6NtG1KjIU
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Faron79
3 years ago
Well.....since there IS NO such thing as "Paint & Primer in one"......

Tell me a little about the age of the bathroom's paint-job, frequency of use, bath-fan use, location in home, age of house, & what if any products were used to clean the walls prior to this painting.

Hint: It's almost NEVER the new paints' fault!
HU-179716264
Original Author
3 years ago
House is 25 yrs old, guessing existing paint is 15yrs old. For short periods of the year, the shower is used daily, with fan, but as part of this renovation, we discovered that the exhaust fan did not vent to the outdoors, only to the attic. So probably more moisture than there would be ideally. (So we also are installing new properly vented fans.) Didn't clean walls with any product, wiped down.

I spoke to Valspar this morning. They suggested I should have cleaned and lightly sanded walls, spot primed the mud. Regarding my concern over peeling, the rep said the paint can take up to 30 days to cure and that he would expect it to harden and adhere more during that time. Then to spot sand lightly where needed to repaint peels.

I see now that I can't just go by what the paint label says, but the problem still remains - What's going to happen with this paint that is now on the walls? I have more painting to do, so I'll wash and sand the remaining walls. I can't put my whole project on hold for 4 weeks to see if this paint will stop wanting to peel, but I really don't want to have to strip it all.
User
3 years ago
last modified: 3 years ago
Commercial painters have a process or”secret sauce”. Prep, prime, paint, BRAND of materials.

DIY get lucky or not.

Up to you, test small areas or go for it. Commercial painters face this issue too.....nobody knows what will happen until it happens.
HU-179716264
Original Author
3 years ago
How would you peel it off?
User
3 years ago
Re peeling: start in the upper left corner, there should be a tag end, pull down and to the right. My painters used to have a contest, who could get the largest pieces.
HU-179716264 thanked User
jalarse
3 years ago
This might sound a little strange but the same thing happened to my sister in law. Long story short it was hair spray. Every day she would reach for that can of cheap hair spray and away we go. You couldn’t light a candle near her for 2 hours afterwards. She ended up having to take rubbing alcohol to the walls to get the hair spray off.
Faron79
3 years ago
Yep....sprays are like Teflon on bathroom walls!! It drifts everywhere. Combined with moisture droplets, it's a pretty tough "invisible film" to clean off!

Wash the walls with a strong mix of POWDERED Dirtex....TWICE. Don't let the cleaner dry on the wall. Then do a light clean-water sponge rinse.

Yes, Zinsser's BIN primer would be a good choice....but 123 is good too.

Faron
PRO
Jeffrey R. Grenz, General Contractor
3 years ago
"Thoroughly clean surface and allow to dry" is the first line catch all manufacturer's installation instructions that often doesn't get followed. It's not a paint failure.

When I repaint the bathroom used by my two youngest boys as a shower/sauna for 14 years there may be drywall replacement involved, but I will start with a TSP surface scrub.
HU-179716264
Original Author
3 years ago
live_wire_oak and Jim Mat: After the countertop installer scratched the walls further yesterday, we started on peeling. It's not going nearly so smoothly as "pulling" it off. At the VERY best, we are getting sections of a couple square feet with a lot of patience and delicacy. Otherwise, it seems fingernail scraping for minute bits is what we get. Plastic scraper isn't quite hard enough maybe, metal scraper gouges some, worried that sanding is getting too far into the next layer but not totally removing all the new paint. There are one (probably two) layers of wallpaper under the old paint (gotta love '80's renovations) that we are worried about releasing. Any more suggestions on how to get the new peeling paint off? We are about 8 man hours in so far, and it looks like we just started.
User
3 years ago
last modified: 3 years ago
Well, the wallpaper is new info.

google how to remove wall paper. My painters used secret spray and spiked roller tools.

maybe google how to prep walls for painting. You skipped a couple of important steps, maybe the most important. Prep and prime.

Prep: what is here, can I clean it and prime, or do I have to prep.

Wall paper is something my painters remove. Google skim coat.
sloyder
3 years ago
Removing wallpaper, then you have to make sure you remove all the glue before painting.

Day-old latex paint is peeling, not over oil-based. What's happening?

HALLETT & Co.

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sloyder

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Day-old latex paint is peeling, not over oil-based. What's happening?

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