Painting your home’s interior walls can be easy, so you might want to do it yourself. But before arming yourself with a brush and cans of paint, you might want to familiarize yourself with paint problems that could crop up later on.
Here are a few common paint problems and their solutions:
Problem: The interior paint job would look smooth and seamless at first. But in time, you’ll notice bubbles forming underneath the paint’s surface. Those bubbles are a sign of blistering and are caused by the presence of moisture trying to resurface from the bare walls. Moisture could be a result of high humidity, contamination by dirt and grease, fast re-coating of paint, or paint application on a damp wall surface. Additionally, blisters can occur when the wall surface is powdery or friable.
Solution: To fix this problem, remove the flaking paint with a heat gun, a chemical application, a wire brush, or a scraper, depending on the severity and extent of the problem. Use an appropriate primer to find problem areas. Recoat the wall with the paint used before. If a significant area has blistering, strip all of the surface bare and repaint the wall.
Don’t paint on the wall when there’s a high dew point or when the weather is extremely humid, so as to prevent the problem from happening again. See to it that the wall is dry before you paint it over. If possible, install exhaust fans or vents in affected areas.
Problem: Peeling paint may be a result of moisture on the walls, and cracks may form because of aging. Moisture can enter the unpainted drywall or wood surface from the sides. It’s absorbed, and then it starts to dry, repeatedly causing the shrinking and swelling surface. Paint eventually pulls away from the surface.
After some time, a layer of paint may become split or brittle, and hairline cracks will start to appear, eventually becoming larger, causing the paint to peel. No matter how pretty the bedroom colors are, even the narrowest cracks can ruin the look.
Other factors that lead to peeling paint are poor preparation and heavy layering. If you’ve applied paint on a dirty wall, the paint is bound to peel or crack in due course, so it’s important to clean and prime the wall. Heavy layering leads to peeling paint as well since repainting previously painted walls adds extra weight to the wall.
Solution: Start removing the damaged or peeling paint using a wire brush or a paint scraper. After that, sand the surface of the wall using a disc sander. You can also use a random-orbit sander or disc sander attachment for drills. Sand with the abrasive setting and use the fine option next. Smooth over the edges between the scraped and painted areas. This process is called feathering.
Problem: When there are crystal-like substances on the surface of your home’s masonry, they’re signs of efflorescence. This condition is called mottling. Salt crystals can appear on brick, concrete, stucco, cinderblocks, and mortar surfaces. They can materialize even if you’ve chosen the right paint for your wall. When water on the surface evaporates, salt crystals are what remain. They can sometimes end up on the floors and will require special treatment. The severity of efflorescence will depend on the impact of rain and snow.
Solution: A few remedies are available for removing efflorescence, and they can be fast and straightforward techniques. Slat crystals are water soluble and tend to disappear on their own. You can use a pressurized hose to dissolve efflorescence, but you need to dry the wall’s surface to ensure that the crystals won’t return.
Another option is to use diluted vinegar, which is a safer substance than commercial chemicals. The upside is that you’re likely to have it in your kitchen already. Sometimes, it can be as simple as using a brush to get rid of efflorescence.
Problem: Cissing, also known as cratering, is caused by painting over surfaces with oil, grease, polish, or wax. Painting with these substances creates a non-painted appearance on the surface.
In addition, cissing may be an effect of a paint’s lack of chemical composition. Or it may be due to mixing, low drying temperature, the retention of excess solvent, or a combination of these issues.
Solution: Before application, clean the surface of the walls with mild soap and water. Then wipe the wall clean and make sure it’s dry before painting it to prevent moisture. You can wait for it to air-dry or use ventilation. The wall surface must be cleaned thoroughly to avoid trapping oil, grease, wax, and other debris. Reapplication of the paint will then resolve cissing.
Conclusion
Sometimes, paint problems may be inevitable because of certain factors, such as moisture and water, strange surfaces, and dryness. But there are proven ways to fix them. You can go DIY or hire a professional.