Blistering internal paintwork

[Carol]

In my new job I am now responsible for the care and upkeep of a rather lovely Regency Gothic school building which has had a rather hard time over the last few years. Externally, it has been restored fairly well with stonework patching and regular painting but internally has had layers of gloss paint slathered on everywhere and this is now coming off in patches, with (I suspect) dampness from the wall. What do our experts think would be the 'right' thing to do to make a better impression at low cost? In the long term I may be able to achieve a proper restoration but now need a quick fix. Am thinking of either a casein distemper recoat or perhaps Amstel soft distemper and be prepared to let it blister off until the gloss has gone. As you might imagine trad.paints and breatheability is a fairly new concept in schools, so I may have to be persuasive or paint it myself.

 

[Penners]

Hello Carol. Are you talking about gloss paint on interior stonework? And is it the naked stone that's been painted, or is there plaster on top? If the latter, do you know what kind of plaster?

I tend to be against temporary 'fixes', simply because they usually carry little or no benefit. However low cost they may be they do still cost money, and they frequently make it more difficult and costly to do a proper job in the long run. It's my belief that it's usually better to bite the bullet and doing the right thing in the first place.

 

[JoceAndChris]

I agree with Mr P. At the very least loose paint and blisters need to be scraped off and drying out allowed to occur, as far as it can without a full strip.

If the worst walls could be stripped ( by which I mean cementitious plaster hacked off), allowed to dry, plastered in lime, and then painted in a breathing paint as you suggest the building would thank you for it.

No idea about your building, but in this building blistering has occurred where it's really damp, because underground, and where inappropriate cement skim and modern paint has been used. All that needs to come off.

You'll need to find out what's really causing the blistering. Is there a dripping gutter at that point? Or a leaky pipe?

 

[Carol]

Yes, it seems to be gloss paint on old bare stonework, suspect after further inspection it should be stripped but can't imagine how to do this in the short term! Worst area is in two little porches off main 'hall' structure which are used for cloakrooms and storage and heated with the sort of tubes you find in greenhouses which apparently "little hands keep turning off". Outside this area is playground tarmacked up to the wall.
Suspect I am going to have to curb my enthusiasm and do what I tell other posters and monitor this for a while and assess properly. The roof only leaks when the footballs block the gutters I am told!

Trouble is I need to make a good initial impact and start recruiting due to the usual problem of rural falling rolls to keep this village school going and scruffy walls don't help the image! Perhaps I can make a feature of The Conservation Approach to prospective parents when they see my drying out wall peeling away! The poor place has not had much 'lime' or TLC inside recently!

 

[Carol]

Here is a picture of one porch, does look better stuffed with PE bags and coats, but not a great first impression! I want the battlemented parapets, buttresses and pinnacles to be the glory of the school but suspect all prospective parents will focus on will be the dodgy paintwork!

Sorry picture so large, can't remember how to shrink size of image!

 

[Penners]

Carol, that picture doesn't look as though the substrate is bare stone - although I'm prepared to be corrected, of course. The flatness of the wall suggests that it's been rendered with something-or-other.

However, I see your problem as regards the paint! I have a suspicion that this may be due to the top coat of gloss paint having been applied to an incompatible lower coat - possibly even limewash.

The important question is what lies beneath! If it's lime plaster rendering, then if you can get rid of the paint on top, you may find that you can get back to a good, healthy, breathable surface. But if it's a cement render, then this may be causing damp and ultimately it would be best to get it removed altogether.

At some point I think you're going to have to strip off the old paint completely and, if it exists, remove any cement rendering too. But as a short-term expedient, have you tried giving the flakey paint a good scrape? Get a good, sharp-edged scraper like this...

... and try scraping away at all the flakey stuff. You may (not the underline!) find that it will all scrape off quite easily and leave you a reasonably sound surface upon which you can apply a new coat of paint (of some sort - depending on what you find). But before you repaint, you'll need to try and establish what the rendering is.

I suggest you have a go with a scraper. Then come back here and let's discuss what you've achieved and what you've found.

 

[Baron de Gynes]

That looks suspiciously like a cloakroom to me and, as such, will be subjected to the rigours of schoolday life. IN short, wet coats and PE bags.

Whatever you put there will either need continual reapplication (I'm not sure limewash would cope well with the high traffic that the area will need to withstand) or will need to be washable.

I speak, not as a any authority on the use of breathable paints, but as a teacher well-versed in cloakrooms and the use thereof.

 

[LadyArowana]

Easiest way to strip the wall is to put up a large notice telling the children that they MUST NOT peel off the flaking paint, "accidentally" leave a couple of those scrapers around, and then look the other way. All the while grumbling about how naughty they are and how much extra work they are causing you etc etc.

 

[Penners]

I'm not sure limewash would cope well with the high traffic that the area will need to withstand

I agree.

 

[Baron de Gynes]

Easiest way to strip the wall is to put up a large notice telling the children that they MUST NOT peel off the flaking paint, "accidentally" leave a couple of those scrapers around, and then look the other way. All the while grumbling about how naughty they are and how much extra work they are causing you etc etc.

Oh how very true... :lol:

 

[Carol]

Easiest way to strip the wall is to put up a large notice telling the children that they MUST NOT peel off the flaking paint

That was my son's suggestion! Can see the potential of educating little future PPUKers on the merits of lime and conservation methods.

Have had a further look and a good scrape. It is definitely stone on the plinth, (of the Bath variety) so am going to try to scrape off as much as I can off the lower part and then apply a casein distemper as sacrificial coat and see how much more comes off before I have saved up for a proper "Strippers" session. Will have fun explaining that to the Governing Body!

But still VERY excited at the lovely building, which although a bit scruffy inside, has had the benefit of a very good conservation stonework restoration externally.