Incense smoke stained ceiling needs painting

silps

Hi,

I have just started to paint an artexed ceiling that was stained with years of incense smoke!

I have applied 2 coats of white emulsion with the first coat slightly watered down. Unfortunately the ceiling is looking extremely patchy with dark shadows showing through as well.

I need to know if applying more coats will cover the ceiling nicely or do I need to do something different? Would painting it in a darker colour like magnolia and then again in white cover up the ceiling?

Help please.

Woofles

You need a stain blocker, B&Q Revive is what I used on my nicotine stained ceiling . Two coats needed but it hasn't shown through since May. Don't water it down and use a good roller, if you can.

ormus

a coat of pva glue will help.
for future reference,
wash it first with sugar soap. not easy on a ceiling though.

keystone

silps wrote: »

Hi,

I have just started to paint an artexed ceiling that was stained with years of incense smoke!

I have applied 2 coats of white emulsion with the first coat slightly watered down. Unfortunately the ceiling is looking extremely patchy with dark shadows showing through as well.

I need to know if applying more coats will cover the ceiling nicely or do I need to do something different? Would painting it in a darker colour like magnolia and then again in white cover up the ceiling?

Help please.

What is happening is that the stain is bleeding through. Was the ceiling washed down with sugar soap before painting at all? You can put as many coats of emulsion on it as you like and it will still happen whether you washed it or not.

The previous poster is correct - use a stain block. You can either do it with spirit based undercoat (messy on a ceiling) or a specialist stain block which are more expensive. I have no knowledge of B&Q Revive and I don't like the own brand stuff anyway as they rarely live up to expectations. I'd recommend Dulux Trade Stain Block or Zinsser BIN.

Cheers

keystone

ormus wrote: »

a coat of pva glue will help.

:eek: Builders panacea and decorators/tilers nightmare!

Cheers

aliasojo

keystone wrote: »

I'd recommend Dulux Trade Stain Block or Zinsser BIN.

Second vote for Zinsser. Great stuff, very effective. Perfect for this job.

silps

Thanks for all your replies. The second coat is starting to dry and the ceiling is looking much better but I will no for sure tomorrow.

Will look into getting some Zinsser etc.

The walls have textured wallpaper which is stained as well. Do I need to use a stain block as well on these or will just washing with sugar soap do the trick before painting?

jcb208

Cheapest solution is oil based undercoat over the whole ceiling or dulux do a water based problem solver primer (expensive) forget pva does !!!!!! all except stopping the paint from covering as it just slides over it

keystone

silps wrote: »

The walls have textured wallpaper which is stained as well. Do I need to use a stain block as well on these or will just washing with sugar soap do the trick before painting?

Wash them twice with sugar soap solution then rinse a third time with clean water. You will be surprised just how much dirt comes off irrespective of the incense stains. Then do the areas that still look stained with the primer then overcoat with your emulsion. If you use the Dulux one note that the stain will still appear to be there - thats because it absors the stain into itself before curing - once its cured te stain is sealed in and won't bleed through again.

Cheers

keystone

jcb208 wrote: »

Cheapest solution is oil based undercoat over the whole ceiling or dulux do a water based problem solver primer (expensive)....

I'm amazed sometimes that the cheap solution is preferred taking three times as long to apply and using twice as much product as the "expensive" one. False economy IMHO.

forget pva does !!!!!! all except stopping the paint from covering as it just slides over it

Worse than that. When you apply the paint the PVA goes "live" again and mixes with the paint. Wonderful mess!

Cheers