Freshly painted walls are "crazing / cracking" as

[stevethetrixter]

Can anyone help me, I don't know what to do next.
Our kitchen needed decorating. It has been wallpapered for the last 10 years or so. We started by steaming off the wall paper, then painted the walls with 2 coats of white emulsion. But as it's drying it is drying with loads of fine cracks in the paint surface, I think its called crazing? Not sure why it's done it, but I have now realised that we forgot to wash the walls down after removing the wallpaper. Could there have been some gluey residue still on the walls? Would this have caused the crazing?

My problem is I don't know what to do now to recover the situation. Can anyone offer any suggestions? I can't leave it like it is now, it looks awful.

 

[joe-90]

Yes it's paste. Best bet is Zinsser gardz.

 

[stevethetrixter]

Arghh, thought so. So if I get some of this "zinsser gards", what would I do with it?
Can I apply it over the cracked emulsion, or have I got to try and remove the emulsion first?

 

[joe-90]

Ideally you would use an electric sander and give it a wizz over for best results.

 

[stevethetrixter]

Thanks so much for the replies Joe-90. I'll see if I can find some Zinsser in my local shops. Any idea who sttocks it. Do any of the big DIY chains have it?

 

[stevethetrixter]

Ah, it's ok, I found the Zinsser website, and they list some stockists nearby. Fingers crossed that it works . . . .

 

[stevethetrixter]

Well, so far so good. Thanks for the excellent advice Joe. I got some of the Zinsser Guard this morning. Spent quite a while sanding down the cracked paint. Then applied a decent coat of the Zinsser. Left it for a good 3-4 hours, and have just re-painted one small area with my emulsion. So far so good. No cracking evident at the moment. If all is well with the test area in the morning, then I will re-paint the rest of the room.
So far I'm really encouraged by what I see. Looks like the Zinsser was well worth the money.
Thanks again