# Paint bubbling again.



## Epoxy Pro (Oct 7, 2012)

I had this issue on another job recently. I thought it was the compound we used but have swayed towards BM Sure Seal we used as the primer. This wall was spot primed after patching 3 weeks ago, applied the top coat of BM Ben eggshell and these bubbles showed right up. It goes right through the top coat all the way to the original wall color. The other 3 walls in this room are fine, we applied the same BM Ben to those walls and no bubbles.

I called the BM rep. No return call from our BM rep, I hope he calls tomorrow. At this point I am loosing my mind trying to figure out what is happening.

We are using BM Ben in this whole building and no other walls except where we had to patch and prime are doing this.

The walls were wiped down with a damp rag, vacuumed, wiped again with a mild dish soap added, wiped down again with a wet rag so there is no way it is debris, again the walls were painted, patched primed 3 weeks or so ago.


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## Jmayspaint (Mar 26, 2013)

What did you use to patch with? 
What kind of dish soap? 
Bubbles only on patched areas?


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## JPPaint (Jan 3, 2014)

I have had this happen with ultra egg and ben egg rep told me to use oil primer on spackle spots. It's b.s we have never had this problem before the last year or so .


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## matt19422 (Oct 2, 2009)

moisture from patch....


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## Epoxy Pro (Oct 7, 2012)

Jmayspaint said:


> What did you use to patch with?
> What kind of dish soap?
> Bubbles only on patched areas?


Green lid compound.

So far when we left the wall was tacky and it's all over the wall.

Dawn.

Again this sat for roughly 3 weeks. The primer didn't bubble just the Ben.


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## Epoxy Pro (Oct 7, 2012)

JPPaint said:


> I have had this happen with ultra egg and ben egg rep told me to use oil primer on spackle spots. It's b.s we have never had this problem before the last year or so .


So far only the last 3 weeks we have had this happen. We have used the same products when it happened and I think it's the paint but not positive.

Other walls we patched took just fine. I'm completely lost on this one.


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## SemiproJohn (Jul 29, 2013)

How long did you wait to spot prime after patching?


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## Epoxy Pro (Oct 7, 2012)

SemiproJohn said:


> How long did you wait to spot prime after patching?


Maybe 2 days, we sanded the next day and started the other side of the building before we primed the spots.

Temp was around 75 degrees all day and turned up to 80 at night due to the cold weather we had.


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## jacob33 (Jun 2, 2009)

You need to scrape the bubbles than prime with oil or drawtite/gardz. Patch prime and paint. This is the only solution I have found that works in these situations. The moisture from the paint is activating something that is not bonding well and this is what needs to be done.


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## Lambrecht (Feb 8, 2010)

Try putting a dehumidifier in the room for a while then paint.


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## Oden (Feb 8, 2012)

cdpainting said:


> I had this issue on another job recently. I thought it was the compound we used but have swayed towards BM Sure Seal we used as the primer. This wall was spot primed after patching 3 weeks ago, applied the top coat of BM Ben eggshell and these bubbles showed right up. It goes right through the top coat all the way to the original wall color. The other 3 walls in this room are fine, we applied the same BM Ben to those walls and no bubbles. I called the BM rep. No return call from our BM rep, I hope he calls tomorrow. At this point I am loosing my mind trying to figure out what is happening. We are using BM Ben in this whole building and no other walls except where we had to patch and prime are doing this. The walls were wiped down with a damp rag, vacuumed, wiped again with a mild dish soap added, wiped down again with a wet rag so there is no way it is debris, again the walls were painted, patched primed 3 weeks or so ago.


Stop cleaning stuff. IMHO
The rag, the vac the dish soap and rag again. Stop doing that
Just paint it
I don't think I've ever cleaned a wall with anything but a broom, and that so infrequently....these things never happen to me. Coincidence? I dunno.


