What Happend?

[paulie]

Ceiling repair job. Used brown bag to fill and repair the cracks in the plaster. Floated with green top and sanded. Applied 2 coats of primer over the entire ceilings. Applied swirl texture and the HO loves it, went home. Went back today and had a couple of small spots like in picture. What happened? Never had this problem before. It almost looked like the primer didn't adhere to the existing paint. Used PVA primer. Maybe an oil based primer for now on? Seems like a waste.

[ChrWright]

Were the repairs wiped down before priming? Dust?

[Dusty]

Is it pealing over your repair or another area?

Sometimes loose paint is unnoticable. When you add the moisture of fresh paint it brings the unseen problem area to light.

[Msargent]

Should have sealed with oil, Now you will need to go back scrape and make area larger than original damage to make sure all looose mud comes down , Oil seal then reapply. Moisture From paint and mud and Joint compound loosend up old stuff. Hopefully room is dark or small seal will flash on you or I would seal whole ceiling.Good luck

[paulie]

The repairs were broom swept, not the best but never had a problem before. When I looked at the affected areas it looked like the problem was over the old paint that was not repaired.

There were only three places were it was "pulling away" and the pic was of the worst one. Never seen anything like it. If you notice it's only on one arc then it abruptly stops when the next arc starts. Maybe I have a pic of the rest of the job.

[paulie]

what are you saying, I should have used oil primer and sealed the surface right when I walked in the door then started making repairs( drywall mud ect.) It looked like under the new paint that peeled back was the old paint not by a repair.

[Bender]

Used PVA primer.

It looked like under the new paint that peeled back was the old paint not by a repair.
Heres your problem. PVA is pretty wimpy stuff. Its designed for raw sheetrock and mud. It doesnt have much 'bonders' in it.
Sounds like it got wet and fell off.

[paulie]

Heres your problem. PVA is pretty wimpy stuff. Its designed for raw sheetrock and mud. It doesnt have much 'bonders' in it.
Sounds like it got wet and fell off.

OK, so I should in the future use a better primer or always oil based?

[Bender]

Oil is kind of a hassle to use but I like kilz or zinnser coverstain for that stuff. Its also a stain blocker so if you have water stains (which most of the time you do on ceiling repairs) it seals those as well.

If you have no water stains you can get away with a good water based primer like zinnser 1-2-3

[Silvertree]

I use the Sherwin Williams primer. Any good latex primer should work.
I agree that PVA which is meant to soak in is not the best choice for old work.

I haven't used oil primer in years, although I still use Kilz or Bin or Zinzer for water stains.

I don't know where the problem is but that stuff didn't bond, so my guess is it was put on too thin or it was covered before it dried properly.

Just a guess.

[paulie]

Thanks guys. :2thumbsup:

This job had only so much $ in it and I decided to cut back on the primer end. Primer is primer right? Well I should know better by this point but I went with the $8.00 gal primer.

I have also used Sherwin Williams and have a rep but was in the box store for other things and the $ caught my eye. :rolleyes3:

I hate dealing with oil primer also and only use it for wood with knot holes in it so that's why I was asking. Clients always complain about the smell too.

Next ceiling job I'll go with the Zin or a good SW primer.

[Dusty]

Priming that ceiling first probably would not have prevented this issue.
I have done ceilings that looked perfectly fine and when I started rolling the existing paint came off in 100s of tiny chips. Talk about an oh-sh--.
Old houses offer all kinds of surprizes.

Here is another tip I learned while working on 'vintage' foreclosures. During the cold months let the house warm up for a good week before painting. As the furnace warms the house and pulls the moisture from the walls, paint and plaster may pull away from the wall and new cracks may appear.

[paulie]

Priming that ceiling first probably would not have prevented this issue.
I have done ceilings that looked perfectly fine and when I started rolling the existing paint came off in 100s of tiny chips. Talk about an oh-sh--.
Old houses offer all kinds of surprizes.

Here is another tip I learned while working on 'vintage' foreclosures. During the cold months let the house warm up for a good week before painting. As the furnace warms the house and pulls the moisture from the walls, paint and plaster may pull away from the wall and new cracks may appear.

I'm thinking the cheap PVA was a bad decision on my part and a better quality primer would have bonded better with the old paint. I think you also have a point, you just never know with old houses, since it was a dinning room I was also thinking it could be a food stain (oil) and the primer didn't bond. It was just weird that it peeled like that in only a couple of places.

I picked up the final check today and the HO is tickled pink. I also got another lead from one of the friends.

Here's the finished product. Pictures aren't the greatest.