Oil over latex...HELP

[Bushman]

One of my tenants thought that she was doing me a big favor a few years back by painting her bathroom. The only trouble is that she had some left over oil base paint and put it on over latex paint. What a mess! It all cracked up and split into quarter inch pieces that look like fish scales. I can't touch it with a scraper, a finishing sander or a wire wheel on a big 3/4" drill. I want to re-paint the place, but this bathroom has me stumped. It's winter and I don't want to use a stripping solvent if I don't have to. How about a heat gun, torch or an orbital sander? Need input. Thanks.

[Alan R McDaniel Jr]

Why are you wanting to remove that "antiqued" finish?!?!?! There's folks that pay good money to get what you're scraping off!

Alan

[ncboman]

uh oh.

sounds like latex was used over oil base enamel. Seen it before ... several times.

forget stripping it. Pull it all off and replace with new.

imo baths generally should get oil base primer and oil base enamel for best results.

[Rock Chuck]

I've painted oil over latex without a problem. Latex over oil, however, is a disaster.
Another time I painted latex over vinyl wallpaper. I used a vinyl primer but it didn't work like it was supposed to. Within days, long strips of paint were falling off on the floor. I was 'disgruntled'.

[swamp]

would putting an interior latex primer on top of it work?

[ncboman]

If like what I've seen, it's alligatored and ribboned to the point covering it just won't be acceptable. ... and it will continue to crack and cornflake and ruin the new paint as well.

The bad part is where the latex is stuck, it's stuck with a passion.

I watched my dad go thru this when I was a kid, one of the few times I ever saw him screw up. The old house had board walls and he painted the living room with latex. Latex was a new thing then. He/we scraped it all off. Took weeks.

[Bayrat]

Heat, non-tox chemical, or new wall board are about your only choices.

Heat gun being the faster, but more labor intensive.

There are chemical strippers that are safe for indoor use. One of the best is called "Rock Miracal". Works a bit slower than the nasty metholine cloride stuff, it's nonflamable, easier to nuetralize, and does a very good job on laytex, oil, and or, stain/varnish. Let it set and it pulls mulitpul layers off. Plus, it pulls more paint/stain out of wood trim grain then the meth/cloride stuff does unless your using dip tanks and spray.

Bayrat

[Bushman]

You guys are super, thanks. Latex over oil would make the most sense, but I asked at the paint store and they told me it was probably oil over latex, but they just hire people off the street so they are probably not as knowledgeable as they might be. The stuff is really stuck on there and what ever it is, it needs to come off. Alan, it does look interesting with a pattern like that, but I'd be happier with normal looking walls.

[Rock Chuck]

speaking of renters 'helping out'...I used to have a neighbor who had to move to NV for the last few years of his work before he retired. He decided to rent out his house and move back after he retired. He completely paneled the interior (not my choice). Then the 1st renters painted the entire thing. I stayed out of his way for a while after he discovered that.

[swamp]

try some later interior PRIMER over a test area and see how that works and if so finish the job with later interior finish coat paint... I wouldnt use anything but latex paint on a house inside or outside in this day and age

[Bushman]

Well, I tried heat today and that works, but then I went shopping for a mild chemical stripper like that Rock Miracle that Bayrat recommends. No one here has ever heard of it so I went to their website and their dealer locater does not have anyone within a hundred miles. I presume with a name like "Rock" Miracle it is for sheetrock which is what I have. I went to Sherwin Williams tonight and got some non-methylene chloride stripper, but in reading the fine print, it is NOT to be used on sheetrock, so it is going back tomorrow. I Googled removing paint from sheetrock and they say sanding with 40 grit and an orbital sander is best. Other sites say don't bother and just replace the sheetrock and start over. My son-in-law is coming over tomorrow to look at it as he is a contractor who does some remodeling on the side. Given what I see there, maybe building a new bathroom from the floor up is my best option as I can write it off.

I'll call those Rock Miracle people tomorrow and see what they say. A heavy textured wallpaper might cover a multitude of irregularities too. That would just leave the ceiling to strip and re-paint.

[Bushman]

Skim coating to fill in the cracks then re-prime and paint seems another option. The paint guys says that if you use a stripper on sheetrock you can't leave it on very long or it will damage the paper under the paint. He said that I'm playing with fire when I'm using the blowtorch. Actually the smoke alarm told me that yesterday already.

