Gary C wrote:
During the past couple of weeks, we painted the exterior of our house
with Glidden Spred Dura Exterior Satin paint (water based latex),
which was rated high by Consumer Reports. The paint underneath was in
good condition, and we had cleaned and rinsed it beforehand, letting
it dry of course. It required several coats to complete cover the
underlying paint, which seemed very odd. The new paint color is a
pale yellow, and the underlying color was a light, coffee color -- not
very dark but darker than the pale yellow.


Gee, willikers! How many coats is "several"???? Five? Ten?
Is the home sided with wood, stucco, aluminum?
What did you clean with? TSP and bleach?
What did you clean off? Mildew? Paint chalking?
Where are the bubbles appearing? Only on shady side of house? Sunny
side? Seams or end grain of siding? All over?

Over a week after it was painted, we noticed it starting to blister
after some condensation formed on the sides of the house, and it got
worse after some rain. Most of the bubbles and blisters disappeared
within a coupel of days, but we are wondering if the paint is ever
really going to adhere well. The Glidden rep claims it still will
adhere, but I am very doubtful. I don't know if the Glidden paint is
just bad in general, if we happened to get a bad mixture from the
store, or if our experience is not unusual at all.

I am interested in hearing what others' opinions are. We don't want
to scrape everything that we just painted, and then repaint if we
really don't need to.

Gary

I wouldn't jump on the "house wrap" bandwagon before you analyze
where/why the paint is bubbling. First thought is damp wood. Moisture
in the wood will cause paint to bubble. How long did you allow it to
dry? Minimum two-three days? Was there any chalking remaining after
you washed?

If you painted in hot sun, the paint can form a film before the solvents
cure out, so the solvents are trapped beneath the film. I don't know
about condensation, other than the idea that if condensation forms, the
same area may already have stayed damp from long term moisture
intrusion. Bubbling/blistering would most likely occur at seams or end
grain where exterior moisture intrudes - your comment about the
blistering increasing after a rain makes this seem more likely. If you
painted in hot sun, you might get a little help from poking pin holes in
the blisters so's solvents can escape, but it's a bit late for that.
Please describe the surface/conditions a bit more.