Repairing peeling / flaking paint

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taxboy

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We had some rooms in the house replastered a couple of years ago and I applied a couple of wash coats all around. Now following a move of some furniture I've discovered we had a condensation issue and the paint has flaked off.

Any suggestions on how to go about correcting this please to avoid or at least reduce the appearance of the flaked area
 
Can you post a picture or two of the flaking..?
A mist coat (a very dilute coat to help seal the plaster) has to be applied first - is that what you mean by a wash coat ?
If so, then it could be that the plaster was 'polished' which is when the plasterer makes it almost shiny by over-troweling it - not something most would do unless they didn't like you !
Post a picture and I'll try to help..
 
Would be interested in seeing the photos and your reply Steve, tried to remove wallpaper in my dining room and lounge and the plaster decided it wanted to come off too. Now my dining room seems to be getting a bit of condensation (y)
 
bensherman2 said:
Would be interested in seeing the photos and your reply Steve, tried to remove wallpaper in my dining room and lounge and the plaster decided it wanted to come off too. Now my dining room seems to be getting a bit of condensation (y)
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Lots of questions - how old is your house, is it double glazed, do you dry washing on radiators, is it just the top layer of plaster that came off...?
As before, pictures help !
 
Thanks for the reply Steve.
It's probably 1930's, old style metal patio door, back to bare brick.
 
bensherman2 said:
Thanks for the reply Steve.
It's probably 1930's, old style metal patio door, back to bare brick.
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We have a 30's semi and have recently had most of the walls replastered. If you tap the walls do you get a solid knock or a hollow sound?
 
bensherman2 said:
Thanks for the reply Steve.
It's probably 1930's, old style metal patio door, back to bare brick.
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How did you remove the paper - steam strippers if used heavily do put a lot of water into a wall and could well be the cause of your plaster coming off. I use a garden spray filled with warm water and some fabric conditioner as this means less water is needed after giving the paper a scratch over with one of these -
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Zinsser-Tr...coding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=SNZJ1Z08CZKQRECCZPDB
The key to stripping paper is leaving it to soak - spray the walls, drink tea and complete the crossword. Spray again, then drink more tea. Once the paper is properly soaked it usually just peels off, no sweat and no problem.

OK, next question - why are you getting condensation - is this a new thing ? A 1930's house might mean solid walls, so no insulation - you may be eligible for a grant if your area still give them out. Both internal and external insulation will make a massive difference to a cold house and your bills.
Houses need to breath, and double glazing cuts down drafts, meaning the moisture we breathe out (plus drying clothes etc) gets trapped and when warm wet air hits a cold surface you get condensation. Usually in corners, behind furniture etc.
Try opening the windows for 10 minutes in the morning to clear out the stale and damp air - this might help. A dehumidifier (mine cost about £120 I think) will suck up an amazing amount to water - mine took 5 litres a day when I first got it !
There are so many possible causes that it isn't easy to give any definitive answers, but ventilation is key to a dry house.

As for the plaster coming off - like foggy4ever says, try tapping the walls at various places to see if it sounds hollow - if so then it is becoming 'live' - ie detaching itself from the walls. Not a good thing although nothing to panic about as its unlikely to need urgent fixing. As above, lots of causes and solutions, not easy to advise without seeing the house.
I cover a few trades but am mainly a decorator and come across this sort of thing fairly often - it is usually patched up and left for the next owner, but I've been back to houses I've patched up 15 years on and they still look fine.

foggy4ever said:
Plaster can detatch from the brick walls when old, the hollow sound shows this.
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This usually happens in older houses than '30's - it more likely in Victorian houses. Why did you need to get yours replastered, and did they take it back to brick, or was it just skimmed over ?

Hope this is of some help - sorry it is a bit disorganized - I'm trying to do 3 things at once, and we men can't multitask I gather..
 
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@stevewestern
A builder across the road put me in touch with a good plasterer.

Had quite a few cracks in the plaster upstairs and a lot of it was detached so I stripped all 3 bedrooms back to brick and had them dot and boarded then skimmed. The rear north facing walls has foam backed board used.

Some remodelling plus a rear extension meant it was just as easy to do it with some of the down stairs too.

£100 per day plus materials at cost was a bargain.

I also had my daughter at home who was about to make us grandparents so that was a good excuse too.
 
foggy4ever said:
@stevewestern
A builder across the road put me in touch with a good plasterer.

Had quite a few cracks in the plaster upstairs and a lot of it was detached so I stripped all 3 bedrooms back to brick and had them dot and boarded then skimmed. The rear north facing walls has foam backed board used.

Some remodelling plus a rear extension meant it was just as easy to do it with some of the down stairs too.

£100 per day plus materials at cost was a bargain.

I also had my daughter at home who was about to make us grandparents so that was a good excuse too.
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Yeah - £100 a day is a real bargain !
The foam backed boards are so worth the cost.
Sounds like you did the hard part though - hacking off old plaster isn't the most fun ever.....
 
Just to distract a bit but water and fabric softner really remove wall paper ok?? I'd certainly rather use that than steam stripper and elbow grease or nitromors etc.
 
srichards said:
Just to distract a bit but water and fabric softner really remove wall paper ok?? I'd certainly rather use that than steam stripper and elbow grease or nitromors etc.
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Yup. I'm not totally sure why or how, but believe me, it is one of those tricks that has to be tried - it seems to help the water soak in better (lower surface tension or some such clever stuff).
Perforate the top layer (or peel off if a vinyl ) with a paper tiger as linked to above so help the water get further in, soak 2 or 3 times, then it should just come away, no sweat.
I used to work so hard to strip paper until I watched an 'old timer' who drank a load of tea and made much more progress than I could.

