removing emulsion back to plaster

ThriceNightly · 19 Apr 2006 at 22:24

i have had a weird reaction with a new coat of emulsion paint on my chimney breast

it has developed lots of tiny blisters...like a lunar landscape!

i think its a possible reaction between the water in the emulsion and whatever lurks behind the existing layers of emulsion..maybe old wall paper paste.

anyway i want to remove the old emeulsion back to plaster...any reccomendations what to use to do this?

ljveni · 19 Apr 2006 at 22:46

Sand it down(just to removed the bubbled paint), apply pva mixed 5 parts water 1 part pva, wait for it to dry then paint it again.

LeperousDust · 19 Apr 2006 at 22:46

It's water based, so wetting is a scrubbing should do fine.

Maybe put some thinners in the water first? I'm not sure what difference that would make though.

ljveni · 19 Apr 2006 at 22:48

You shouldn't need thinners, they are for oil based paints.

LeperousDust · 19 Apr 2006 at 22:57

ljveni said:
You shouldn't need thinners, they are for oil based paints.

Thats what i thought, and why i said just water first. Thinners wouldn't hurt though probably, but i don't think they would actually help!

BigBoy · 19 Apr 2006 at 23:02

Sandpaper is the only way you will get it all the way back to plaster.

Just a question but did you wash the walls with sugar soap before you started painting?

ThriceNightly · 19 Apr 2006 at 23:34

the walls were not sugar soaped... i was trying out some match pots.

i was going to wash everything down after prepping...but looks like iv'e made some work for myself.

got a feeling i layed on the paint too much and it's reacted with some old wallpaper paste.

pva sounds a good ide after ive sanded it all down. cheers

BigBoy · 20 Apr 2006 at 08:11

If there is walpaper paste on the walls then you realy need to wash them down with sugar soap or the paint will not take properly. Also you willl need to wash the walls down after you have sanded them down.

Admiral Huddy · 20 Apr 2006 at 09:04

I had this same problem last year. Damn wallpaper took half the paint off underneath leaving craters but manage to sort it quite easily.

Here is what I done..

Use a wallpaper steamer which bubbles up the the remaining paint.

Then apply cold water immediately. The effect is that it crumbles it a scraper or wire wool makes light works of the remaining paint.

The next step is to water down 50/50 some coloured emulsion, then paint on. You'll find it sticks to the inside of the craters that are left. Being coloured, you can see where it's going. This acts like light filler.

Then sand down using a sander.

However, be careful; keep the steamer moving as it will crack the plaster.

This is time consuming but works a treat.

ThriceNightly · 20 Apr 2006 at 11:54

^^^ thanks for the advice

volospian · 20 Apr 2006 at 13:25

Admiral Huddy said:
I had this same problem last year. Damn wallpaper took half the paint off underneath leaving craters but manage to sort it quite easily.

Here is what I done..

Use a wallpaper steamer which bubbles up the the remaining paint.

Then apply cold water immediately. The effect is that it crumbles it a scraper or wire wool makes light works of the remaining paint.

The next step is to water down 50/50 some coloured emulsion, then paint on. You'll find it sticks to the inside of the craters that are left. Being coloured, you can see where it's going. This acts like light filler.

Then sand down using a sander.

However, be careful; keep the steamer moving as it will crack the plaster.

This is time consuming but works a treat.

Just done pretty much the same thing on two rooms. It is time consuming, but the finish is worth it.