Paint disaster. I want to cry

[dannydyerismydad]

Painting DS's room. The previous paint was slightly shiny, I'd assumed it was satinwood paint.

I've sanded, sugar soaped and rinsed. Started painting with Dulux emulsion and the paint started to blister. The blisters turned to cracks and the new paint is now peeling in large strips and taking the shiny yellow with it. Underneath appears to be a layer of emulsion with some kind of primer over.

What on EARTH do I do? I guess I have to try and remove the peeling stuff. Most, but not all is coming off.

Could the previous owners have had kitchen paint in a bedroom? Where did I go wrong?

You've done nothing wrong.

It's either bloody gloss paint or a wipe able one.

You have a few options:

1. Wallpaper
2. Paint with a washable paint you like
3. Lining paper, then paint with your choice of paint

yep ^^

there aren't really any other options.

Lining paper isn't that bad.. just put it on across the wall instead of like wallpaper.

Might it ever have had wallpaper on top of the paint? We're stripping wallpaper off an emulsioned wall ready for re-emulsioning & the decorator said you can never properly get rid of the paste remnants & it will have to be lined

You don't have to line horizontally - vertically is fine (I've done both & horizontally is a PITA)

There's already one layer of lining paper. A layer of pink emulsion, a scrappy white layer that I'm assuming is some kind of primer, then this evil yellow shiny stuff.

The previous owners of this bloody house still have me redelivering their mail 18 months after they moved out. They can piss off if they think I'm going to hand deliver any more.

I am no DIY expert but have just painted some pine drawers with chalk paint. It is not meant to need any preperation but you can paint on metal or even plastic. The drawers have come out well. It is more expensive but you don't need as many coats. Also colours are limited but maybe worth a go before papering?

yep, ours also has one layer of lining paper (I lined it, & painted with white vinyl silk before papering, thinking it would make a nice smooth solid surface for whatever we wanted to do next - ha!)

so now ours is going to be double lined

it will cover up lots of imperfections at least...

i would strip off the existing lining paper and put new stuff up - it will be really easy to take off. putting it up vertically is fine if you arent going to put normal paper on top.

It's a PITA but stripping the paper off is, as others have said, your best bet.

it will be really easy to take off.

Sadly, this may or may not be true. It may be easy... It may be a nightmare... It will probably somewhere inbetween :)

I'm scared to strip the old lining paper. This house was built in 1860 - I fear the paper is all that's holding the walls together.

And I have sobbed on DH. His response? "Don't worry, it will look lovely, it will just take you a little longer". Grrrrrr. Why just me? Why not us?

my decorator (proper one) is going to line on top of the existing - wallpaper paste will stick fine apparently (& he should know)

Give it a go - try one drop & see if it sticks (maybe sand down the shiny surface first)

(I used to do all this stuff myself but I'm getting a bit old for ladder work)

Thank you lovely vipers. Your collective knowledge is awesome.

I'd probably strip back to plaster. Unless you have had damp I've always (done it in four old house 1850-1920) found the plaster to be solid. I've found it okay to use a steamer. The only time there had been any problem has been if there is a new skim over old and then the steamer can blow the new skim off. Taking all the paper off also let's you see if there are any problems (by finding mould under v old paper I realised I had a blocked gutter in an hard to see corner) and you can fix them before they get too bad yes that was looking for the silver lining of stripping lots of wallpaper

An 1860 house probably has distemper on the walls. It tends to be in pale colours, usually IME pink, green and blue, but no doubt yellow as well.

It is a difficult surface to work on, which will be why they papered it. It can be cleaned off with hot (not warm) water and a broad metal scraper. It has a characteristic unpleasant smell of boiled up hooves.

Zinnser Gardz can be used to seal the surface after you have cleaned it. Have a look at their website for advice.

If you have lath and plaster walls (hollow) the plaster will probably be cracked and falling off. If times are not too hard you might have it pulled down and the wall boarded and skimmed.

Our house was built in 1870 and we took the lining paper off and all the walls were covered with distemper. Some walls were cracked but they weren't bad at all. The walls which were cracked got fixed and the others just got rubbed down and relined with 1200 weight lining paper... The old paper came of easily because it had dried out so much.

I've lined half the room this afternoon. Whilst I'd love to strip back to basics and do a really great job, I'm not sure I'm skilled enough, and with a 2 year old in tow and new furniture due for delivery on Friday, it's not really practical.

Would love to get the house re-plastered, but we just don't have the funds at the moment.

And on the way to the DIY shop to buy the paper, paste and suchlike, a mahoosive stone took a lump out of my windscreen. What else can go wrong today?

Have you done the whole room now, Danny? Has the paper stayed up?

No! I'm still only half way there. We were out yesterday, and I've been doing my breastfeeding support today, so it's going to be a couple of rolls a night this week to get it finished.

The good news is that what's gone up has stayed up, and I've not done a hideous job!

danny the quickest way to do it is cut a load of pieces at once to the length you need, then paste them all. by the time youve pasted the last one the first one should be ready to hang. hang them all first then go back and trim tops/bottoms all in one. you will have it done in no time. our room which is 10m x 6m was completely done, all 4 walls in 3 hours this way. the other trick the decorators use it put a bead of decorators caulk at the top and bottom of each length of hung paper - the reason for doing this is the paper wont peel off if the ends are a little dry.

I did the 2 walls in only a couple of hours. The next bit is tricky - lots of alcoves and fireplaces and other annoying stuff. DH has taken tomorrow off so we can blast through it before lunch

Room is finished! Aside from the 2 alcoves that I am going to paint lovely bold colours. Thanks for the moral support. It's not a perfect job, but I'm 95% happy with it, which isn't bad for a first effort with the lining paper!

Pic please