Omg help me - painted matt over silk in front room and it is horrendous - what do I do now?!

[Gettingonabitnow]

Hi

Had no idea it was silk underneath. It’s basically not adhered and also cracked. I’ve scraped off as much of the stuff that hadn’t dried, but it is in a word, fucked.

Please help - what do I do?

X

Can you wash it off? then leave what's left to dry, then sand, then use a primer before painting again.

I've painted over silk before without issues. Was it gloss? Maybe that wipe clean stuff?

You might have to rub back a bit to roughen the surface to get a key for the new paint.

Don’t take my word for this but I’m currently decorating my house and I recently googled what different paints can go together. Google told me to go over the walls with white paint primer before going over with the new paint as it will bond any paints together. I’m not sure about that cracking and flaking though. I’m guessing you may have to consider stripping the lot now. I think you need a professional tbh

Thanks. I’m assuming it was silk, we had taken wallpaper off and the paint underneath was shiny. What a pain, an expensive pain!!

I think it all needs sanding back. We had a similar issue and a decorator told us that before you paint over silk you really need to give it a good sand to enable anything else to stick over the top. We hadn’t done that, and it didn’t look great… we just kept painting over it until it looked vaguely ok 🤷‍♀️

Do you think you can paint thick enough with the primer to cover the cracks? Though I would be worried about any new paint flaking off if that’s already happening underneath

FML. I think I’m going to sand it smooth as much as possible then apparently there is a Zinsser 123 primer you can use? Thanks everyone.

This was under wallpaper? Did you sugar soap before painting?

Either way you need to create a key for the paint.

I have painted matt over silk emulsion a few times, I just had to use more paint, as in two coats,or even more than two coats. You obviously have to use more paint anyway,if you are painting over a colour that is a shade darker. but good thick matt emulsion paint, is fine over silk finish.. I don't use rollers though, I prefer a good emulsion brush any time.

Yeah if it was previously wallpapered it'll do that. You need to sugar soap and sand and prime or it'll keep doing. I couldn't be arsed do got the room skimmed.

After removing wallpaper walls need to be washed off with sugar soap to remove any remaining wallpaper paste/glue, otherwise new paint doesn't adhere to surface. Made the same mistake in the past [Embarrassed]

As above, sounds like you didn't wash the wall properly.

I'd be tempted to remove loose paint and then paper with lining paper before painting. You will struggle to get a decent finish on the walls you've painted without a lot of work.

if it was wallpapered, there may also have been traces of paste.

you can sponge the new paint to make it thoroughly wet, this may make it soften and stretch so you can get it off with a broad metal scraper.

try a small section first to see if it is worth the effort

if you can get it off, you can take the gloss off the old paint with 600 grade wet-and-dry paper (which is black, and waterproof). this will also take off specks and lumps of paint You keep rinsing it in a bucket of water to wash the paint residue off.

some decorators shops may have it, but it is mostly used for DIY car painting, so you will find it car accessory shops.

Was if Farrow and Ball? - I painted F & B over a random unknown paint and it didn't like it at all wouldn't go on very well and then all blistered. Put me off using it to be honest. Beautiful colours but I prefer less thoroughbred paint that will be less faff.

Its DEFFO from wallpaper paste.

Buy some Sugar Soap liquid. Its bright yellow in a bottle. Make a large bucket full and wash the walls really thoroughly with a sponge and a soft scrubbing brush.

It'll be alright after that.

Zinsser primer is awesome, I just covered what was some type of silk paint in my hall stairs and landing. Two coats of Zinsser two coats of Matt and the wall in perfect.

We had this problem a few years ago . The paint cracked and alligatored. It looked dreadful . We tried sanding but it was such a large area . In the end , we bought polycell 3 in 1 basecoat and it worked! I haven't checked whether you can still buy it or not but its definitely worth a try.

This happened to us. We took the wallpaper off and scrubbed the walls with sugar soap. But still it happened. Grrr

It’s a right cock up chez Dobby.

Thanks everyone. What a day. Popped into a local decorator shop, he said to sand it so got some heavy duty sandpaper that he recommended, and then I’ve got a primer to go over the top. I hate wallpaper why do people put it on walls! 😂 thanks again x

If that doesn't work, put up lining paper then paint over it.

Thanks. I feel a real prat - I posted on here not a few months ago saying I was a novice at decorating! 😂

I'm a lazy sod, but would pay someone to paper it. Or lining paper then paint.