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Original poster

What caused this?

48 replies

UnderCroft · 25/01/2022 21:50

New stud walls put up in July. Decorated in November. Didn't finish off the skirting because they had to move on to a new job (wall prep work took longer than expected). Floor resanded after walls painted with an old fashioned noisy heavy sanding machine. Skirting had to be removed as there was a fault with the flooring that couldn't be removed by sanding. Skirting is now back on.

I've taken photos of the walls. The paint starting peeling after the sanding and before the skirting was removed. When the skirting was removed and put back on again this is what it looks like. Also found cracking vertically in 3 places in the new stud walls.

Can anyone tell me what ultimately has caused the poor paint finish? The paint is literally peeling off the walls/peelable in places where it's loose.

a) did we get the plaster painted too soon? (August finished plaster, November painting)
b) did the painters not prep the walls properly for paint on new plaster?
c) did the floor sanding shake the new walls to the extent it damaged the paint where it joined the skirting?
d) should I have waited until the flooring was finished before painting the walls? (Flooring was 'finished' but had to be redone due to fault)
e) or something else?

The decorating was arranged by me separately to the sanding and flooring which was organised by the builder who built the stud walls. His quality of work has been excellent but ultimately we're left with an expensive paint job and every single wall needs redoing. I only want to raise the problem with him if it's due to the flooring work. Does anyone know the usual reasons behind peeling paintwork? The decorator says it's because we didn't leave enough time for the job and they couldn't caulk the wall to the skirting (which would have had to have been redone anyway due to the flooring being taken up and some skirting had to be replaced). Any thoughts and advice welcome.

OP posts:

RedRobin100 · 26/01/2022 06:51

I’m confused that they keep referencing the caulking? Seems totally irrelevant to your actual issue..
(Which agree with PPs looks like a mist coat/paint type/decorator problem

RedRobin100 · 26/01/2022 06:54

Also maybe they weren’t properly thorough in bringing mist coat right out to wall boundaries-ie top bottom and sides hence why it’s peeling where it is?

JuneOsborne · 26/01/2022 06:56

Yeah, I'd say it's got damp, or the mist costs weren't done properly.

I was always taught (by my dad who was a plasterer) that you start of with 30/70 paint to water for coat 1 (of Matt emulsion) and then 70/30 for coat 2. Then you can paint.

nanabow · 26/01/2022 07:13

We replastered and repainted our whole 4 bed house. I'd say it's one of two thing:

A poor mist coat. We did 2 coats of mist cost, then 2 coats of paint. The plaster had a white tinge to it afterwards.

Your plasterer primed/sealed the walls with PVA, but they applied it too thick? We had this in one room and the paint wouldn't stick. We had to seal the Zinnesser and then repaint.

Rollercoaster1920 · 26/01/2022 08:05

Decorator problem. The plasterer might have polished the plaster but the decorator should have seen that and sanded the wall a bit to let a key for the paint. Or the most coat was done with vinyl paint.

HidingFromDD · 26/01/2022 08:37

did he use johnstone's acrylic? literally just using it to do bathroom and laundry room and it is odd as I peeled a large drip off the radiator all in one piece (very satisfying). Absolutely not what he should have used for a mist coat though, that should have been basic matt emulsion (I use whatever they have cheap in a big tub tbh). The areas I've painted haven't peeled at all and are firmly attached to the wall, although was just on top of old emulsion.

should say I'm a competent DIYer not a professional

Original poster

UnderCroft · 26/01/2022 08:48

I didn't ask them to use any particular type, only the colour. So his choice of paint was down to his professional judgement. I imagine he's done a million walls painting on bare plaster. It should be the easiest surface as it's totally flat and perfect.

OP posts:

steppemum · 26/01/2022 08:57

@TokenGinger

It looks like a problem with the mist coat. You shouldn't be able to see the colour of the plaster if the mist coat had been done correctly, because of the water to paint ratio, it should have soaked into the plaster.

Some do 1pt paint, 3pt water, but this can often be too runny and you'll see drip marks running down the wall.

