Bathroom ceiling.

[felixcat]

Hi all,
Looking for some advice please.
Got an en-suite bathroom ceiling at home and it's quite a low level just above the shower cubicle (sloping roof), the paint has started to flake in the ceiling area above this cubicle.
I have scraped the loose stuff off and sanded the area, the paint that is left seems well adhered to the plasterboard. I think when it was originally painted as a new plasterboard ceiling a few years ago it was B&Q white emulsion. I don't think it was watered down to be honest but then I suspect the paint would have been of poor quality anyway.
If it makes any difference there is a fan in there, the celing is just quite near to the top of the cubicle so it does get a lot of condensation.
What's the best way to re-paint this, watered down emulsion as a first coat then normal emulsion, or some sort of thin coat of pva, etc?

 

[Richard C]

First of all never put PVA on a surface you intend to paint (or tile), it will only make matters worse. Any exposed bare plaster needs to be primed to ensure good paint adhesion & you can do this with a mist coat of ordinary cheap matt emulsion, thinned 25-30%, leave overnight & apply your chosen paint finish. You could overpaint with ordinary emulsion again but, in such close proximity to steam, it may go the same way eventually. I must admit I only ever use ordinary emulsion in bathrooms but I'm not a pro Dec. You may be better off using a proprietary bathroom emulsion which should cope much better with steam/condensation but I don't know for sure if they actully work any better.

 

[foxhole]

Not a decorator but when had similar problem in shower I coated the ceiling with oil based paint and then matt emulsion to loose the shine , has been fine since.[10+ years]

 

[TheDec]

There are a number of reasons as to why your problem has occured, yet the most important thing to remember is that the moisture that has caused the breakdown of your emulsion could have released salts in the underlying substrate. Therefore you have two options, you can either apply an Alkali Resistant Primer or a thinned oil based undercoat to the affected areas prior to your emulsion. My guess would be that the thinned u/c would serve you well.

Dec

 

[HERTS P&D]

Does the OP have an extractor fan in the bathroom?

Andy