Cracked paint

GARYF123

New Member
Hi everybody, new to forum. Not a plasterer but work in property maintenance and do the odd patch job but sometimes prepare ready for guy to skim when needed. I have a problem at home. I am trying to get hall, stairs and landing decorated and getting skimmed first. The walls were painted years ago with White matt emulsion. The paint has cracked and blistered badly due to paste residue on the wall i think. I am wanting some advice on preparing it prior to getting someone in. I will try to attach some photos.
I have tried a orbital sander but it doesn't seem to shift the cracking paint. I was wondering if i could just scrape the raised areas then prime with maybe Blue grit (i think that is what it is called) or something similar?
Any help would be greatly appreciated!

Regards,

Gary.
 

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Anyway Andy , your an early bird but 3.15 lol
 
Cut a handle of a old hand saw and drag that across to break through surface. 100s of scratch marks for a great key. Then have a really good scrape at it.
Prime with gardz..
Then up to person who skims as either blue grit or pva. Both work great, just some like one of over the other and both will take fine to gardz.

I use beeline sealer as cheaper but stick to gardz imo
 
Thanks smoother09 and Wayners. Will try that. Essexandy, if you have the same problem at one of your rentals and you keep painting over it and it keeps cracking, maybe it would be a good idea to get some advice from a good plasterer! Only a fool would keep painting over cracks and expect to get a different result!
 
Thanks smoother09 and Wayners. Will try that. Essexandy, if you have the same problem at one of your rentals and you keep painting over it and it keeps cracking, maybe it would be a good idea to get some advice from a good plasterer! Only a fool would keep painting over cracks and expect to get a different result!
People still vote labour
 
Thanks smoother09 and Wayners. Will try that. Essexandy, if you have the same problem at one of your rentals and you keep painting over it and it keeps cracking, maybe it would be a good idea to get some advice from a good plasterer! Only a fool would keep painting over cracks and expect to get a different result!
Crikey that's great advice, thank you. Now to start my quest to find a decent plasterer.
 
Thanks smoother09 and Wayners. Will try that. Essexandy, if you have the same problem at one of your rentals and you keep painting over it and it keeps cracking, maybe it would be a good idea to get some advice from a good plasterer! Only a fool would keep painting over cracks and expect to get a different result!
People still vote labour

People still VOTE.

Once you believe the theatre is real, it's already too late, no matter which party you vote for.
 
Gary, it's a bit difficult to tell from your pics, but that substrate looks extremely dry & porous - probably difficult for any paint to maintain a longterm bond, so lifting away and inevitably cracking, as a consequence. I'm guessing the surface was never prepped/sealed properly, originally, before paint was applied.

Sometimes, you can remove areas of stubborn paint using a scabbler or (more drastic) a renovation grinder with a pcd blade, but neither are a good idea if you've got a weak substrate (like old lime plaster, for example). I'm not there in person, so I can't tell how firm or crumbly your substrate is.

www.refina.co.uk/surface-preparation/scabbling-cutters-surface-blaster-discs/epf1503-scabbler.html#/2-voltage-230v

Personally, I wouldn't try to paint over that existing paint, even if you key it first. Others may disagree with me, but I suspect it really does need all the paint being properly removed, and the substrate then properly sealed, prior to fresh paint being applied.

Or hack off, back to brick, but nobody likes hearing that...
 
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Gary, it's a bit difficult to tell from your pics, but that substrate looks extremely dry & porous - probably difficult for any paint to maintain a longterm bond, so lifting away and inevitably cracking, as a consequence. I'm guessing the surface was never prepped/sealed properly, originally, before paint was applied.

Sometimes, you can remove areas of stubborn paint using a scabbler, but that's not a good idea if you've got a weak substrate (like old lime plaster, for example). I'm not there in person, so I can't tell how firm or crumbly your substrate is.

Personally, I wouldn't try to paint over that existing paint, even if you key it first. Others may disagree with me, but I suspect it really does need all the paint being properly removed, and the substrate then properly sealed, prior to fresh paint being applied.

Or hack off, back to brick, but nobody likes hearing that...
Thank you I'll try that next time.
 
What's wrong - is your mirror cracked, too? :coffe:

To clarify, Andy, that wasn't intended as an insult (I see now that it looks that way). I'd admit it if it was.

I just meant I know you're a spread, so I was amused that you sarcastically said you needed to find one, to handle any cracked walls. Obviously, you see a spread every time you look in the mirror.

I shall now try to take my foot out of my mouth... (y)
 
Gary, it's a bit difficult to tell from your pics, but that substrate looks extremely dry & porous - probably difficult for any paint to maintain a longterm bond, so lifting away and inevitably cracking, as a consequence. I'm guessing the surface was never prepped/sealed properly, originally, before paint was applied.

Sometimes, you can remove areas of stubborn paint using a scabbler or (more drastic) a renovation grinder with a pcd blade, but neither are a good idea if you've got a weak substrate (like old lime plaster, for example). I'm not there in person, so I can't tell how firm or crumbly your substrate is.

www.refina.co.uk/surface-preparation/scabbling-cutters-surface-blaster-discs/epf1503-scabbler.html#/2-voltage-230v

Personally, I wouldn't try to paint over that existing paint, even if you key it first. Others may disagree with me, but I suspect it really does need all the paint being properly removed, and the substrate then properly sealed, prior to fresh paint being applied.

Or hack off, back to brick, but nobody likes hearing that...
Thanks for that! Just to clarify, I am not wanting to paint the wall, I want to get it skimmed. Does this make a difference to your prep info above?
 
Thanks for that! Just to clarify, I am not wanting to paint the wall, I want to get it skimmed. Does this make a difference to your prep info above?

Only you know how good or bad the physical substrate is. For example, old lime plaster on lath is notorious for blowing and falling off in huge chunks (after a hundred years or so, I mean). If you work in property maintenance, I'm sure you've seen exactly the kind of thing I'm referring to. No amount of scabbling would make that sound enough to skim over (but a lot of people still do :endesacuerdo:).

On the other hand, if the substrate is fundamentally solid, and you intend to skim rather than paint, then a scabbler could be just the ticket to get all that flakey paint off and leave a decent physical key for plastering (you'd still need to PVA it, or whatever, obviously).
 
Funny enough I've got similar in a kitchen at one of the rentals. Painted it a couple of times and the cracks reappear. Always wondered why?
Got it in my kitchen aswell. Think it's got something to do with the steam condensing on the walls, I've seen it in bathrooms aswell. We painted the kitchen with standard emulsion but the housing association used something else (professional dulux I think.) in the bathroom which has been great. No cracks or anything since Oct 2010.
 
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