Painting damaged walls - advice needed

[ReiltinDubh]

Hoping someone can give me advice. I'm looking to paint these walls which are quite damaged and I've no idea how to prepare them or even if it's feasible to paint them!
Replastering not an option at the moment unfortunately, but they are really depressing me so would like to try do something with them.
Thanks

I have a cupboard that looks a bit like this, with that same peeling glossy paint.

My plan is I'm going to sand the worst peely. Paint it all with zinnser. Fill holes, sand bits sticking out again. Paint with plain white emulsion. Fill and sand again. Hopefully it'll take some coloured emulsion after that.

Firstly, ensure that the source of the damp has been dealt with.
Then you'll need to remove all the loose paint and scrub off as much mould as possible. Then use a mould killer. Then paint with a stain blocker paint - I recommend Zinsser Permawhite.
Then put lining paper up and then the emulsion paint on top.

I think you need to find out the cause of the peeling before you decide what to do and fix the issue, otherwise you will soon be back to square one or it could cause worse damage if it's something like damp.

This is how you deal with it:

harrisbrushes.com/how-to-guides/how-to-repair-peeling-paint-on-plaster-walls/

Yeah, you need to solve the damp issue first. We had this in our old house, we sanded the wall down and painted it with damp proof paint before the emulsion and what you have on the picture there just happened again above the level we went to with the damp proof paint!

Thanks everyone. Damp has been dealt with. @80sMum would the whole room need to be painted with stain blocker paint and lined or just those patches?

There are 2 paints you can use.

Both Zinsser.
One is the stain blocker. This is really effective, nothing comes through, but you may need 2 coats. That will cover marks and anything that might leak through the new paint.

The other is the zinsser peel stop. That can be used on flaky paint to stabilize it and create a good surface to paint on.

What you use partly depends on what finish you want.

Personally I would get an electric sander and get rid of as much as possible, as you'll get a better smooth surface. That gloss paint needs stongly sanding anyway before you paint it to get paint to stick.

The other reason it might be peeling is that it has been painted directly on the the plaster. Wherever the plaster is bare you need to use either w new plaster paint, or use a watered down emulsion. This first layer sinks in to the plaster and creates a surface for the paint to bond to.

and i wouldn't bother with lining paper at all.

Thanks @steppemum. I have no idea what finish I want!
It has definitely peeled back to bare plaster in parts. So would you recommend sanding, then one of the zinsser paints, then a new plaster paint, then whatever actual emulsion I want? Apologies if stupid question I just really don't have a clue!

And another stupid question, how can you all tell that the current paint is glossy? It looks like normal matt paint when I'm looking at it!

I used a dettol mold spray for some alarmingly bright yellow mold I found behind some wallpaper on the advice of a landlord I met. It got rid of the mold and it never came back; she had suggested other brands didn't always kill it for good even if you remedied the cause.

I scrubbed the walls and got all paste off, then painted. As it was lime plaster, I used claypaint, but that's expensive. Yours looks like gypsum (if it is all pink) so any emulsion ought to do it. If you've had to patch it a lot, thin the first paint coat to make 'mist' coat (look that up- paint manufacturers have their own dilution rates depending on the brand and type of paint.

These days I use this filler, it's pricey but easier to use than any other I have tried, it fills deep, which many don't, is easy to smooth, and dries fast. www.decoratingwarehouse.co.uk/mangers-lightweight-filler-for-deep-gaps?gclid=CjwKCAjw2bmLBhBREiwAZ6ugo0AnK1OgdcCsaxKA_CxQN7BMhOeBoUYMRvbO0FeUd-UbRO4vGhD7wRoC0XMQAvD_BwE

Thanks so much for all your links, advice and suggestions everyone. Feeling a bit more confident that I won't be looking at the ugly walls for too much longer!

@ReiltinDubh

Thanks everyone. Damp has been dealt with. *@80sMum* would the whole room need to be painted with stain blocker paint and lined or just those patches?

@ReiltinDubh if you're covering the walls with lining paper before emulsion painting, then you would probably only need to put the stain blocker paint on the stained areas. Lining paper will smooth out any lumps and bumps where the existing paint may still be clinging. You'll possibly be able to see very faint lines where the paper joins but it will be barely perceptible once the room is furnished. Good luck with it! I do love a project! It'll be worth the effort.

@ReiltinDubh

Thanks *@steppemum*. I have no idea what finish I want! It has definitely peeled back to bare plaster in parts. So would you recommend sanding, then one of the zinsser paints, then a new plaster paint, then whatever actual emulsion I want? Apologies if stupid question I just really don't have a clue!

if you use a bare plaster paint or watered down paint for the bare plaster, then you must do that before any other paints, as it has to go on the bare plaster.

I agree with pp who said get a scraper, most of that paint will lift off.
I thought it looked glossy in the photos, but if you say it is matt then you are probably right. It just doesn't look like emulsion, so if it is veyr old, it might be oil based.

when I asked about finish, I was thinking basically how good a finish do you want? If you rough sand and then use peel stop paint (which I cannot recommend highly enough) then you may well still have an uneven surface. The edges of the paint patches will probably show through the final coat, and even with lining paper, those edges may show through. Not a problem really if it is a utility room or inside a cupboard, it wouldn't show that much, but it wouldn't be a good enough finish for eg hallway/living room.

so, scrape, then use an electric sander unitl you have a smooth finish. Use peel stop on any remaining paint/edges. Sand again if necessary to get a smooth finish. Then use stain stop on stain patches, you don't need to use it everywhere, you can use it in patches.
Then do first coat of final paint. (or just put on a coat of white emulsion, so you can see what the final surface looks like)
Stand back a look critically at the finish, do you need to use some fine filler /sanding to smooth any more bits?
Then you're ready to paint.

Zinsser WaterTite