Silk paint in bathroom 'undrying'

[mogget]

I'm better at plumbing than I am at painting

Three days ago I put 2 coats of Wickes blue vinyl silk on my bathroom walls on top of mid sheen. The paint had been sitting around a while but looked and smelled to be in good condition, although had separated somewhat (it had never been opened). I stirred it up vigorously using a paint stirrer in a drill. All looked to be good so I applied 2 coats, one on one morning one the next.

I left it for 2 days with the heating on and it was ventilated for 15mins every time someone used the loo.

Yesterday evening I went for a long shower and there was condensation. I noticed that in parts, the paint had gone the lighter blue it was when it was wet - it appeared to have 'un-dried'. In these areas the paint was very soft and I could scrape it off with my fingernail, roll it up and it looked and felt exactly like blu-tak. This morning the paint is dry again and is stuck fast to to the wall.

What has happened and what can I do to remedy this problem?

Some of the paint is on Artex and in tricky corners so will be impossible to get off. Should I seal it with some sort of product so the water can't get to it? It appears to be normal vinyl silk when there's no water on it.

 

[dcdec]

Its livening up when it gets wet so the paint is taking to long to dry and cure. Could be a number of reasons but is often because of a dodgy batch of paint.
As yours has been sitting around for a while certain elements of the paint may have degraded or maybe the paint got frozen at some point.

Wickes paint is average at best and i don't think you'd have much chance of returning it. With a shower in daily use its gonna struggle to dry at this time of year. Polyvine decorators varnish is a clear coat but will probably pick up pigment from the blue as would something else like gardz, so i would seal it with gardz and repaint after if possible not using the shower for a few days.

 

[mogget]

I'll look into the gardz, have just had a quick read up and it looks like a good bet.

I can take a shower at my parents' house for a while.

Many thanks.