why is my paint chipping?

[lucija]

We live in an older home. About 4-5 yrs ago we took down wallpaper in the hall (it looked ancient). Once this was done, the surface was quite damaged (some of the glue did not come off nicely), but we decided to ignore this and simply primed and painted the walls (1 coat each). Recently I have noticed that the paint started chipping in what appear to be damaged areas.

We're getting ready to properly fix the walls (mud + sand) and repaint, but I was wondering --- what is causing the current (latex) paint to chip?

 

[ERD50]

We just had a painter in. I pointed out the chipping in one section of a ceiling so he knew that would need special attention. Without hesitation he said it was from painting over wallpaper paste. I guess it was just a matter of scraping and washing off the paste.

These were like tiny chips, maybe 1/4" or less, just flaking off.

-ERD50

 

[lucija]

Wow, you had wallpaper on the ceiling?

Our "flakes" are the same size and look a bit like small spider-web cracks... they do seem to be in non-smooth places on the wall. I wonder whether I need to scrape them off since I will be putting a layer of mud all over... Thoughts?

Thanks.

 

[ERD50]

Wow, you had wallpaper on the ceiling?
.

I knew I should have edited that Ceiling paper?

No, the painter thought it just looked like they got some of the paste smeared up there in one spot when they wallpapered the walls.

Your description sounds like ours, but I suppose other things could cause that too. I dunno, but if it were me, I would scrape it off, especially since you are mudding over it. I'd be worried the mud might not stick, or just flake off with the chips.

-ERD50

 

[Westernskies]

Old wallpaper paste is not a good substrate for anything- paint or drywall mud. Scpape it ALL off, wash the walls with a good-quality wallpaper remover (hint: Downy Fabric Softener, a bit of detergent and hot water...) and then mud, sand, prime, and paint. It's a lot of work, but the only way to ensure that the new paint job doesn't end up looking like the old job...

Of course you could just nail up some 1970's paneling to replace the 1960's wallpaper...