Help needed regarding an absolute painting disaster!

[teaplease]

Someone who shall remain nameless offered to paint our living room. The result is so bad I can't bring myself to look at the walls... Here's the story.

Wallpaper stripped, reveals strange pink paint, I suspect from 1970's. Dado rail (glued) removed. Filler and PVA applied in various places. Quick wash down. Trade white emulsion (unstirred) applied, in places on wet PVA. Put on as thick as cream cheese... And then another coat, slapped onto paint that's already bubbling in places.

Result - some areas of hundreds of small bubbles. Some areas of big bubbles. Cracks, crazing, and texture like artex in places. All four walls affected.

I'm a reasonably accomplished decorator but haven't done more than basic wall prep before. I don't know where to start, or even if I'm capable. Any advice on what best to do (pay a decorator?!) very gratefully received!

 

[kbdiy]

The Number 1 error was PVA. It should never be applied to anything that is going to be painted. Hence the bubbling/rippling effect that you have been left with.

It sounds like it will need some serious stripping/rubbing down/washing down before a reasonable finish can be expected.

I hope you didn't pay for what you have right now.

 

[teaplease]

No didn't pay, was a 'well meaning' family member who I suspect couldn't actually be bothered...

Any thoughts on how to go about the stripping of the paint?? My assumption is that I really need to get all the white emulsion off and start again, but don't know how to best remove the stuff.

 

[kbdiy]

I'd start with a decent scraper and see how much comes off with that. Then it could be down to washing down and rubbing down. All depends on the thickness of the bubbling paint but it will all need to come off before you can think about applying more paint.

Lots of elbow grease required!

 

[teaplease]

indeed, I know whatever I do this involves a massive amount of work...

Scraper sounds like a start, and would at least mean mess rather than dust so perhaps I could feasibly work on just one wall whilst half living in the room, then gradually work my way around. I can see it'll get a lot off the bubbled areas off but in terms of the overall surface that'll leave a lot, which is much more firmly stuck. Any recommendations on ways to help lift the rest, heat or water maybe?

 

[misterhelpful]

Just throwing this idea into the hat as what you have to deal with seems like it requires an awful lot of work to put right.

Would it be worthwhile getting the walls skimmed? That way, the PVA will not matter, the existing paint can remain and you will end up with perfect walls to work with. The only thing required would be to remove the flaky paint before the plasterer starts. He/she will then PVA the walls (which is necessary for skimming! ) before they start. It saves you a lot of time and effort, although there will obviously be an outlay for the plasterer.

 

[footprints]

I would feel inclined to attack it with a steam stripper and a good scraper, this sort of thing.

http://www.screwfix.com/p/harris-jumbo-super-stripper-6/79050

Whatever you do don't leave the steamer in one place without moving, 'cos you will hear a clicking sound and the plaster will fall off!

Finally I would use a heavy duty lining paper that will stick to PVA and then paint that.

 

[teaplease]

Thanks everyone for your suggestions. The idea of getting it skimmed is very attractive, but something I know nothing about. Would we have to remove ALL the bubbling/cracked/crazed paint first? My worry, possibly unfounded, is that the damp of the new plaster might cause more paint to come away from the wall, so mess up the new skim. So even if we took off the paint that looks bad, the surrounding areas might not actually be stuck to the wall any better. But as said I don't know the first thing about plastering.

Either way, we've clearly got to start with attacking the worst bits first and see where that takes us. Big scraper looks like it's a good place to star, cheers for the info!

 

[gregers]

paper over the problem?