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New paint peeling off primer when bumped

TechnoTed | Posted in Construction Techniques on September 29, 2012 04:22am

HI There, 

I hired a company to retexture my walls downstairs so the entire wall had new mud on it with no previous paint showing through. I was told Kilz 2 was the best primer so I used that and did it myself. I then hired a company to paint it.  This was a year ago. Now whenever I bump the wall paint comes off but not the primer. When I say bump, I mean, my daughter was walking in and lightly bumped her clarinet case along the wall and it scraped paint off. My previous paint job would have never done that. I’m trying to figure out why it’s doing this so I can prevent this when I paint the upstairs. My upstairs has all new mud texture as well.  A contractor told me that he thought it was because I used Kilz 2 and that the paint came off because that primer is too thick for this purpose. He said that If I use a normal PVA primer and put a light coat on the paint will stick to the primer better.  

BTW, I also want to spray the primer and paint on with a airless sprayer myself… I’ve seen some posts about “backrolling” being better than spraying. I don’t know what “backrolling” is – is that when you roll it back and forth to make sure it gets into the holes and such?  I remember last time I tried to put PVA primer on a flat mud wall the roller was sliding all over the place and I couldn’t get the primer to stick to the mud.. that’s why I’m thinking about spraying it on.. 

Any ideas? 

Ted

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  1. DanH | Sep 29, 2012 06:30pm | #1

    "Backrolling" means using a

    "Backrolling" means using a roller after some other technique (such as spraying) is first used to apply the paint/primer.  This technique smooths the applied paint and works it into the surface better, plus the texture that a roller leaves is generally better than a sprayed texture.  (And with this technique you would not likely have the problem of the roller sliding around.)

    With regard to Kilz, it's a stain-blocking primer, and not generally used when the stain-blocking feature is not needed.  But this doesn't explain the poor adhesion.

    One thing to keep in mind with any primer is that the primer should be covered with the topcoat in a reasonably timely fashion.  A good primer has an "open" surface that encourages adhesion of the paint, but over time this surface "closes".  For some primers (mostly old-fashioned oils) the "open" time is only a few days, where for others it's a month or so.  But generally the primed surface should be painted with a few weeks, for best adhesion.

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