This house is about 25 years old. The old paint (which appears to be the
original ) was flaking off in the ceiling of a bathroom. On closer
inspection, the paint was literally falling off. I used a scraper and
vaccuum and removed everything down to the sheetrock in about 10 minutes.

Against my better judgement, following the word of the "retired
housepainter" that ran the paint department at the local Home Depot, I
passed on buying Kilz, and picked up a gallon of Olympic Interior primer,
and a gallon of Olympic semigloss (both latex based). The primer went on, no
problem. the next day, I added the bag of painter's sand to the semi-gloss,
then I cut in the edges and then started rolling the rest of the ceiling.
Everything was fine until I started rolling around the edges. There, the
paint immediately started bubbling up.

I waited a week, scraped the loose paint, and started rolling the edges
again. Now, the first coat and primer are peeling off in sheets. Anywhere I
roll, I'm pulling last week's paint off, down to the sheetrock. It's not
sticking at all. Even in the center of the room, as soon as the wet paint
hits the surface, the old paint is peeling off.
I can put a scraper to the ceiling and slide it across again, and take off
huge sheets of dry paint.

Has anybody dealt with this? What is the problem?

Should I try kilz, or just put new sheet of drywall over the old and start
with a new surface?


Thanx

alienz wrote:

Against my better judgement, following the word of the "retired
housepainter" that ran the paint department at the local Home Depot, I
passed on buying Kilz,...

... It's not
sticking at all. Even in the center of the room, as soon as the wet paint
hits the surface, the old paint is peeling off.
I can put a scraper to the ceiling and slide it across again, and take off
huge sheets of dry paint.

Has anybody dealt with this? What is the problem?

Should I try kilz, or just put new sheet of drywall over the old and start
with a new surface?

You must clean the surfaces.There is no substitute to this issue.
You'll usually find the paint coming off in the corners first because
most folks don't prep the corners as well as the main surfaces.

First, Scrape it all off. Then, lightly sand the corners. Next, clean
the surfaces with a mix of TSP. Then rinse with clean water. Let
COMPLETELY dry.

Next, USE KILZ. I repeat, yes USE KILZ.

Then paint your finish color. I'd even add some of that anti-mold stuff
they sell at the paint dept to the finish coats.

This is why I'd never buy a home that had "fresh paint". Unless I did
it, I assume it's going to peel right off.

Does your bathroom have a ventilation fan? If not, you should install
one otherwise you will end up with the same problem of peeling paint in
the future.