Distemper in Ceiling

[JaxTellerIsMyFriend]

oh dear god! I am beyond cross and a tad upset (silly really, but think this is the straw that broke the camels back). Decorator here finally doing our bedroom. The one and only room in this house not to be renovated/decorated in any way, shape or form since we bought this house 5 years ago.

Yesterday he filled all cracks etc and today started on the walls and ceiling to be painted, all going well until mid morning when the ceiling paint started to peel off into strips leaving nothing but ceiling. Decorator said that he had never seen anything like it... so DH goes out and buys a special sealer/primer for ceiling while bloke strips off all fresh paint. Sealer applied, left to dry and one coat of paint applied. Decorator comes back tomorrow but I have had a look and it looks awful.

I only found out this thing was 'distemper' after googling and reading on internet this evening as did DH. Shit and bollocks.

It will almost certainly need to be lining-papered. I am guessing your ceiling now looks very scabby, with patches of distemper, and patches without.

As you now know, distemper is a pig. It can be washed off with hot water, but not with cold. It is very difficult to wash a ceiling.

If the ceiling emusion made it peel off back to the plaster, I would have been inclined to try and peel it all off.

If the ceiling is in a generally poor state (I will guess it is lath and plaster and maybe cracked or sagging) you might consider biting the bullet and having it replastered. This should cost a few hundred pounds. It is incredibly dirty work pulling down an old ceiling so the plaster may recommend nailing up new plasterboard and skimming it.

It was all stripped off - the ceiling had a few little cracks in it, nothing major. Decorator covered the cracks and it looked fine. It was only when he put new paint on it all started to peel off. So he peeled it all off and not sure what else he did. DH got more sealer (think its called BINN or something) and decorator did all of the ceiling with it to cure the problem.

oh pigletjohn what to do? And although I feel I need to pay the decorator a bit more than he originally quoted I did pay £50 for this bloody expensive sealer/primer stuff, well DH did, but still, all comes out the same pot!

Do I ask decorator to line ceiling - and would paper stick to the ceiling once painted or would we be back to square one again?

IF the distemper is all off, lining paper will stick

The Zinsser B-I-N primer stuff is supposed to be very good, lots of pro decorators swear by it, so if that's on clean plaster it should be OK.

If you have a pro decorator in, and he is good, he should be able to get a really nice surface with a heavyweight lining paper. Ask him to to allow for coming back in a couple of weeks in case any of the joints have opened up (he will tell you that never happens, but sometimes it does, and they need to be re-stuck and painted over)

I had an old house done during the summer, by a pro decorator and a builders man. Where the pro decorator has worked, he smoothed the surface first, and you can't see any joins or blemishes, I was very pleased (the builders man was not so good). Be sure to use a matt emusion on the ceiling as this will disguise any remaining unevenness.

well the dec is back this morning, the primer/sealer thing is stuck nicely as is the coat of paint on top, he is sorting the ceiling today then has to repaint the walls again, wallpaper and glossing to do. I feel a little sorry for him.

Not using lining paper at moment.

Good News! The ceiling looks amazing again. 2 coats of sealer/primer, one of matt emulsion, 1 x filler skimmy stuff (that IS the technical term) and 2 coats of silk and it looks like it should. Phew. Had a restless nights sleep last night, shouldnt have worried really... haha oh well, alls well that ends well.