Bubbling Paint in Bathroom

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#275630 1-Sep-2020 16:10

So a couple of years back we had a professional repaint our ensuite.

A few months later bubbles began to form in one area slightly away from the shower, on the ceiling. It got worse and spread, until it popped.

We contacted the painter, who after a very long time, came back recently to repaint.

Paint is bubbling again in the same area and it's only been a couple of weeks since he did it.

We didn't see what he did to "fix" the original issue, but our concern is that perhaps both times he didn't prep the ceiling. This is our unqualified guess.

What other reasons could there be?

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#2554935 1-Sep-2020 16:17

I guess poor preparation, incorrect paints being used, or water coming down from above. Probably need to be fully stripped, left to fully dry, primed with oil based primer, and two or more coats of paint. With time to dry out (couple days at least I guess), oil paint drying time, paint drying time, it's probably a week elapsed or more.

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#2554938 1-Sep-2020 16:20

Lack of proper preparation is the most likely candidate - either not cleaning the substrate properly or not using the necessary undercoats etc.

Other reasons could be:

- wrong type of paint for a bathroom - seems unlikely if it was a professional, but...

- not giving the homeowner the right instructions - you're not supposed to shower in a bathroom for at least a couple of days for some (most?) products.

- a leak behind/above the bubbling. Every kind of paint will bubble if there is a water source behind it.

- painting over existing bubbles doesn't make them go away.

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#2554980 1-Sep-2020 16:52

Yes, we had the same. A major pain after spending so much on the bathroom renovation.

timmmay:

I guess poor preparation, incorrect paints being used, or water coming down from above. Probably need to be fully stripped, left to fully dry, primed with oil based primer, and two or more coats of paint. With time to dry out (couple days at least I guess), oil paint drying time, paint drying time, it's probably a week elapsed or more.

I went up in the roof cavity and there was nothing in terms of water or leaks on the new ceiling above the bathroom. It's all down to the steam from shower really. We ended up placing a shower dome and that reduced the amount of steam a lot - still have some bubbles if someone has a long shower but nothing if it's just a normal shower now. But yes, we will have to get the ceiling done all over again.

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#2554982 1-Sep-2020 16:57

When we had the bathroom redone we stripped and redid, including ceiling. Ceiling was done using oil based primer. We put in a really good quality fan over the shower, two speed, and use it most of the time we shower and it's always on for a while after. I think the good prep, good paint, and good fan combine to make our new (8 years old now) bathroom pretty good. Haven't had any problems with paint bubbling.

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#2555435 2-Sep-2020 09:35

Hmm, I suspect it's lack of prep. He was only there for about half a day, so if what you are saying is correct and it needs all those steps, then no chance he had time to do it.

I am not confident if he comes back he will resolve it 'properly' but the alternative is to write off what we already paid him for the original job and pay someone else to do it, which is slightly unpalatable on principal. I don't think he would give a refund and to top it off there is a extended family link (though he does come highly recommended by more than one source).

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#2555446 2-Sep-2020 09:50

What is above that ceiling and was the bubble full of water when it popped? Can you access the other side? Even if preparation could be the issue I'd want to be sure that there wasn't a roof leak or weeping plumbing joint up there.

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#2555447 2-Sep-2020 09:50

Friends installed a laminated ceiling in white low sheen. Only needs a wipe now and then.

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#2555450 2-Sep-2020 09:53

Bung: What is above that ceiling and was the bubble full of water when it popped? Can you access the other side? Even if preparation could be the issue I'd want to be sure that there wasn't a roof leak or weeping plumbing joint up there.

We have a roof cavity above it. I'll see if I can get up there this weekend, but I am pretty confident it's not moisture up there.

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#2930330 16-Jun-2022 12:36

Reporting back on this.

We ended up renovating this bathroom. Found a highly rated painter who spent quite a bit of time prepping it. By the time we got around to it, the ceiling had blistered badly in many places, walls were fine.

He ended up using a terrible-smelling product before painting, I think he calls it zinny (he has a strong accent).

Between him painting and us using the shower the first time there was about 2 weeks, but unfortunately, the first time we used the shower, a big bubble appeared!

I called him back, he wants to reapply the 'zinny' (smells like solvent) and then wait 4 days before painting again.

I am as confident as I can be there is no moisture on the other side of the gib, no water stains or indications there.

We have a very powerful extractor fan, pretty much the most powerful one we could find, it supposedly extracts about 4 times as much steam etc as what our old one did.

It's very frustrating to say the least.

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#2930342 16-Jun-2022 12:54

If there's bubbles I'd consider having it stripped back again. Not sure if that's possible with plasterboard.

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#2930343 16-Jun-2022 13:00

timmmay:

If there's bubbles I'd consider having it stripped back again. Not sure if that's possible with plasterboard.

One of the things that made us feel confident in this guy was what he was saying was wrong with the prior job and what he was doing different. He spent two half days prepping before putting on the smelly stuff, and it seemed from what I saw (as a total novice) he had scraped back and sanded the ceiling etc.

What is weird, (I haven't tried popping it) is that it's almost like the 'weight' of the moisture on the paint, pulls it from the surface underneath. It's not apparent once the ceiling dries post shower.

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#2930344 16-Jun-2022 13:01

This may not be the exact paint your first guy used but Zinsser is the brand. I haven't but friends have used their products. Their range seems to have a great reputation for difficult use-cases like priming over varnish before painting.

Sometimes I just sit and think. Other times I just sit.

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#2930348 16-Jun-2022 13:13

Probably a pigmented sealer. Last I checked it was the only thing you can use on aqualine gib as an underseal. It smells and it's not truly dry until the smell is pretty much gone.

A bit weird you got a big bubble after the first shower, water damage isn't that instant.

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#2930372 16-Jun-2022 13:30

We have the same problem on an exterior wall. Saw bubbles forming after painting with Resene and when we popped them they were filled with water. Also the bubbles weren’t all over, just in some places. No logical reason. I have no idea what caused it.

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#2930374 16-Jun-2022 13:36

Eva888: We have the same problem on an exterior wall. Saw bubbles forming after painting with Resene and when we popped them they were filled with water. Also the bubbles weren’t all over, just in some places. No logical reason. I have no idea what caused it.

I had bubbles outside. In our case it was that we had weatherboards made of very oily wood and they weren't prepared properly. The solution was to strip the entire house and prime with an oil based primer / sealer - Dulux 1-step oil based. Spot fixes are temporary only, and if you do them you should ideally do a whole board not just the spot.

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