New paint scratched and peeling from walls

[ruddypaint]

Hi there. Can anyone please tell me why this is happening? We asked a professional painter to repaint some rooms. This is Dulux silk paint which is now easily scratched, and peeling from our walls. I have no clue about painting but would love your thoughts on this and how to stop it in the future.

 

[opps]

It looks like the paint hasn't adhered to the walls.

Did the decorator do any prep?

 

[ruddypaint]

I don’t know. Hopefully he did. Would this be the main reason why the paint is not adhering to the walls? My concern is that it will get progressively worse. Are you aware of any way to salvage this? I would not like to think we can no longer put paint on the walls because it would have the same issue. I’m no DIYer but thinking everything would have to be sanded down and start over, this time putting something on the walls to make sure the paint sticks properly. Would that be about right?

 

[opps]

I am not sure what caused the paint to blister like that. Did it happen on its own? How long ago was the room painted?

Waterbased paints take a couple of weeks to fully harden, you may be ok going forward but something is wrong somewhere. Poor paint adhesion might be the result of contaminants on the wall surface (eg grease, oily residues from bluetack, etc). Historically, decorators washed the walls in sugar soap to remove anything that might reduce adhesion. Personally, I prefer to use a sander connected to a dust extractor to provide a key and remove any minor dirt.

You could try running your fingernail over the paint to see how well it adheres (otherwise known as the fingernail test). Ultimately, you paid someone to paint it, I would recommend asking him what happened. Send him a photo, and see what he says. You can then come back here if you want to check the veracity of his explanation.