Faulty Paint? Peeling off walls

MrsJT_2

Hi All

We live in a new build (built June 2008), we have left it until now for the walls to completely dry out. The home builders advise walls are ready to paint straight onto, so we have purchased as advised by Dulux Diamond Eggshell paint both mixed on the same day for the kitchen and the bathroom.

Over the past two days we have made sure the walls are all clean and prepared and painted the kitchen and bathroom, today the paint is peeling off the walls, is this faulty paint?

Any help appreciated.

arcon5

You don't perhaps have damp issues in the property do you?

I had a similar issue in my previous apartment which infact suffered from a great deal of mould and damp. We painted the walls in one particular room and alot of it dripped off the wall as it wasn't drying on a wet wall. Parts of the wall we use a hair dryer to drop it dripping.

paddyrg

Perhaps the builders can have a look for you - it doesn't sound like the wall is fully dry. Also, head over the DIY forum here, you'll get some real experts commenting :-)

sheerdelight

If the wall was dusty before you painted that could be a problem. This can happen if plaster was near end of shelf life before b"eing applied to walls. A good plasterer will know if the plaster is going off" but frequently they just use what they have been supplied with. If that is the case the walls should have been primed beforehand. Alas I know from personal experience. If you have any bare walls rub your hand over them.Your hand shoud remain dust free. If any dust seal those walls with primer. Some painters do this as a matter of course whether they need it or not. You can buy water and oil based primers. They add to the cost and time to complete the job.

sheerdelight

Is eggshell not for wood etc rather than walls?

visidigi

we had to mist coat the walls with a 60/40 mix of cheap emulsion and water first - once dried then we could apply the proper paint as normal - the idea being is that fresh plaster sucks up lots of water and therefore the mist coat allows the proper paint to apply without excess water being sucked out.

Did the paint bubble when you painted the plaster wall at all?

rygon

If the walls are not coated you need to get some primer (or watered down paint as said above) as the plaster will suck all the moisture out of the paint leaving it to peel off easily. Took a couple of coats for my walls before I could start with normal paint

sweep9

sheerdelight wrote: »

Is eggshell not for wood etc rather than walls?

Most eggshells are but Dulux Diamond eggshell is one of the new types of paint that Dulux, Crown, Johnstones etc are making that can do any surface in the home/workplace.

MrsJT_2

Thank you for all of your replies, we are so gutted this painted cost nearlt £40 a tin :mad: According to Bellway when built the apartments were left to dry out for a year before they painted them all round will a magnolia emulsion, we have left it a further year and a half before painting ourselves so would hope in 2 and a half years the place should have dried out.

All walls were clean and dry before painting with no dust, looks like having to start the whole process again but using a primer, just so annoyed with Bellway as we asked them as they built the place what best to use and they said it doesn't matter the walls are ready to be painted straight onto, with this in mind we asked dulux what best to use and they advised the Diamond Egg Shell.

Oh well looks like we need to restart it all and dig deeper into our pockets, thank you again for all of your replies though you have been most helpful. :beer:

agrinnall

If the paint is coming off after the plaster has been drying for 3 years then either the paint isn't actually suitable for the surface or there is still a damp problem. I would suggest you get the moisture content of the plaster tested with a meter before trying to paint again, if the walls are still damp then I'd get Bellway involved because it could be that the DPC has failed.

sheerdelight

I don't think you told us the walls were already painted. Walls dry out quickly and should be ready to paint in a few days. You cannot expect people or business to wait years to paint property! After all the builder must have put the original coat on.

Is the new paint coming off the old paint or is all the paint -old and new - peeling off the wall? If the plaster was "going off" when the wall was being originally plastered it can leave the wall slightly dusty. If you are lucky the paint may stick to it and stay on for years. However if you put wet paint on over it the new paint, if applied by roller for example will loosen the bond between the plaster and the old paint and simply pull it off. The amount of dust will vary if the plaster is going off. Sometimes it can be very apparent and the paint will not even accept the first coat. The paint will go on but reroller it and bits pull off. If not too bad it will still allow the wall to be painted and repainted. Sometimes a new coat will pull it off especially if worked a lot over the surface.

My view is that if the wall was damp you would see it!