Blistering paint

[Cpplumber]

Hi all,

My own home has a paint blistering issue. My hallway is a sand/cement platsered wall which was already coated before we moved in. It's a 1950s house. We naturally put our stamp on the place and put a coat of standard dulux water based paint on the wall after rubbing down and thoroughly cleaning prior to starting. To my knowledge the base coat before we moved in was at least one layer of standard emulsion paint.

After the first coat, lots of bubbles/blisters formed which I left to dry. I scraped these off and filled the damage and started another coat. To my dismay, the blistering then starts in other areas.

Due to endless research I've determined this is one of the previous coats being pulled away as the new coats dry? I'll stand corrected if an expert has other ideas. My opinion on this is also reinforced by a previous query on here before. I won't take offence if someone thinks this is incorrect.

My question to all on here is - can I get a "magic" sealer that will cure this problem? I've seen Zinsser stuff and wondered if one of these might help me?

Many thanks in advance.

Carl

 

[MightyMousette]

Hi Carl,

Did you manage to solve your paint problem?

I am having the same problem so just thought I'd let you know a couple of things that didn't work (to save you the time and expense of trial and error!). I tried a base coat (Polycell 3 in 1 basecoat), it still bubbled/blistered up all over. So next I tried Polycell treatment for problem walls (like a PVA solution that is supposed to seal dry/powdery/flaky walls). I have just tried painting new emulsion onto it and it's happening again. I am reluctant to try any other kind of sealer as fear it will simply happen again so think I am doomed to having to remove the old paint and start again. I'm going to use a steamer to strip off the old paint.

Did you try the Zinsser stuff?

 

[Cpplumber]

Sadly I haven't yet. I have spoken with Zinnser technical who suggested peel stop but I'm not hopeful as the chap I spoke to didn't fill me with confidence. I think he was reading from their own website. I was hoping for a professional opinion on here.

I'll update on here if I go for it

 

[Cpplumber]

But thanks for your update too

 

[misterhelpful]

Any chance either, or both, of you could post a few pics so we can see what's happening?

 

[MightyMousette]

Here are some images taken today, each image is about a 4 inch section of wall to give you an idea:

Paint Reaction when just applied

• MightyMousette
• 30 Mar 2016

Dulux one coat matt emulsion painted onto clean but previously painted wall (painted by previous...

This wall has a previous coat of what looks like magnolia matt emulsion (painted by previous owners). I washed the wall first with sugar soap and then rinsed, the new paint is Dulux one coat matt emulsion.

How Paint Reaction Looked When Dry

• MightyMousette
• 30 Mar 2016

This wall was treated with Polycell treatment for problem walls (some sort of PVA solution)...

Paint Reaction when just applied onto treated surface

• MightyMousette
• 30 Mar 2016

This has had Polycell 3 in 1 treatment for problem walls applied then allowed to dry. The Dulux...

The treatment (Polycell 3 in 1 treatment for problem walls, looks like PVA) seems to have helped as it's not as bad but there are still tiny bubbles bursting through which will give a rubbish finish.

Does this look anything like your walls Cpplumber?

 

[misterhelpful]

There are couple of obvious reasons for bubbling and cratering, which is what you seem to have.
It could be that not all of the sugar soap was removed as various surface contaminants, including sugar soap, can cause this kind of problem. This may not be the issue because, if you have sealed the wall with a product designed for such a purpose, you shouldn't still be getting the problem now.
I'm concerned that the actual paint you are using may be to blame - is it new or is it an old can that has been left laying around?
I can see that your image states you have used Dulux one coat emulsion, which has never been the best product on the market. It is really thick which leads me to ask whether you have diluted it and, if so, how did you mix the water in? Sometimes a mechanical mixer, or even just over-stirring can introduce too much air into the paint which will cause the bubbles - a little like mixing batter and cake mixture (not that I'm any kind of chef!).
If you can eliminate all of these possible causes, I would give the walls another clean with plain old luke warm water, apply a coat of Zinsser Gardz when dry, and then proceed with the painting.

 

[MightyMousette]

Thanks for the tips misterhelpful.

The paint is new (bought in Feb this year) and completely agree that it's far too thick. I think I've learnt the hard way that trying to get things done quicker just results in a poor finish. It may well be 'one coat' but it's a really horrible gloopy textured coat, showing every stipple or bush mark. I didn't initially water it down, then watered it down later to try a thinner coat, but both produced the tiny bubbling on the walls.

The only walls that didn't react like this had a different colour/paint on them initially. All the walls with the same matt magnolia paint on them are having the same reaction. So to play it safe I'm going to strip off all the magnolia back to the previous coat (where so far I've spot tested on one wall and no reaction after the paint has been removed).

The worst thing is that in one room I'll be having to go back through the PVA, basecoat and magnolia layers now because of all my failed attempts to get round the problem.

 

[opps]

Thanks for the tips misterhelpful.

The paint is new (bought in Feb this year) and completely agree that it's far too thick. I think I've learnt the hard way that trying to get things done quicker just results in a poor finish. It may well be 'one coat' but it's a really horrible gloopy textured coat, showing every stipple or bush mark. I didn't initially water it down, then watered it down later to try a thinner coat, but both produced the tiny bubbling on the walls.

The only walls that didn't react like this had a different colour/paint on them initially. All the walls with the same matt magnolia paint on them are having the same reaction. So to play it safe I'm going to strip off all the magnolia back to the previous coat (where so far I've spot tested on one wall and no reaction after the paint has been removed).

The worst thing is that in one room I'll be having to go back through the PVA, basecoat and magnolia layers now because of all my failed attempts to get round the problem.

Those look like fisheyes. Has someone sprayed Mr Sheen polish on the walls?

Fisheyes can be the result of silicone contaminates or the base coat releasing solvents.

I would be tempted to lightly sand and then roll some Zinsser BIN on to the affected areas. Leave it over night and then emulsion it

edit_---- sorry just read your post again regarding one coat paints. You could try rolling with the emulsion, let it go off a bit and quickly apply a wet on wet coat. They look like air bubbles that have burst.