Paint problem

Hi,

Just found this forum and have an oil based paint question.

My wife was painting our bathroom with a Behr oil based primer/sealant and the paint seemed to change consistency on her half way through. The paint she had in her tray seemed to start to thicken, as did it in the paint can. It was shaken and stirred prior to use. She stopped painting at that point, now the paint that is on the walls is still tacky to the touch 2 days later. The first wall she did is more tacky than the second.

What could cause these issues? Not stirred well enough? Too thick of a layer put down on the walls?

How do we fix it? I can't imagine applying another layer over tacky paint would bode well.

I've not used much oil based paint myself, I've mostly used latex paints whenever I've had to do any painting, mostly for the fact that I can't stand the smell of oil based. Any help that can be provided is greatly appreciated.

 

Welcome to the forums.

Was this paint or primer or one of those both-in-one deals?

 

Welcome to the forums!

Why did she think she needed to use an oil base primer?

I'm not very familiar with Behr's primers and paints but coatings can have the solvents evaporate and thicken up under hot/dry conditions. Some coatings are more apt to have this issue than others. That fact that the primer is still tacky is a concern. If fresh air ventilation [run a fan] doesn't dry the primer up overnight it would be best to contact the manufacture. On rare occasions there can be an issue when the paint was made that can present application problems. This generally affect all the paint made in one vat - they would know about the issue.

Primer/paint must be mixed well for it to preform well so not stirring up the paint thoroughly could be an issue.

 

The can says Primer & Sealer.

 

We've had the fan in the bathroom running the entire time, but I'll put in an additional fan and try that.

She used the oil based primer purely for the fact that a contractor had come in and patched & painted one wall. He purchased enough paint to do the entire bathroom and left it for us to use.

 

Usually the only time an oil base primer is needed in a bath rm is if it was previously painted with oil base enamel and you are switching to latex enamel. Latex primer is plenty good enough for priming drywall repairs .... but that's just for future reference

Is the fan running with the door shut? or is the air being exchanged from either outside or another room. Fresh air circulation is better than just recirculating the air that is in the room.

 

For the first few hours, we had the windows open through that floor and had the door wide open and the fan going. The door has been open most of the time, except at night as we lock it shut to prevent our baby from going in there in the middle of the night.

I prefer latex, and would have used latex myself if I had been the one that purchased it Don't know why the contractor decided on oil based. We didn't hire the contractor, our condo board did. Didn't really talk to him overly much.

 

I'm with Mark - oil based primer is for sealing stains, covering bare wood or when you're going to put latex paint on top of oil based. Doesn't sound like the first or third apply to you and the second certainly does not, so latex would have been fine. That said, there's nothing wrong with using an oil based primer but I also do not have any experience with the brand you used, I use Zinsser primers.

Don't know what to offer at this point other than to take the primer back and see what they have to say but I've never been impressed with the paint knowledge of someone in a paint department, which is why I buy my paint and supplies from a paint store.

 

Ideally if the primer doesn't dry - Behr will come up with a solution. Short of that about all you could do is try and wash what you can using rags wet with paint thinner and applying a coat of oil base primer that you trust. Oil base coatings dry slowly but under normal conditions any interior oil base primer will dry within 24 hrs.

Another remote possibility is contaminants on the wall but generally when that's an issue it's just in select areas and not across the entire wall.

 

Thanks marksr. Will try contacting Behr if having the fan on it for the rest of the day doesn't result in dry walls. If Behr can't help me, then it's paint thinner time.

We cleaned the walls with TSP and wiped them down properly before painting, no contaminants. Also, this problem didn't exist for the part of the wall that was painted by the contractor. That dried within a day as it should.

 

Did you rinse the TSP well? Detergent residue can affect how well the primer bonds to the substrate although I've never heard of it stopping or slowing down the drying process.

Was the primer sealed up well between the time the contractor used it and y'all applied it?