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Wall Bubbling After prime coat

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22K views 32 replies 13 participants last post by  daArch  
C
#1 ·
Good day folks,
I have been only painting professionally a couple years now, so newer to the trade. I am fortunate to have a friend in the real estate investment business who has a ton of properties and she keeps me busy with her remods and flips or repaints for the ones she decides to keep.

I have done quite a number of jobs, but one thing interesting happened today in one room after I applied Kilz Kwik start primer.

I know it has noting to do with me or what I did on the job, but something in the last. Correct me if I am wrong, but I am just trying to learn things and what not to do in the future.

Little bit about the home. The home was built between 1952 and 1954, so it has seen a ton of repaints and a ton not done professionally.

In one room (the room in question) was last repainted with white satin (not sure on brand etc). The room had numerous spots where the white satin peeled off to expose the light brown color underneath. So indicating to me the previous painter had not primed.

Today, I applied Kiltz qwik start primer as I am doing a repaint. About 20 minutes after I started the room, looked back onto the wall I begun with and it seemed that after I applied the primer, on one wall, bubbles started to form under the prime coat.

After it dried, I played with the bubble with my finger and it seemed loose, Like 6 months after a second floor bathtub overflows and the water dries and leaves a crusty bubble.

So what I did was is I took a Stanley knife, cut a square around the bubbles, ( 3 or so bubbles) and took a scraper and scraped the cut out patch away to expose atleast 2 layers under to a puke green color. Like I said above, the top coat was white, the coat under was light brown, so it has to be a couple coats ago.

Now when I scraped the cut square away, then scraped on the edge of the square the more started to peel off out side my square, so I just scraped and scraped until no more lose paint came off. Then I leveled it out with joint compound and will re-prime the wall.

My questions are, has anyone ever seen where you prime and under previous coats the primer makes it bubble?

What could that be caused from?

Is there anything I can do to prevent that from happening in the future?

Any input or theories is welcome.
 
C
#8 ·
I did wash the walls before priming. But I washed them about a week before Christmas, left a box & ceiling fan running in the room since I thought i was returning quicker than I did, got called to start/finish 3 more hotter jobs in that that time and came back today to resume where I had left off.

No one else was working in the house since I was gone.
 
C
#10 ·
Is that a Kilz versus Zinnser reply?
Arent they fairly comparable?
And if not, please feel free to explain.

Not being sarcastic, just trying to be educated.

There was no joint compound under that spot. The spot/area was smooth as a babys butt. No issues there. And like I said, It seemed to be a failure in between coats.
 
#9 ·
that was my first thought

but he said the first coat was puke green. So now I wonder. Unless you think some IDIOT applied calcimine OVER that green paint. THAT would be a first for me.

Another issue could be wallpaper paste not washed off that green paint. Or even a dusty surface. Sounds like SOME contaminate on that green paint.
 
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#15 ·
I thought of previous coats did not bond well.

Which is why I suggested previous coats were not primed before they were painted. And i do know primer was not used in the older days. It was just weird because after so many jobs, never seen it before.

Never thought of it might have gone down, diddnt look like it would have.

But since I am new here, (first day at school) I later realized you can upload pics. I did take pics, and have uploaded them in a latter reply.
 
#13 ·
I bet that puke green paint is lead.

Do you know how to test the next layer of paint for latex?

Alcohol.

If alcohol (rubbing or denatured) starts dissolving the paint, or getting sticky and "rubbery", it's latex. If it's 1950 era vinyl latex over lead base paint, you're gonna have adhesion problems.
 
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#20 ·
I wish I learned of this site when I was on the job. I would have tested it via Alcohol.

How was the "vinyl latex" paint of the 50's era different than latex of today?
And as I never painted with lead, but do know it it superior as far as a finish, but reasons why it is not used is health reasons.
But was lead paint solvent based or washable with water?
 
#24 ·
so you have gotten down to the actual drywall and know there was no skim coat?

What size are the sheets of drywall?


I would conjecture that it was unlikely calcimine was used on drywall, but I've seen it used on wood trim, which is really unique.

You keep adding tidbits that are making accurate diagnosis difficult. This sounds like a job where someone with a lot of time and experience in the trade should LOOK at it and offer an opinion after seeing, feeling, testing, and even tasting (kidding).
 
#28 ·
From what i have seen, this has mostly been on plaster walls, even after oil primer. It can happen w any grade paint. Most of the time they settle. With sheetrock sometimes its one air bubble, or a small area. If its the last day on that job and its not settling, i cut area, scrape, prime, skim coat and get a drier on it. Same thing the op did basically.
Op, next time let them sit and see if they settle. They may appear on the 2nd coat as well and most likely will settle again. As you have seen, it rarely happens.
 
#29 ·
In case you do run in to calcimine in the future, here is a great link on identifying and dealing with it. http://www.plasterlord.com/notebook/fcalcimine.htm. I have yet to run into it, but a couple of time I thought I had it, and this article helped a lot.
 
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