Removing Paint fromDrywall

[Dawn]

Help! My husband and I are trying to repaint a bathroom in our new home. The old paint was unevenly textured and had gold, metallic stencils. We would like to smooth out the walls before applying a primer coat and new paint. We have tried hand sanding, a power sander and a paint scraper. Some areas seem to have little paint and primer and we’ve gotten down to the brown paper on the drywall. In other spots the paint is so thick we can’t get through the rough texture with the sander or scraper. A painter recommended wetting the walls and scraping, but that gets us downto the paper on the drywall, too. Now we have a mess. What should we do now? Thanks to anyone who can help out.

[DH]

First prime the walls with a good stain blocker primer like BINs. Then get a box of premixed joint compound and skim coat the walls (thin coat) use a 12″ taping knife. Let this dry and lightly sand out any ridges with #120 paper. Do not try to get it all smooth the first time. Repeat the skim coats and sanding as necessary until the walls are smooth. Then prime the walls, any small defects can be mudded over and reprimed. Then paint. This will take a few days, do one wall, then the next, this way you will not mess up the corners, Or purchase a corner trowel, Just take your time, and make sure the compound is dry before you add another coat.

[Steve:]

you have removed or scraped away the brown rock paper. without this backer or paper, the adhearance of other material intended to stick is compromised.

I would give up on your sanding, scraping, and hard labor and have the walls re floated or skim coated slightly to get back to a smooth proper finish. Then you can texture, prime/paint, wallpaper or whatever.

If any areas have large sections of brown paper removed, this should be addressed.

[Bob Niedringhaus]

We have a house between 35 and 40 years old. The ceiling paint is peeling in several room. We were told by our local paint store that the primer the builder used was defective and is not holding from the added weight from years of painting. They told us our only option is to replace the ceiling with new dry wall. Can you give us help in getting the old paint off?

Thanks for your help…

[Author]

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