I have just painted some previously painted walls, and I developed a problem of sorts. In a few places there are bubbles forming under the primer coat after I apply the finish coats. I have painted these walls previously. So I know the undercoats are latex. I have sanded and wiped them down before I primed them. Then I applied the finish coats.
I had one spot that bubbled up when I put on the primer. When I fussed with it, all the previuos paint came off the wall in about a six inch area. After I put the first top coat on, I had another spot do the same thing. Now, in a couple other areas, I have several smaller bubbles that have popped up. If I don’t touch them, they seem to shrink almost entirely. But, they are still visible if you look for them, and I am concerned about adhesion.
Any ideas as to what I am facing, and how I can prevent the problem?
Thanks for any help.
Jeff
Replies
My first thought is that no primer was initially applied. Do you know what the walls are--drywall or plaster? The places I have noticed this the most is plaster walls that have been patched. Sometimes the bubbles go away, sometimes they don't. I have had luck scraping down to plaster, sanding and patching the area with a setting-type joint compound, and using oil-based primer on the walls before repainting. If this happens on more than one wall, I would use oil primer everywhere before painting. I hate when you are rolling on paint and parts of the wall start coming off onto the roller!
Good luck,
Aaron
Thanks for the response.
The walls are drywall. There is one area (and only one, I believe) that was patched about six years ago. I do not know if the wall was properly primed, or not. The other areas are either brand new drywall (where I know all the steps were followed) or original drywall dating back to 1968.
Jeff
Are you sure there was never any wallpaper on these walls? This sounds an awful lot like a situation I had painting over WP a few years back.Jason Pharez Construction
Framing & Exterior Remodeling
Silcone or wax contamination? I've seen this problem refinishing furniture, small isolated bubbles rising as soon as the finish is applied but never on walls.
I found no difference in plaster or DW, happens to water-base paint only.
There were threads in here before that suggested some kind of outgassing but I couldn't find those threads.