Zinsser also make a product - http://www.decoratingdirect.co.uk/viewprod/z/ZINDWS/ that helps if you have problems, but it does need to be well rinsed off after..
 
srichards said:
Just to distract a bit but water and fabric softner really remove wall paper ok?? I'd certainly rather use that than steam stripper and elbow grease or nitromors etc.
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Absolutely :) Make sure the wallpaper is well and truly scored though the paper tiger Steve linked to above is the jobbie :)
 
stevewestern said:
Can you post a picture or two of the flaking..?
A mist coat (a very dilute coat to help seal the plaster) has to be applied first - is that what you mean by a wash coat ?
If so, then it could be that the plaster was 'polished' which is when the plasterer makes it almost shiny by over-troweling it - not something most would do unless they didn't like you !
Post a picture and I'll try to help..
Click to expand...

Apologies for the delay in replying - here are a couple of quick photos. Yes I do mean a mist coat - used some watered down emulsion

IMG_1060 by andrewnewton101
IMG_1054 by andrewnewton101
 
taxboy said:
Apologies for the delay in replying - here are a couple of quick photos. Yes I do mean a mist coat - used some watered down emulsion

Click to expand...

OK, I can't be sure, but first of all, your mist coat (if thats the very slightly milky bit is the middle of the plaster patch) looks way to dilute, but the bigger problem is that the white blobs to the right look like salts.
This is where my knowledge is a bit woolly - as far as I know, this is usually caused by the salt in the bricks or blocks leaching in when dampness has 'reactivated' it, due to a lot of moisture (when replastering..) and is only really got rid of by hacking back to bare brick and using a salt retardant cement.
You can scrape it off then apply something like Zinsser BIN -
http://www.screwfix.com/p/zinsser-b-i-n-shellac-based-primer-sealer-white-1ltr/29661
which is not cheap. This MAY hold back the salt for a while (could be a year or two) but it will come back..

It isn't the plasterers fault, and sadly isn't easy to remedy.
Sorry for this.

I guess I ought to say that I am only going on a couple of pictures so may well be wrong - tasting a little of the white salty blobs will tell you if it is salt.
 
Is the area where the paint has peeled off wet or damp? I only ask because we had a similar looking problem last year. We'd had an extension built and what I'd assumed to be salts was coming out of new brickwork and/or plaster and making the paint bubble and flake off. It turned out to be caused by dampness. A pipe joint had been weeping for months and making the wall wet. Once it was fixed and the wall had dried out I scraped the loose paint back, sealed the plaster with diluted PVA, then repainted it.
 
boogie man said:
Is the area where the paint has peeled off wet or damp? I only ask because we had a similar looking problem last year. We'd had an extension built and what I'd assumed to be salts was coming out of new brickwork and/or plaster and making the paint bubble and flake off. It turned out to be caused by dampness. A pipe joint had been weeping for months and making the wall wet. Once it was fixed and the wall had dried out I scraped the loose paint back, sealed the plaster with diluted PVA, then repainted it.
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That's a good suggestion but I didn't see any sign of dampness which is why I didn't mention it. Usually there is a darker patch if water is present.
 
stevewestern said:
OK, I can't be sure, but first of all, your mist coat (if thats the very slightly milky bit is the middle of the plaster patch) looks way to dilute, but the bigger problem is that the white blobs to the right look like salts.
This is where my knowledge is a bit woolly - as far as I know, this is usually caused by the salt in the bricks or blocks leaching in when dampness has 'reactivated' it, due to a lot of moisture (when replastering..) and is only really got rid of by hacking back to bare brick and using a salt retardant cement.
You can scrape it off then apply something like Zinsser BIN -
http://www.screwfix.com/p/zinsser-b-i-n-shellac-based-primer-sealer-white-1ltr/29661
which is not cheap. This MAY hold back the salt for a while (could be a year or two) but it will come back..

It isn't the plasterers fault, and sadly isn't easy to remedy.
Sorry for this.

I guess I ought to say that I am only going on a couple of pictures so may well be wrong - tasting a little of the white salty blobs will tell you if it is salt.
Click to expand...
Thanks for that I've got some zinser from a previous project. I wonder is there anything I can use to build up the flaked off area so where it meets the existing paintwork doesn't show quite so much. I don't really feel like sand g back an entire wall if I can help it
 
taxboy said:
Thanks for that I've got some zinser from a previous project. I wonder is there anything I can use to build up the flaked off area so where it meets the existing paintwork doesn't show quite so much. I don't really feel like sand g back an entire wall if I can help it
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Is it Zinsser BIN - it is shellac based. They do a few others, like 123 and 123 plus which are water based so no good at all for this. CoverStain is oil based so would do, but remember that they will only hold back salt for a while.
Once you have applied the BIN (2 coats and allow to dry, and covering as much as you can of the bare plaster) and scraped back all the loose paint I would apply a coat of Zinsser Gardz which will help 'glue' the existing paint edges to the plaster, then use so fine surface filler with as big a blade/scraper as possible to fill the area and bring it up to match the existing paint - this stuff shrinks a little so you will need a couple of layers and some fine abrasive.
Problem now is that it will be smooth and your existing paint will have brush or roller marks, so you may need to give it several coats to create the same sort of texture - thin the first, then thicker to build up the roughness.
I don't know if Gardz comes in anything smaller than 2.5l so you may not want that expense, nor may you need it, but it is what I would do if charging for the job.
 
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