Ceiling paint problem (with pic)

silvercar

Had a decorator to paint the whole house. Everything fine except this one area. The decorator said that really the ceiling in this room needs to be redone, but funds don’t allow at the moment. Decorator came back and redid this area, but the paint still failed in this patch. Any (cheap) solution?

It’s in the bay of a Victorian house. No sign of damp. The bay has a proper tiled roof.

ThisIsWeird

Hmm, the fact that the paint is darker does seem to suggest it is damp. Have a good feel.

If the paint had simply failed to adhere, then I'd have expected the paint to have still dried white.

I guess it's possible that it's dry, but the surface underneath has something on it that's somehow repelling the paint, but hard to think of what that could be. 

If it had suffered from a previous leak, then it's common for the water to bring through with it all the dirt from above the p'board layer, so leaving an obvious stain. This not only looks messy, but will continue to stain through freshly-applied paint, as well as having a slightly 'dusty' finish which can repel the paint layer. But surely this would have been obvious before the recent decorator repainted your ceiling? 

What was this area like before this painter turned up? Any signs?

Bottom line, that paint needs to come off so that the underlying issue can be addressed. If it's due to damp, then obviously that means the leak needs sporting. If it's due to an unsuitable surface - possibly from a previous leak - then it needs cleaning down thoroughly (eg sugar-soap), ideally keying with 120 or 180 grit paper when fully dry, and then given a coat of stabilising liquid or sealer tobesuretobesure before repainting.

Kiran

This usually occurs in areas where either too many coats/too much paint was applied too quickly without it drying or an area where no mist coat was used. It looks like there might have been some patching done there? Scrape of the flaking paintwork if you can see bare plaster or filler then sand the area and apply a diluted coat of paint over the surface. One it is fully dry patch the paint back in

FreeBear

Victorian ceiling - Had it been painted with distemper in the past ?

Albermarle

I had a similar problem when repainting the walls of a room. Although two coats was enough for 95%, a couple of patches where the paint was streaking/not adhering properly. Took around six coats to cover it .
After some scratching of the head for the reason, I worked out that it was where my home office desk had been and where the fan heater I used had blown hot air on to the wall for years. Why it had that effect I have no idea, but it was clear that was the cause.

silvercar

Thanks all. New home, so don't know its history.