I recently painted two coats of Satin Acrylic paint over plaster walls. The walls previously had a coat of old paint and several layers of wallpaper. I removed all of that and then sanded the walls to a smooth finish. I then put two coats of Kilz 2 Primer for Latex paints up.

The paint job looks good, but I've noticed that the paint doesn't really "stcik" to the walls. Ie, if I scraped it with my fingernail hard enough, I could peel up the paint and remove it with my hands in layers. I also had this problem with the painting tape. In some areas I painted over the painters tape that was covering my window trim, and when I pulled up the painter's tape the paint that was attached to the wall peeled right off (which is why I did a second coat).

Why doesn't the paint bond better to the primer? Should I be using Kilz original? Or could it be the type of paint I'm using (satin)? I've seen some houses with plaster walls and the paint job is much different, there's no way you can just peel it off. WIth mine I could get a putty knife and probably completely scrape off all the paint in the room in 30 minutes and have bare walls again.

 

You are having an adhesion problem. From the steps you posted, my best guess is the dust from sanding wasn't removed, and it inhibited the paint from adhering correctly.

BTW, Kilz is a stain killer, not a good bonding primer. Are you concerned about previous stains?

 

Once I removed the glue there weren't really any stains on the walls. The walls aren't really a uniform color but there aren't any water stains or anything. I had always just heard people recommend Kilz. Is there a better primer to use?

Thanks!

 

Zinsser bullseye 123. Possibly the only primer you will ever need. The zinsser Water Based looks great too. There is also Cover Stain which is also exellent. Do you see a pattern here.

 

There are many different primers available - it depends on what the need is. Oil and shellac based primers are usually the best for stain hiding and adhesion to slick surfaces. There are many choices in this category to fine tune to the job at hand. There are also a number of latex primers for different applications. Some claim stain hiding capabilities but aren't as effective as their solvent based counterpart. When in doubt about which primer will be best it is best to talk to someone at the paint store [not paint dept @ big box] or a professional painter.

 

From the Zinsser site about 123.

"Formulated with high performance proprietary resins, it is the “go to” primer for binding chalky surfaces like aluminum or previously painted siding – and for priming possibly high pH surfaces like con-crete, stucco, plaster and fast setting joint & texture compounds".

Besides being the best all round primer imo, it specifically adresses problems with high PH surfaces like the plaster in your project,which is what we are talking about here.

 

Thanks so much, I'll go for the ZInser. So it doesn't matter if I use oil or water based primer?

 

Not really. 123 goes over anything including glass.