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ceciley13

What did I do wrong? (x post in Home Decor Forum)

ceciley13
14 years ago

I have a bathroom where I stripped out the wall paper and painted.

I followed all the great advice I got on here about stripping the wall paper, sanding down the surface evenly, using a latex primer, and then paint.

But, when I went to pull down the tape I had used on the ceiling and trim....I noticed the paint was coming away from the wall. And not "chipping" away like you would imagine, but coming off in sheets. Like peeling off the wall. There is a place on the wall where I nicked the paint putting the shower curtain back up, and the same thing happened there. It bumped up in a sheet of paint.

SO, what did I do wrong?? And how do I fix it now??

Comments (13)

  • decorativewalls
    14 years ago

    QUOTE::: .I noticed the paint was coming away from the wall. And not "chipping" away like you would imagine, but coming off in sheets. Like peeling off the wall. There is a place on the wall where I nicked the paint putting the shower curtain back up, and the same thing happened there. It bumped up in a sheet of paint.

    ceciley, sounds like you have a little work ahead if you are encountering those types of problems. First of all, this is not pointing fingers or saying you didn't do the job sufficiently, but in all honestly from reading what you are saying it almost sounds like there is trapped contaminants still on the wall surface. There can be just a miniscule amount of entrapment and there will be adhesion problems ; (like immediately or down the road when one begins another project over the one on the wall). Could be a number of things consisting from moisture still trying to escape and the primer/paint applied to soon, small traces of residue still evident, amounts of cleaner still evident on the wall which would need additional clean rinses, or possible dust debris left behind.

    Right now your paint finish is still going through the coalescing process and is still in a vulnerable stage. I'm not there so I can't really first hand examine what you are dealing with, only in cyber space; Sometimes if left along and given the process of evaporation and coalescing, " the paint film will "dry down" on its own". Some things you might want to think about doing at this interval 1. if the paint is still able to peel away as you have indicated- do this now and continue to let the paint peel away on its own with you pulling it in away in its elastic stage. Pull it away to where it would actually stop with a good bond that did adhere. Make sure the edges are smooth to the hand/finger touch. The reason I say if the paint is still peelable is because if you try to sand back or sand away the vulnerable paint in this processing stage, it will only tack up or string together trying to sand. Thats why it is best to wait for #2. In this instance I would "only" after it has thoroughly dried and the evaporation has been removed, then would I get out your sander and sand away the areas that are peeling. Sand back to a smooth area and to an already good bond from another adjacent area. Make sure all of your sanding debris has been cleaned up. Use damp cloths and or vacuum. I would also clean these areas again with warm dawn water and rinse well to clear of any cleaner. Let completely dry this time before beginning the process again.
    Hope I haven't confused you. good luck.

  • decorativewalls
    14 years ago

    forgot to mention one thing; when cleaning away the sanding debris don't use anything like a tack cloth ; these contain an oily film and can interfere with adhesion also.

  • moonshadow
    14 years ago

    I had a small nightmare on my hands with leftover residue from wallpaper in one bath. Scrubbed with DIF and everything under the sun, eventually went to an electric sander. Got it off as best I could , but by looking at an angle I could still see a light film, by running my hand over it could feel little tiny bumps. Sooo, let walls dry from all my cleaning, applied a good oil-based primer/sealer (so any residue couldn't penetrate it) per paint store recommendation, then latex top coats. That was about 5 years ago, paint it still clinging, no issues whatsoever. Think if I had used a water-based primer I would have encountered issues like yours. Being water-based it could well have moistened any glue residue left behind and just wouldn't let the primer or paint cling. :/

  • decorativewalls
    14 years ago

    good point moonshadow on the oil base primer. Even though there are two excellent products in the water base line , one being Zinsser Gardz and the other Scotch Drawtite, there are times when an oil base primer is needed. Now-n-days though I trust gardz or drawtite. Gardz is excellent on new drywall as well.

  • paintguy22
    14 years ago

    This could be just a matter of not scoring the tape before pulling it, no? When you tape and then paint over the tape, you have created a seal there between the trim and the walls. You can't really just pull the tape without breaking that seal first or you may pull mass amounts of wall paint off in sheets. You can break that seal with a sharp putty knife or razor knife. This paint is not cured...in a month of so it will be stuck a lot better than it is now. I'm not saying there isn't an adhesion issue...there may very well be one, but I am saying that it could also be just a matter of not scoring the tape before pulling it.

  • PRO
    Christopher Nelson Wallcovering and Painting
    14 years ago

    All of the above posted is sound advise

    You said"I followed all the great advice I got on here about stripping the wall paper, sanding down the surface evenly, using a latex primer, and then paint. "

    The "latex" primer over any paste residue is most likely the cause of your problems, should have used Gardz or Drawtite or an oil based primer.

  • ceciley13
    Original Author
    14 years ago

    Thanks for all the great feed-back!

    I think I am going to just move on with painting the rest of the rooms I need to get done. Let this room just "sit" for awhile, then go back with your suggestions and fix it.

    *sigh* I am coming to HATE that bathroom. Such a small space, but such a big pain in the behind.

  • slateberry
    14 years ago

    Ceciley13, I don't think there's anyone on this or any other gardenweb forum that got everything right the first time. Hang in there, in the time you could have read a trashy novel, you'll have gotten the walls right again. Then you can go read the trashy novel! :-)

  • loomis
    14 years ago

    Just one thought.... Could you have waited too long before you removed the tape?

    I have found that it's best to remove painting tape right after I finish painting. It's impossible to remove once the paint dries. However, you might try scoring, as suggested above, before giving up entirely.

  • chenhuievergreen_gmail_com
    13 years ago

    wall stickers is better than wallpaper .

    Here is a link that might be useful: http://www.dhgate.com/wholesale/store/ff8080812e7a6478012e7f68bcc73f08.html

  • celiaanne
    13 years ago

    ceciley, We had the same thing happen to us to a lesser degree. It kind of felt like a rubbery coating was on the walls -- not paint. This 'coating' could be peeled off the wall -- not giant sheets of it, but good size pieces. It was very odd.

    We, too, had removed wallpaper and washed and washed it and then used Gardz, so I thought we were set. This problem drove us crazy when painting, but I can happily report that the paint seems fine now. It just seemed to take forever to 'set.' We used Valspar from Lowe's -- just wondering if you did also.

    Good luck!

  • napagirl
    12 years ago

    I also had a bad experience after removing some wallpaper a few years ago. I unknowingly didn't get all the paste off the wall before I started rolling on finish latex paint. After about 10 minutes the latex re-activated the paste and I had a gooey mess to wash off the wall!

    Now I do it differently ..... after dry-stripping the wallpaper and wetting the paper with a spray bottle of water, I use a razor blade scraper to remove the paper & paste. What little paste is left on the wall is easily removed by washing with a cloth. And, I always use an oil base primer, usually Zinser Cover Stain.

  • tuesday_2008
    12 years ago

    The last time I stripped wallpaper (never again), I used 409 spray cleaner to dissolve the paste, let it soak for a 1 minute or 2, then lightly scrubbed with one of those plastic, scrunchy dish/pots and pans scrubbers. The plastic scrubbers will not damage your sheetrock nor did it damage the old paint underneath the paste. I then used a rag and warm, soapy water to rinse the 409 and dissolved paste.

    If you have good lighting, you can look at the wall from an angle and see a dullness where paste is still remaining. Also use the touch test on the dry walls - it will feel rougher.