Are you sure that it is nicotine and not surfactant leaching? This happens when uncured paint is exposed to high levels of humidity like from a shower.

No Paintguy, I am not sure, I am befuddled, do you think it is surfactant leaching? There was a little dripping down the middle of walls, and not specifically the part near the ceiling, so maybe it is, since the new drywall certainly didn't have nicotine. Butr there were the most little circular stains over the tub area, which is why I thought it was nicotine.

I painted 6 days ago, and the tile guy started laying the actual tiles 2 days ago, (there was a bit of rain yesterday as well). Could the tiling process have caused sufficient moisture to cause the surfactant to leach?

If that is the case, is the paint compromised, will it continue to cure properly if I clean off the stains once the tiling is done? I certainly won't be moving in there for another month, so no danger of shower moisture for a while.

OR maybe it is nicotine after all.

Please tell me how to proceed.

Thankyou, thank you!

I can't say for sure without seeing it. I figured you were actually using the shower....nothing the tile guy could do would cause enough moisture. It could be some other type of stain. Try some Kilz....just shoot some out of an aerosol can on the stains. Sometimes for whatever reason, BIN does not work on some stains, but Kilz will. This is why I always have a can of both on hand.

Just be SURE it is oil based Kilz, the latex will not work.

Since there was dripping marks down the middle of the brand new dry walls(not coming from the ceiling) that can't be nicotine. So is it surfactant leaching? What should I do?

Thanks again.

Brown drips coming out of new paint sounds like surfactant leaching. All you can do is wipe the drips away and then let the paint fully cure.

Well, now the plot thickens. On the hallway ceiling directly adjacent to the bathroom I noticed 4 small circular yellow sticky splotches . That hallway was painted at least 3 weeks ago, (with BIN and paint). So I am thinking that area is nicotine seeping through.

( the tile machinery and buckets, which is generating a bit of moisture are right there as well)

I am really mixed up now, maybe I should just prime and paint both the bathroom ceiling and the hallway ceiling.
If so would it be stupid to use BIN, perhaps 2 coats? I am hesitant to use Kilz oil because I have never used it and don't want to ruin the new bathroom tile job and tub if oil is harder to clean up.

Thanks again for all your advice!

Yeah, I have no clue what is going on. I will say however, that I have never personally seen nicotine stains on a wall so bad that I needed a stain killer type primer. Usually, washing and sanding is enough. It would have to be a very heavy smoker blowing smoke directly on the ceiling IMO in order to create a situaion where BIN would not kill the stain easily. I'm not talking about using Kilz on the whole bathroom either...just buy an aerosol spray can and spot prime the stains and then paint like normal. I would also just for kicks ask the tile guy if he may know what it could be. Their wet saws do sometimes spit dirty tile water around, but this does not stain generally and I certainly cannot imagine that the water used in the wet saw would create enough moisture in the air for surfactants in the paint to leach out. Small circular stains do sound like water stains though....is there any way you have a roof leak? Is there any way that water can be seeping down through the drywall from above?

No Paintguy, I am pretty sure there isn't a roof leak.

The water in the tile thing-y is is grey white and the ceiling stains are yellowish brown, so I'm sure the tiling isn't creating the stains. I did ask the tile guy, he doesn't know either what it is.

The nicotine stains in the house were indeed bad, the previous owner was a heavy smoker who lived there for 22 years. I washed a heck of a lot, but never got the surfaces pristine, I thought getting most of the goop off would do the trick with BIN.

I have pained many, many nicotine stained homes and if you washed and applyed the Bin as you said, there should be no nicotine leaching through, at least I have never seen it happen.You have something else going on there, pics would help a lot.