[swamp]

Skim coating to fill in the cracks then re-prime and paint seems another option. The paint guys says that if you use a stripper on sheetrock you can't leave it on very long or it will damage the paper under the paint. He said that I'm playing with fire when I'm using the blowtorch. Actually the smoke alarm told me that yesterday already.

geeze talk about living dangerously and putting your life and property at risk!

i suggest that you use latex interior primer and repaint with latex interior finish

[Rock Chuck]

Skim coating to fill in the cracks then re-prime and paint seems another option. The paint guys says that if you use a stripper on sheetrock you can't leave it on very long or it will damage the paper under the paint. He said that I'm playing with fire when I'm using the blowtorch. Actually the smoke alarm told me that yesterday already.

I see you're in WI. I hear that it's cold there. Cover the walls with 4" foam board and another layer of sheetrock. It'll help the insulation considerably.:biggrin:

[Bushman]

It's those guys down south that don't have the insulation. Son-in-law came over today and thinks that we should get his buddy over and plaster over all that cracking. I don't know how many more surprises that I can take from these people that I just evicted. I thought I was after the worst room yesterday with crayon and permanent magic marker writing all over the walls kid high. Today I find that they painted over dirt and more graffiti with cheap white paint in another room. Know how paint sticks to dirt and crayon... Not so much. The list is a long one of infractions and I'm getting burned big time. I think that I hear the liquor cabinet calling my name tonight.

[ncboman]

don't go to hating me but every time seasons change that latex is gonna continue to split and crack. How long do you think it'll take for the plaster to start cracking?


forget stripping it. Pull it all off and replace with new.


that's what I would do.

drywall is neither expensive nor difficult. Custom making and fitting trim is fun, at least to me.

Does that SIL know how to tape seams and corners? <grin>

[Bayrat]

Yeah, playing with fire is right. I assumed you knew that an electric heat gun or iron is all that should be used indoors.

I've been sanding as part of my living since I was 15. I have and use every type sander there is, belt, orbital, drum, in-line and random, you name it. I don't know of any machine, grit or type of sandpaper combo that won't quickly clog with laytex paint. Sanding all that off those walls is going to be a long frustrating job.

Just patching/skim coating and priming will look good for a short time...then the cracks come back. Wall paper will eventually telegraph the surface that's under it.

If you go the fill-in-the-cracks route, the best way is to treat the wall like old plaster. There is an undercoating adheasive/filler that you roll on and then wide rolls of cloth that get rolled into the adhesive layer to stabilize and hide the cracks. Once that's set-up you prime and paint over it.

Keep in mind that for any of the above, the time, mess and expense is close to what putting up new wall board is, possably more. In certain instances you can skip the demo and just screw new 3/8 wall board right over the old, then put aditional muldings around the edges of doors and window trim to compensate for the added wall thickness, or, if the oil/laytex is still holding tight to the wallboard, glue up bathroom paneling.

Bayrat

[Bushman]

Bayrat, an interesting idea about covering over the existing wallboard with new wall board. I've discovered that clogging of the sandpaper myself with just my little finishing sander making the Spackeled nail holes flush with the rest of the wall. What is an electric heat gun? I've called the rental places around here and they don't have anything for heated paint removal. I tried a hair dryer and all that did was make noise. It didn't take too many flaming pieces of molten paint landing on the back of my hand to convince me that the blowtorch and putty knife wasn't such a good idea. Would my wife's electric cloths iron work?

[Altjaeger]

Bushman, check your local Home Depot or Lowes. They are not a high dollar tool.

They have 160 dollar computer programmable guns!!! :confused1::eek1:

but both stores have guns for $30-$60.

[Rock Chuck]

Heat guns are just like hair driers, but they get a whole lot hotter, like 1000F. I have an inexpensive one with 2 heat settings. I haven't used it a lot, but when it's needed, it's invaluable. It'll peel paint right off. I've never used it on low heat, btw. I'm not sure that option is worth the money.

[Bushman]

Well, the wife's flat iron didn't work so good either. Now that is going to need some attention or the next shirt that I iron might have some strange remelted latex paint stains. I think that I'll hand the project off to my contractor son-in-law and pay him a bunch of money to do it right. Every month I'm messing with this bathroom myself costs me another month's rent income. I'm busy enough with 22 separate walls with crayon, ball point pen and permanent Magic Marker to remove wash and re-paint. Child abuse was in order and if I had seen that before they moved there might have been an assault. Pets are never a plus, but at least they don't write on the walls.

[Bayrat]

There ya go. Sometimes ya just gotta let a pro do it. Tough part is knowing who, and when !!!!

Bayrat

[Rock Chuck]

.. Pets are never a plus, but at least they don't write on the walls.
Did they have a cat? Sometimes when you clean carpets, some very potent latent cat pee odor comes wafting to your nose.