[Ladybird123]

Hello everyone!
We bought a prewar apartment and the walls and ceiling of the bathroom needed help. Paint was peeling and there were a few cracks, so we did spackling and primed with zinsser BIN primer then painted with Benjamin Moore bathroom paint.
In a few months, I started seeing fine cracks here and there.
It almost looks as if the paint is shrinking. After a year, I see more areas having the same problem.
I don’t know what went wrong. We need to redo it but if anyone can advise what we need to do this time and what spackling, primer we should use, that would be very much appreciated.

 

[Windows on Wash]

If there isn't a bulk moisture leak from above, it is likely high relative humidity from the bathroom that is failing the paint.



Is there a fan? Does it vent to outside?

 

[roughneck]

Humidity or moisture behind the walls.
Do you have a bathroom fan you run during showers? How long do you run it?

 

[cocomonkeynuts]

Is that drywall or plaster?


Scrape all that crap off, prime with a quality oil primer to seal,mud, prime then 2 coats of paint. Even with Aura bath & spa, which is hydrophobic, you need to give at least 2 weeks before taking hot steamy showers.

 

[Gymschu]

All great advice from above. The only thing I will add is did you use FLAT paint? I see "alligatoring" in areas that have high humidity/moisture. Flat paint is susceptible because water tends to lay on the surface and even some gets absorbed by the flat paint which doesn't flex like a satin, eggshell, or semi-gloss. Also, paint with a sheen sheds the moisture more so than a flat.

You should have a bathroom fan like this in your ceiling.......

 

[Ladybird123]

Thank you all for your quick responses. The bathroom has a window but no fan. It’s an apartment and attaching a fan may be hard. All units in our line have the same bathroom. Neighbors bathroom walls look fine. It’s 1920s building made of bricks and concrete. Most bathrooms are updated. Previous owner renovated the bathroom 4 years ago but when we bought the unit, a few areas had long horizontal cracks on the wall. We patched them, primed and painted. These small cracks in the pictures didn’t exist so something we did must be wrong with the high moisture condition.
We used to live in a very similarly styled old apartment and the bathroom had no window/ vent at all. We painted with BMs bathroom paint and we had no issues.
Feeling lost.

 

[Ladybird123]

And yes, the paint is flat. Thanks for asking!

 

[cocomonkeynuts]

All great advice from above. The only thing I will add is did you use FLAT paint? I see "alligatoring" in areas that have high humidity/moisture. Flat paint is susceptible because water tends to lay on the surface and even some gets absorbed by the flat paint which doesn't flex like a satin, eggshell, or semi-gloss. Also, paint with a sheen sheds the moisture more so than a flat.

You should have a bathroom fan like this in your ceiling.......

bath and spa when properly applied doesn't have an issue with high moisture area, the resin actually repels water.

 

[siffleur]

Thank you all for your quick responses. The bathroom has a window but no fan. It’s an apartment and attaching a fan may be hard. All units in our line have the same bathroom. Neighbors bathroom walls look fine. It’s 1920s building made of bricks and concrete. Most bathrooms are updated. Previous owner renovated the bathroom 4 years ago but when we bought the unit, a few areas had long horizontal cracks on the wall. We patched them, primed and painted. These small cracks in the pictures didn’t exist so something we did must be wrong with the high moisture condition.
We used to live in a very similarly styled old apartment and the bathroom had no window/ vent at all. We painted with BMs bathroom paint and we had no issues.
Feeling lost.

I live in a ranch house that was built in 1953. There is no fan in the bathroom. After realizing that moisture feeds mold growth, I started running a fan in the hallway blowing into the bathroom after every shower. No more mold growth. I would bet that if you used a floor fan as I do you would not get the crinkly paint.....providing that you paint the bathroom properly with a paint designed for bathrooms, not flat paint.

siffleur

 

[mathmonger]

BIN is a great stain blocker. It does not do well with moisture. Definitely not my first choice for priming a bathroom patch. Maybe you didn't give the mud enough dry time to use a shellac primer. If you scrape it down can you tell is the primer peeling from the patch or is the top coat peeling from the primer? Honestly in situations like this, we can make all kinds of wild guesses what caused it, but if you just do it again it will probably be fine. Some random fluke. Do it again with lots of stirring and lots of dry time and just be extra anal about everything. And use some 123 Primer. If it happens again in same place and there is no water leak behind, then we have an interesting situation.

 

[woodco]

All great advice from above. The only thing I will add is did you use FLAT paint? I see "alligatoring" in areas that have high humidity/moisture. Flat paint is susceptible because water tends to lay on the surface and even some gets absorbed by the flat paint which doesn't flex like a satin, eggshell, or semi-gloss. Also, paint with a sheen sheds the moisture more so than a flat.

You should have a bathroom fan like this in your ceiling.......

Not totally true with todays high quality flat/matte paints, like aura. Especially a paint designed for bathrooms. Cheap flats, absolutely will suck in moisture, but washable flats will not.

 

[Ladybird123]

@cocomonkeynuts
As you guessed, we used Benjamin Moore’s Aura Bath & Spa.
I said the finish was flat but it’s really matte.
We only have 1 bathroom so no shower for 2 weeks would a bit tough. 😢 @mathmonger
It looks like top coat and primer are peeling together.
We were trying to use Plaster Weld, the pink stuff before spackling.
Bad idea?
I think we probably didn’t give enough drying time before priming.
Really appreciate your support!
This forum is amazing.

 

[woodco]

@cocomonkeynuts
As you guessed, we used Benjamin Moore’s Aura Bath & Spa.
I said the finish was flat but it’s really matte.
We only have 1 bathroom so no shower for 2 weeks would a bit tough. 😢 @mathmonger
It looks like top coat and primer are peeling together.
We were trying to use Plaster Weld, the pink stuff before spackling.
Bad idea?
I think we probably didn’t give enough drying time before priming.
Really appreciate your support!
This forum is amazing.

I cant say for sure, but that MAY be the problem. are those areas where you used spackle?

 

[Gymschu]

Since you are renting and the landlord did the remodel on the bathroom, well, I will say it, it's HIS responsibility to get this fixed not yours!!! Unless you've made some sort of arrangement to get rent credit, etc. he should be footing the bill for this.

Also, this is one of the reasons why as a renter you have to be oh so careful as to what you do to fix things. Any small thing done wrong can end up in disaster and you could foot the bill for the screw up.

**Edit** Duh, I better start reading more carefully. I see that you PURCHASED the unit.

 

[cocomonkeynuts]

We only have 1 bathroom so no shower for 2 weeks would a bit tough.

You can take showers, but given there is no ventilation you should keep the humidity as low as possible so the paint can cure properly. Keeping hot steamy showers to a minimum, keep door open with a fan running etc.