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Drywall Repair - Paint peeled off down to drywall

42K views 8 replies 8 participants last post by  chandler48 
#1 ·
The paint on my bedroom wall peeled off down to the drywall. Now I have a wall with the drywall exposed with brown card-board looking spots where the outer layer of the drywall came off with the paint. My question is what do I do to repair the drywall so that I can paint the wall.
 
#2 · (Edited)
Really? Off the drywall? Must have been a really bad paint job or defective paint. Are you sure it's drywall and not some kind of hardboard panelling or something? Sorry, I'm sure you know what you have but I didn't think that would be possible. I've had paint peel off previously painted surfaces that wern't prepped properly but in my admittedly limited experience, never off bare drywall. In my experience, paint just soaks into drywall. The only thing I can think of is that some one sprayed the wall and the paint actually dried before hitting the wall, just leaving a film. Not sure that's possible either. I'm no help obviously but at least it's a bump to the top.
After posting and rereading it now sounds like the drywall paper itself is peeling? Wow. Only thing I know to do would be patch with joint compound, sand and repaint or replace defective drywall. Is it peeling on it's own or has someone damaged it somehow and then pulled the drywall paper off? If the latter then it could be patched, if not then well................
 
#4 ·
It sounds like the surface paper on the drywall peeled off and you are seeing the cardboard underlayer. If this is right, I would cover those spots with drywall compound and then sand it smooth to feather into the surrounding area. I use my random orbit sander that connects to a vacuum to capture the dust. But sanding by hand will work. Many people make the mistake of making the repair area too small. Depending on the size of the damage, you may need a 6'' or 8" drywall knife. The larger patch allows better blending of the patch with the surrounding wall.

The drywall probably has a sprayed on texture. If you paint the smoothly sanded repair areas, the repair will be visible because of differences in the texture. Buy a can of spray on orange peel texture from Home Depot, Lowes, etc. It's in the paint department. Experiment on a piece of scrape to get a texture that is close to the existing finish. I spray on the texture, which is thicker than the existing finish. I wait a few minutes and then lightly drag the drywall knife over the surface to "knockdown" the bumps. Then prime and paint. If you work carefully, the repairs will be virtually undetectable.

David
 
#6 ·
Thank You

Thank you all for your responses.
David, I think that you provided me with just the information that I needed - special thanks to you.

For everyone that had the 'how did that happen' questions, there is the story in brief.
The wall was an accent wall in the bedroom. My intent was to just clean, primer, and paint. However when removing tapastry holding brackets from the wall (had been there for several years), it took a small chunk of paint with it. When sanding down the spot, there was a section that was not smoothing down as easily as the rest. I made the mistake of pulling on it and. . .WOW. . .a 4" piece of paint pulled off exposing the drywall. Where I had sanded (by hand), it was seperating from the wall. Long story short, the entire wall peeled down to the drywall. There were spots however that did not peel as easily and needed some help. That's where some of the paper on the drywall pulled off. The end result is a spotted wall in places. I thought at first perhaps due to moisture as the bathroom is a small on-suite bathroom with no windows so I leave the door open mostly but. . . .there is no sign of moisture or water damage. Regarding the other walls - that's a wait and see scenario. They are currently white and have no brackets to remove. I'm hoping that I can just primer and paint those walls but. . .there's no telling. More surprises may await.
THANKS AGAIN ALL
 
#7 ·
For everyone who's ALLEGEDLY "never seen that before"...I have...today.

I don't know how to upload a picture but there are lots of articles about paint not sticking to drywall all over the Web. In this case it's Glidden Premier interior exterior paint on drywall mud...week old, sanded and washed, dry...drywall mud.

It's true. Paint it on, peel the tape, and a whole sheet of paint comes off with it like a big rubber sheet.

Now I have to peel a whole wall of paint off, re-mud the wall and sand the wall again before I can attempt to paint it again.

I'm just responding because other people responded with "never seen that before", the incredibly obvious, as well as something like paint drying before it hits the wall.... NO!

It's not a one-off problem. Search the Web. A lot of people are having problems with paint that just peels off of drywall either as flaked or immediately after painting.

I'm experimenting with some fixes on pieces of drywall I have laying around but what I think will be the most effective is coat the (dried, set, sanded and clean and dry) drywall and / or mud with water glass (sodium silicate in an aqueous solution of sodium hydroxide) AKA concrete sealer at Home Depot, and then use a paint that claims to stick to glass.

Water glass does not come off of anything easily. If you find a paint that sticks to glass, floors, etc. (Home Depot has it in a separate part of the paint department) you're good to go.
 
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