Painting bathroom ceiling - help!

[fliptopbin]

Hi folks.

Tearing my hair out with this. Bathroom ceiling with mould and peeling paint. Cleaned all the mould off and allowed 12 hours or so to dry. Scraped off all the loose paint as far as I could, and started painting with Ronseal Anti-mould paint. Cut in with a brush, but as soon as I started with the roller (thickish pile as ceiling has some sort of artex type stuff on it), bits of the previous paint start coming off with the roller. Touched them in with a brush, allowed to dry, second coat. Less paint coming off on roller this time and went on better, although I could see the paint bowing down from the ceiling in a couple of places where it was obviously not bonding. On inspection this morning after a night to dry it wasn't bowing but there was microblistering and some peeling aleady, and although the bowing bits looked better a tiny poke with a scraper had it coming off in sheets.

I guess the plaster/plasterboard is still damp, but what to do? I don't know if I am down to the previous paint, or the plaster itself. I don't have the luxury of letting it dry for days, it is the family bathroom and we are already 2+ days without a shower! Do I keep peeling & scraping until all the paint is off, or do I just go until it's fairly solid? 3/4s of the ceiling looks brilliant after 2 coats, but the patchy bits are obviously above the shower and next to the window. Should I just paint over it with a couple of coats of white emulsion?

Personally I have just had enough and want to leave it but Mrs.Fliptopbin is not happy...

 

[KenGMac]

fliptopbin, good evening.

Does your bathroom have some sort of "Extractor Fan System"?

Or an openable window?

Now there appears to be an "Artex" finish on the surface of the ceiling, at times this "Artex" can contain a form of Asbestos?

When was your property built? and did you apply this layer of "Artex"?

One thing that could be happening is that the "Artex" is absorbing and holding a load of moisture, and that could be exacerbating the problem?

Ken

 

[fliptopbin]

It does have an extractor fan - I replaced the crap one about 10 years ago with a less crap one but it stopped working a while back so I am looking into this at the moment. It seems it was woefully under specced anyway so I will be replacing it with the beefiest I can get for the 4" duct size. I've just had a look at the wiring and it is a mess, seems it is wired to work from a pull switch in the airing cupboard rather than taking a feed from the bathroom lights for a timer. There's also an opening window which we usually leave open to mitigate the situation. Anyway this is in hand so hopefully we went get a repeat performance...

I was not aware of the possibility of asbestos; this places a rather different slant on things! The house is from the late 50s, we've been there for 15 years or so and the bathroom was refitted before us, early to mid 2000s. No idea how old the Artex is. None of the other upstairs rooms have it...

I had a poke with a scraper earlier and it has become plain to me that I am tearing off several layers of perfectly good paint at a time, and it never leaves a clean edge - and a lot of dust comes off :-O We're away for a few days soon so I am thinking it will have a chance to dry out, then get two or three layers of paint on the day we get back and give it a day or two to dry? Can I paint OK on the newly exposed surface?

 

[KenGMac]

fliptopbin, good evening, again.

OK first of, please STOP prodding about.

The Artex should be tested for the presence of Asbestos, there are many test houses that can be found on the WWW

Having [possibly] scared, the "Asbestos" contained in Artex is known as white Asbestos, the most benign of the Asbestos's that was in common use back in the day.

The Artex is probably holding a lot of the moisture that is causing you issues, its correct removal will possibly assist in mitigating some of the issues you are having.

The knackered extract fan has also contributed to your problem, fitting a more robust fan + a run on will assist hugely.

Once the Artex is removed + a new working fan will go a long way to getting your issue sorted, in the mean time you are in effect wasting your time and money applying any more paint now, before all the Artex is removed.

Ken.

 

[fliptopbin]

Many thanks for the reply - don't worry I won't be doing any more scraping. Will painting over it once dry not seal it?

 

[KenGMac]

Option to consider??

Overboard the existing plasterboard with another sheet of plasterboard? Will give you a clean unblemished ceiling to work with?

Artex is a bitch at times to remove totally, if not fully removed you will see the old marks of un-removed Artex.

Or? remove as much Artex as poss. then skim coat??

Get the Artex tested?? it may contain Asbestos.

Ken