Painted 2 coats eggshell paint over semi-gloss 2 wks ago w/o primer & now I think is washing off? what do I do
Question:I thought it would be okay to go right over the semi-gloss with eggshell. Should I just wait another two weeks for it to cure or take it off? This is my bathroom. thanks!
Answers:
I would just go ahead and wash as much of it off as possible, then let it dry for 2-3 days. After it's pretty much good and dry, put up a solid coat of Kilz primer (oil-based if you can stand it, water-based if not, but the oil-based works better.)
Then paint away with your eggshell paint. Truth to tell, though, you may be better served by going back with semi-gloss in a bathroom. Tougher paint, and it won't be as subject to mold and mildew.
Good Luck!
the steam will take it off you will have to prime it and redo
now you know what primer is good for.
You have to do a good job with paint if you want it to last
any length of time.
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Measure twice and cut once! You should always ask first before you do anything you have never done before like self brain surgery or painting!
The issue isn't that you didn't use primer. Really, in this situation, primer isn't necessary unless you have a bunch of repaired areas of bare wallboard or spackle. What you *should* have done, though, was to scuff up the original coating with some light sanding. You don't need to sand it off, just scuff it up so it isn't so shiny and then wipe the dust off with a slightly damp rag. (This should be done ANYTIME you want to apply a lower sheened paint to a higher one.)
If you've ever seen paint under a microscope, (which, usually only us paint geeks have), you'd notice that the coating isn't smooth, but rather has lots of peaks and valleys. The higher the sheen, the lower the peaks and more shallow the valleys. What this means for you, is that it's harder to make other coatings adhere well to a higher sheen coating if you don't do anything to prep it. Hence, the need to scuff it up a bit before applying a lower sheened coating. The scuffing takes down the sheen and helps the other coating adhere.
Okay, to fix the situation you now have you need to remove that eggshell coating. And this time, yes, you need to sand it ALL off. If not, when you add another coating over the top of it, the extra weight of the additional coating, no matter what it is, will pull off the eggshell since it hasn't adhered well to the semi-gloss. You'll have an entire bathroom full of peeling paint in various areas.
One last thing to think about is this: Bathrooms have high humidity and high use. An eggshell is not the most durable sheen and is rarely used in a bathroom because of those two reasons. I would highly recommend using a semi-gloss in there. They're usually much more scrubbable and durable, particularly in that situation.
Regardless of how long you wait, that eggshell isn't going to be any easier or tougher to remove. You'll have the same job to do whether you do it now or in another month.
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