Hi, we plan to remodel our master bedroom in two weeks. We want to have new carpet installed in the bedroom, have tiles installed in the master bathroom, and paint both the bedroom and bathroom. Please give suggestions on what we should do first: carpeting, painting, changing the baseboard, installing the tiles in the bathroom. kym

About 1-1/2 months after repainting the bath (latex) in our rental home, we had a couple people using it for 2-3 days. After they left I noticed some water drip marks around the shower and the hanging towels. The kind you sometimes see in a bath from the steam. I was surprised because the walls were freshly painted and should have been clean and not left steam/water streaks. I took a clean damp rag and wiped the spots to clean off the drips. When it dried, it left wipe marks on the walls. Now any additional wiping just spreads the problem! Then a week or so back I rented the place out again for a couple of days and this time the renter must have wiped some spots from a wall (painted about 6 months ago) in the entryway to the house. Now I can see the same type of wipe marks on the entryway wall, although those aren't as noticeable as the ones in the bath. I still have all of the bedrooms to paint and I purchased the paint some time back. The paint should be good, I bought it from Sears and it hasn't been exposed to cold temps or anything. I'm hoping someone can tell me what is causing this. How can I fix the walls that are already painted? What can I do to prevent this problem before I paint the rest of the rooms? Background Info: Place needed to be repainted because of soot damage. I believe soot was from candles, tenant said soot came from my propane heater. Anyway, prep work done before painting was at the recommendation of a professional cleaning company that deals with soot damage. Walls were all wiped down with dry sponges made for cleaning up soot. Walls were then covered with 2 coats of Kilz and finally 2 coats of paint - latex, satin finish. Does anyone have any ideas of what is causing the problem I'm having? How can I fix it? How can I prevent it for the rest of the rooms? Could this problem still stem from the soot problem? If so, does anyone have any experience and additional advice for cleaning up soot damaged walls, especially the walls that have already been painted over? Thanks!