ceiling.... AAAAAGGGGGHHHHH!!!!

az2wp0sye65487

If anyone can offer advice I'd be very grateful...

We're currently redecorating our hall/stairs/landing. The ceiling in the hall is causing us major problems. The last time I painted it the paint began to bubble and peel away minutes after starting. We were told by someone at the time that we should seal it with a mixture of water & polybond sealer, which we did and painted over at the time. All was OK.

This time, bearing the previous problems in mind, while stripping the walls etc I sanded, scraped & sanded the ceiling some more! Some of the old paint came off, and some stayed. When I was satisfied that I got all the paint off that I could, I sealed it all again with the polybond & water mixture.

However, once we started to paint the ceiling, any areas that still had old paint underneath started to bubble again!!!!!!! We had to stop painting and start stripping it all over again! So we gave up for the day around 7ish and I'm currently havin a beer!

(Every time I strip the ceiling back the original plasterboard is very dusty to the touch)

So my plan is to strip the whole ceiling back tomorrow, get every last inch of paint off, seal it all again & hopefully paint it for the last time....

Can anyone tell me if I'm doing anything wrong? or can I do anything else to ensure it doesn't happen again?

Would it help if I used more polybond in the mix?

mad m

Get some Stablising solution and it will never flake again....Just make sure you have the rest of the bubbling paint off first...

az2wp0sye65487

mad m wrote: »

Get some Stablising solution and it will never flake again....Just make sure you have the rest of the bubbling paint off first...

Thanks, but what is stabising solution exactly? Can I get it in Woodies / B&Q / Homebase?

mad m

Any good paint suppliers should have it. Just a word of warning, its can be very like water, so watch out for splashes. Just make sure you cover up and only use a brush. Its used on chalky,flakey surfaces to stop and seal it before repainting...

az2wp0sye65487

Well there's still no joy! We're finding it almost impossible to get the last pits of old paint off the ceiling. I've tried scraping, sanding, using a paint removing heat gun.... the old paint isn't coming off very easily.

So I seal over it, then once we start painting it the old paint starts to bubble.... this is very messy as it then means peeling off strips of a 'skin' of wet paint!

Can anyone advise of the best way to strip back a ceiling, bearing in mind that sanding / scraping / heat gun hasn't worked so far!

Thanks...

JohnDigital

We have the very same problem in our house, unfortunately there is little more you can do than trying your best to get all the old paint off. I spent yesterday stripping one of our bedrooms right back to the base so I feel your pain. We have the very same really chalky dusty problem on all our ceilings. In other rooms I used an almost neat (2:1) polybond solution and that has held up very well so far (2 years and counting).

For this next room I'm planning to use Owatrol E-B (it is very expensive at about €25 per litre!) that you add to the first coat of paint, it’s supposed to be very good at sorting this exact problem. I picked up a flyer for it in Chadwick’s and bought some the other day, I also saw it in Woodies so I guess its stocked in most hardware places. The flyer says it’s imported by Igoe International in Glasnevin - maybe call them if you can’t find it in your local place.

This is the stuff - http://www.owatrol.uk.com/docs/E-B.pdf

I’m not sure if the E-B stuff will penetrate into the old paint and secure it, I doubt it. One tip for scraping the ceiling is to ensure that your scraper is almost rigid, you will find it very hard if your scraper is too flexible you need it to have virtually no give.

az2wp0sye65487

JohnDigital wrote: »

We have the very same problem in our house, unfortunately there is little more you can do than trying your best to get all the old paint off. I spent yesterday stripping one of our bedrooms right back to the base so I feel your pain. We have the very same really chalky dusty problem on all our ceilings. In other rooms I used an almost neat (2:1) polybond solution and that has held up very well so far (2 years and counting).

So I'm not alone? That actually does make me feel better!

JohnDigital wrote: »

Igoe International in Glasnevin - maybe call them if you can’t find it in your local place.

That would be local for me!

I know the polybond & water mixture works; as I managed to strip most of the ceiling right back bare & then re-seal it. It's just the last few bits aren't budging!

JohnDigital wrote: »

One tip for scraping the ceiling is to ensure that your scraper is almost rigid, you will find it very hard if your scraper is too flexible you need it to have virtually no give.

Thanks, noted!

JohnDigital

For the stubborn parts maybe try wetting them a little using a sprayer, like a windolene bottle sprayer, and leaving that for a few minutes. I’m sure it is the water content of the emulsion that is causing the peel in the first place.

Another thing to try once you have the paint stripped back is to use a floor mop, the flat ones for a wooden floor, to try to take as much of the dust off the ceiling as you can before you start any painting. I used the bath to constantly wash the mop every metre or so and it took away a large amount of the white dust and also shifted many of the small flakes of paint that I had missed and hadn't even seen. The mop doesn’t need to be saturated, just damp. If it’s too wet it will drip all over the room. It won’t take it all away, but for the 30 minutes or so that it takes I feel it’s worthwhile.

Here’s a pic of the bedroom I did yesterday

az2wp0sye65487

Good idea, thanks! I'll give it a go at the weekend!

garbanzo

All I can say is ya poor bastards. Sounds like an absolute bleedin' nightmare. I feel your pain.

az2wp0sye65487

Well, I went and bought a tin of nitromorse last night, and put that on the remaining paint today. Seems to have done the job.... sealed the ceiling after stripping. There are a few small patches of 'old' paint that won't come off even with the nitromorse, so I'm hoping that if it doesn't come off with that then nothing's gonna make it come off!

So tomorrow it's time to paint. Just hope it all goes according to plan!