Will smelly paint stop smelling if it’s painted over?

[Jessie2345679]

A year and a half after my bedroom was painted it still smells strongly of chemicals. (The rest of the flat was painted at the same time, in different paint, and does not smell.) Presumably the smell is VOCs, which are unhealthy to breathe in. If I paint over this paint, will that seal in the VOCs so they stop coming into the room, or will they seep through the new paint? How do I solve this problem?!

If you're sure it's the paint then using a Zinsser primer - the shellac one - before your new topcoat should seal it.

Brilliant - thank you!!

Is it well known Valspar smell? I don't think you can ever get rid of that one

I don't think there's anything Zinsser stuff can't do tbh. If the paint is on wallpaper/lining paint it may be more cost effective to strip the existing paper and redo.

Yes, it is Valspar. Unfortunately there’s no paper behind it.

I wonder whether there’s a way to strip paint off walls?!

@Jessie2345679

Yes, it is Valspar. Unfortunately there’s no paper behind it.

If you haven't already Google valspar smell and you should find masses of info,it's been going on for years

You could hack off the plaster. Bit drastic though. The Zinsser will do the trick.

We had the valspar paint smell and it had to be painted over with an oil based primer and then repainted but it is completely fine now

@VoyageInTheDark That’s good to hear!! Which oil-based primer did you use, please?

@jessie2345679 sorry I don't know what it was called as it was the decorator that took care of it