My mum (decorator) does 1pt paint, 2pt water, and does two coats, and she also will never use silk on new plaster because of peeling.

this absolutely.

the first coat didn't soak into the plaster.
They didn't dilute it enough.

It is a horrible messy paint job to do, but it is essential, otherwise the paint can peel as it has here.

The paint peeled like this in our utility room, and one bedroom, as the previous owners didn't do proper mist coat.

I don' think 50/50 is thin enough

steppemum · 26/01/2022 08:58

oh and you need to use veyr basic matt emulsion for the mist coat, not anything with a silk/sheen finish

goingtotown · 26/01/2022 09:13

The mist coat is the problem.

CorsicaDreaming · 26/01/2022 09:14

I think @HidingFromDD is probably right and they used Johnstone acrylic - it just looks really weird and stretchy plasticy- we are currently doing our bathroom and there is no way you could peel the base mist layer off

We were advised 50-50 by a professional decorator for mist coat, but have previously started at 70:30 then to 50:50....

Did our bedroom last summer at 70:30 then straight to main coats. That is also fine.

I think it's the wrong pain they used...

sleepymum50 · 26/01/2022 11:44

I had this once. It was a piece of wall that was replastered. I think the decorator used a watered down coat of PVA glue to seal the plaster, then painted on top.

When I pulled at the paint it just came away from the wall cleanly in huge strips. It felt very plasticky.

I don’t know if the PVA thing is an acceptable thing, but it definitely didn’t work in this case.

Original poster

UnderCroft · 27/01/2022 09:10

Thank you everyone for your input. It's unanimously a decorating rather than building work issue. Hopefully the decorator will agree when he sees the mist coat has clearly peeled.

I realised one wall just has a mist coat on because we haven't finished the upstairs work so there was no point in carrying on. That's the one that looks like this

OP posts:

mrsbyers · 27/01/2022 09:32

Bare plaster needs a mist coat with some PVA in it

Tullig · 27/01/2022 09:46

Just commenting to say that we had our entire house replastered in late August/early September and painted in November with no issues - so it seems unlikely to be insufficiently dried plaster causing the problem. I’d agree that the way in which the paint is coming off suggests the mist coat.

Original poster

UnderCroft · 27/01/2022 20:07

@Tullig

That's very helpful because I can see the decorator trying to push this back on me.

OP posts:

BonnyandPoppy · 27/01/2022 20:29

I'd also say that the problem is that he has used vinyl paint for the mist coat. It looks like he has watered it down but used the wrong type of paint.

BonnyandPoppy · 27/01/2022 20:33

We had our house replastered and then painted a few days later with no problems and no peeling. Our decorator also did two coats of mist paint and then two coats of the top coat. I did the toilet at the same time after that had been freshly plastered and followed his guidance and its all still on the walls. I did the mist coat with about 50/50 and then 70/30 with cheap matt emulsion/water mix.

nomorefrogs · 27/01/2022 20:46

Blimey those photos have an odd texture to the paint. It looks lumpy like porridge and I can seen paint runs too. Does any of it look flat and good? Was he recommended by anyone or pot luck?

FurbleSocks · 27/01/2022 21:01

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Original poster

UnderCroft · 27/01/2022 21:06

@nomorefrogs

Blimey those photos have an odd texture to the paint. It looks lumpy like porridge and I can seen paint runs too. Does any of it look flat and good? Was he recommended by anyone or pot luck?

Those last photos are where he stopped because it's the stairs and we decided not to do them until upstairs was finished (carrying equipment up and down bashing the walls!)

Yes highly recommended by a colleague who uses him in his home and on commercial work for the company we work for.

OP posts:

caringcarer · 27/01/2022 21:23

Definately a problem with the painter. You need to see wall with PVA glue in water with just a little amount of Matt paint. Two coats like that allowing drying in between. Then paint on top. A professional decorator should not make basic errors.

TokenGinger · 28/01/2022 13:43

PVA is old advice and not healthy for the plaster. It'll end up drying and crumbling. The plaster needs to absorb moisture. Adding PVA basically puts a plastic seal on the plaster.

A mist coat of 1pt paint, 2pt water is enough, done with matt emulsion, not silk or acrylic.

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