Emulsion won't stick to small area of ceiling

zappahey

We picked up our keys on Friday and have spent every waking hour decorating (deep joy!!).

Unfortunately two of those days have been spent stripping and cleaning the bedroom ceiling as the ancient wallpaper was peeling at the seams.

Oh, and the paper was horrible.

Because of the paper we were expecting the worst but, to our surprise and delight, the ceiling is in perfect condition, beautifully smooth and straight.

But, there's a problem. In one corner, the emulsion just refuses to bond to the ceiling and peels away as it dries.

What we've done so far is clean up all of the old paste by scraper, washed it down with sugar soap and applied a dilute coat of emulsion, followed by a full coat.

When the paint dries in that corner, it has a very smooth, almost plastic feel to it and it's very different from the rest of the ceiling.

Any ideas what I can try next?

stanehyve

Try cutting out that area and then refill

MX5huggy

Have you sanded it down to remove the top surface.

Or paint it with an oil based under coat (that would normally be used with wood)

bloss0m

I would rub it don lightly first in that area with fine wet n dry paper to add a key for paint or wash down with sugar soap

zappahey

Cheers all, I'll try the rubbing down as I'm very reluctant to cut out chunks of ceiling. Unless I've misunderstood what you mean, stanehyve.

keystone

No you don't need to cut out a chunk of the ceiling. Just follow the oil based undercoat if you've got some available advice given above or if you need speed invest in some Zinsser 123 primer/sealer.

Cheers

Hintza

Is the OP diluting enough to give it a proper mist coat?

zappahey

Hintza wrote: »

Is the OP diluting enough to give it a proper mist coat?

50:50 but, reading elsewhere, that seems to be too thick

Hintza

If it was me and there was no obvious reason for paint not to stick then I would use some rough sandpaper and then 50:50 mist coat.

If I wasn't sure this would work then I would do as Keystone suggests and just Zinsser it. On our new build we had a small ceiling stain which we just popped some Zinsser on and that sorted the problem.

keystone

Is it new plaster then if you are mist coating?

Cheer

Leif

Hintza wrote: »

Is the OP diluting enough to give it a proper mist coat?

I've had this on some new plaster skim. Either the surface was too highly polished, or there was some contaminant such as PVA. Just apply an OB or acrylic primer e.g. Zinsser 123 as stated by others. Personally I'd use the Zinsser as it makes the brush easier to clean. Oh and use a mini roller after painting it on, to match the wall texture, assuming it was rollered and not hand painted. (A colleague hand painted his walls cos his darling wife did not like rollered walls. In my book that is grounds for divorce.)