Help!
We are renting an appartment in France. It's pretty old, and wasn't painted before we moved in. Six years on its looking really dingy and desperately needs freshening up. In France decoration is the responsibility of the tenant so we have to do it or get it done ourselves. We can't afford the outrageous prices charged by decorators so are DIYing which is fine, I can do it bit by bit.
I hit the first snag today. It looks like the entire flat - walls, ceilings, skirting, doors and frames pipes, radiators, you name it- has previously been painted the same magnolia colour throughout. I started in the hall, sanded down all the woodwork, cleaned that and the worst of the dingy walls with soapy water. Then I painted a first coat of dulux Matt emulsion on the walls, cornice and ceiling. I did a second coat on the ceilings and cornice, no problems. Then I started with a second coat on the walls, using a roller... What is happening is that when the second coat moistens the first one, they both start to peel off the walls, leaving the original paint uncovered! My parents had the same problem once in a flat they bought, where it turned out the previous owner had used a multi surface, paint on anything paint, on the walls because he knew nothing about paints and liked the colour! They ended up having to wash the first two layers off, lightly sand all the walls, then start again!!! Please noooooo!
Any ideas / experience? The walls are covered in this kind of texturised matting stuff that's really common here, but I don't think that's the problem. The original walls feel slightly satiny to touch, it doesn't feel like emulsion.
Help ! I really don't want to start sanding whole walls!