Cowboy Painters!

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Hi well firstly i am a new user to this site today and find it a great resource to all needs so i am happy to be here

Ok i have recently just received a new flat but i have a problem with the state of the walls it is freshly plastered and painted but the paint has been applied without any type of primer or waiting for it to properly dry causing the paint to not stick properly and is very flakey.

The previous owners have painted straight over the plaster causing on the second coat patches of paint to peel off to bare plaster and just painted over the bare plaster leaving two layers of paint and the paint which has peeled off onto the roller has been rolled on to the top layer so now i have three layers of paint leaving really messy walls.

What would be the best solution to fix this problem? thanks

 

[marknjo]

Sounds like the walls were painted with a vinyl type of paint which is a big no no for new plaster, all you can do is scrape off the chunky lumps, block fill the bits where the chunky lumps came from and repaint.

Or just moan to whoever you got the flat off and tell them to do the snags.

 

[54aardvark]

The walls were obviously not sealed prior to painting, the plaster is hygroscopic so it sucked all the moisture out of the emulsion very quickly leaving the solids behind on the surface not bound properly to the wall - this can happen with vinyl and matt. The subsequent coats of paint were just hanging onto an unstable base which was not stuck properly to the wall.

Scrape back as much of the existing paint as possible, fill/sand to get your surface good and smooth then seal the plaster. You can use a plaster sealer or, as most do, a mist coat which is mix of 40% water to non-vinyl emulsion (look for Contract Matt). Give it a generous coat of this then another coat diluted by about 20%. You're then OK to go ahead with your finish coats.

Normally use a cheapo for the first 2 coats, no point in using expensive stuff just to seal the plaster!