removing paint paint which is peeling in the Bathroom

This past summer, we removed the wall paper that was in master bathroom (33 year old home). We have had moisture problems. We added a fan in the bathroom when we moved in five years ago which does not seem to draw out alot of moister. I can see water on the ceiling after a warm shower and I in the habit of removing mildew every 3 months on the ceiling with bleach or a solution I get from Home Depot. As such the wall paper came off. We used excess paint that pro painter left behind two years ago which was intended for a foyer.

I was not aware there was paint specific for bathroom and paint has begun to peal. I plan on pulling off the peeled paint and perhaps sanding the remainder with a power sander. After the paint is removed, I plan to add primer and paint specific for bathrooms.

Am I on the right track?

 

Welcome to the forums! Our paint guy will be in after church and lunch, so hang in there. Does your exhaust fan exit to the outside of the building? Is it moving the proper CFM of air? Is there enough gap at the bottom of the door to allow make up air for it to move?

 

Ideally you would have either used an oil base primer or Zinnser's Gardz after the wallpaper was removed and before applying paint. Any leftover adhesive can cause adhesion issues with the paint. Gardz is the only latex primer that is suitable for a job like this.

I'd aggressively sand the walls/ceiling and then coat them with an oil base primer. That should give you a good base for the paint to adhere to. While a bath paint is best, regular latex enamel should preform fine. The bath paint has extra mildewcide and is a little tougher than regular latex enamel.

It's doubtful the paint you used was the problem but rather wallpaper adhesive that was painted over. There is also a slight chance that the bath rm was painted with an oil base enamel, latex doesn't adhere well to oil enamel but oil based primer will and latex paint will adhere fine to the oil primer.

 

The exhaust pan goes thru the Attic to the outside of the home. It does not appear to draw much air. We have two bathrooms on the upstairs. This is an ensuite for the master bedroom. The remaining bathroom with a doorway to the hall seems to work better. They are the same make an model, but I think this one despite making alot of noise is a dud. I had someone look at the bathroom a few years back and we closed the door and windows it did not seem to be move much of the way of air.

For the bathroom with the trouble, (the one with the lack of air flow with the fan and peeling paint and mildew) I can put my finger under the doorway. For the door for the other bathroom, there is hardwood with t-molding outside that batroom. There is less of a gap, I could put perhaps 7 sheets of paper underneath it. That bathroom does not steam up and we have not removed the wallpaper yet.

The fans are rated for 50 CFM, but there is difference between one and the other. One seems better at drawing air even though both are same make and manufacturer and make the same amount of noise

We purchased a 120 cfm /4 sonne, but our handy man said it would be two noisy. I can live with a little noise of it removes the moisture from the bathroom. We can return the fan or get another handyman to replace it. We are thinking of getting another handyman.

 

The wallpaper came off very easily, so I assumed there was no left over adhesive. I tried to remove wallpaper in the foyer two years ago that was applied directly onto drywall with no primer. The bathroom wall paper came of easily, but still had to use a soap solution. There was a few cases where I pulled the drywall underneath when I pulled of the wall paper. That may have been four or five scrape cases, where I had to put drywall compound on the wall after I pulled wall paper.

I painted the ceiling with primer (unknown as to what kind) to cover some scraps. For the first month, it looked ok, better than when before I put primer on it. But now it seems to changing color. Its not a consistent colour right now.

I looked for Zinnser's Gardz two years ago, but could not find it any of the hardware stores. If I can't find it, I will try an oil base primer like you suggest.

 

I have a different take on this problem. First a few "truisms". Oil base paints/primers are difficult to work with and are dying out. Latex paints/primers have improved dramatically but a few older painters are fighting oil's extinction. All bathrooms... and I mean all bathrooms are always under ventilated not to mention most homeowners probably don't even cut them on when they shower. Ventilated properly and used frequently, you would not have to be as worried what you put on the walls especially if you going the paint route. Wall paper (which I don't like in bathrooms or any where else because they still peel after years no matter where it is) would require special attention. When you go to sand those walls, you will never get all the adhesive off (it even sometimes gums up) and there's a good chance you will sand through the paper on the sheetrock as well in some places. Both these facts make it difficult to get a smooth wall to paint that will look good. If you sand through the paper, no amount of paint will cover it and look smooth. What I have done many times was to remove the paper, lightly sand very bad areas (I hate sanding unless it's mud or spackle which sands easily) but then skimmed the wall with sheet rock mud... sometimes the whole wall. It takes no time to skim a tiny amount on the wall and easily sticks to and covers adhesive, old paint, and damaged sheet rock and sands easy. Once I have a smooth surface, it's dusted, primed and painted with latex paint.. flat or semigloss and I make sure the ventilation is spectacular. Proper ventilation is around 7.5 cfm per cu ft volume of the room. With a 50 cfm fan that room better be less than 5x10 ft by 8 ft high or it's underventilated. I have a large bathroom (16 x 22) with 10 ft ceilings so I have three 140 cfm fans in there and that's barely enough. That changes your air 8 times per hr which assures no moisture stays in that room... if you use them Basically my message to you is use more ventilation and do the walls as effortless as possible because sanding things off not designed to be sanded (ashesive & paint) is hell. Also use fans with 1.5 sones and you will not hear them.. at all.

 

The most likely reason the paper came off easily is the fact that the walls were previously painted with enamel. The adhesive then needs to be washed/scrubbed off. If all the adhesive was removed then it's quite likely the walls were painted with oil base enamel - http://www.doityourself.com/forum/pa...latex-oil.html The exhaust fan has probably been used more than the identical one in the other bath rm, hence the louder noise and less air movement.

Guilty as charged
The new waterborne coatings have come a long way and I do recommend them for many jobs but there are times when a solvent based coating is necessary.

 

I don't use oil based paint any more but I do still use oil based primers on occasion.

 

There isn't a big need for solvent based finish paints in today's residential work other than metal that can rust but there are many instances when a solvent based primer is needed. The main 2 - sealing stains and adhesion over problem surfaces.

 

Family matters and incidents kept me away from fixing the bathroom and replying to the forum.


Dimension of the bathroom
Length 8' ; Height 8' Width 7 1/3'

Strength of fan:
50, but I noticed after installation of the fans in the two bathrooms five years ago - this one with the peeling paint - it seemed work less effectively. I think the fan is a dude in one room but OK in the other.

Further Observations
Must of the peeling is at the top. Staining on the ceiling. There is one case of peeling at waist level, but most is within a foot of the ceiling.
Dwinn made a comment about drywall compound mud. I put drywall compound in the most scarred cases of the wall after I removed the wall paper. In some cases, there is no peeling


Tonight I will take photos before I remove the peeling paint. My wife said something about getting the paint soon. I am trying to discourage her from getting the Home depot paint with the primer in it.

 

I do think you need a bigger fan - the 50 is probably 50 cfm (cubic feet per minute) and I think something a lot closer to 100 is in order.

The van is vented to the outside and not an attic, right?