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## Epoxy Pro (Oct 7, 2012)

Oden said:


> Stop cleaning stuff. IMHO
> The rag, the vac the dish soap and rag again. Stop doing that
> Just paint it
> I don't think I've ever cleaned a wall with anything but a broom, and that so infrequently....these things never happen to me. Coincidence? I dunno.


I usually never clean walls like this. The walls were dusty/dirty from the floor guys not using good containment systems and needed to be cleaned so I went over board to make sure it was clean.


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## Tundra02 (Oct 22, 2014)

When I click on your images to get a bigger view . What is that reddish color coming through ?


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## jacob33 (Jun 2, 2009)

Just curious what your approach to fix it is going to be?


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## Epoxy Pro (Oct 7, 2012)

We sanded all the bubbles out. Bought new tub of green lid compound and as soon as I hit the first spot bubbles. This time it's only in a couple places it's bubbling, the other spots laid flat.

I called the rep, talked to a couple paint stores. The paint store said the same thing, they had a couple of people mention the same thing. The paint rep wasn't much help. Other than doing a test to see if they can replicate it there wasn't much help he could offer.

If it happens again I will talk with the contractor and either durabond it or sand it off.

I am still pulling what's left of my hair out trying to figure out what is causing this. I'm leaning towards Sure Seal primer since it only happened when we used that primer.

Oh well Friday deadline I have to figure it out quick.


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## Epoxy Pro (Oct 7, 2012)

Tundra02 said:


> When I click on your images to get a bigger view . What is that reddish color coming through ?


I didn't notice the red until I saw your question so today I looked and it's the old wall cover. So that means it went through my primer and finish paint and the drywall guys primer. The drywall guy primed the whole place before we got there. He used a PVA primer, not sure of the brand.


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## jacob33 (Jun 2, 2009)

Just curious if you are going to try oil primer, gardz, or draw tite. If you scraped the bubbles primed with one of those three than patched you should be done. Prime the whole wall not just the bubbled area. I would use oil primer myself. I'm fairly certain that would solve your problem, but you can keep trying other things if you like.


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## journeymanPainter (Feb 26, 2014)

I've had this happen to me a few times. I painted my kitchen and it happened, thought it was because I mixed two older gallons of lifemaster together, then when I painted my main floor happened in some areas. I was using Dulux diamond flat, then on another job one wall in a condo failed like that, brought it right down to the skim coat. It'll die down, but you'll always see it


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## Epoxy Pro (Oct 7, 2012)

jacob33 said:


> Just curious if you are going to try oil primer, gardz, or draw tite. If you scraped the bubbles primed with one of those three than patched you should be done. Prime the whole wall not just the bubbled area. I would use oil primer myself. I'm fairly certain that would solve your problem, but you can keep trying other things if you like.


I have to try one of those products today. We are supposed to be done by tonight which no way we can, baseboards still not installed and saws set up in our last room to paint.

I'm leaning towards the oil.


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## Tundra02 (Oct 22, 2014)

cdpainting said:


> I have to try one of those products today. We are supposed to be done by tonight which no way we can, baseboards still not installed and saws set up in our last room to paint.
> 
> I'm leaning towards the oil.


 I learned my lesson many years ago that " When in doubt KILLZ IT "


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## ProWallGuy (Apr 7, 2007)

Ditch that dish soap. Unless you are washing spaghetti off the walls.


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## Epoxy Pro (Oct 7, 2012)

Tundra02 said:


> I learned my lesson many years ago that " When in doubt KILLZ IT "


That's exactly what we did today, tinted the Kilz. No bubbling,


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## jacob33 (Jun 2, 2009)

Glad that it worked out for you.


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## Tundra02 (Oct 22, 2014)

WTG :thumbup:


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## Krittterkare (Jul 12, 2013)

I would wonder if when you scrape the bubbles if there was or would be dust but the primer did not penetrate the dust or surface film in to the material. It has happened to me a time or two, the only things I could come up with is if something in migrating from the original paint and usually it has happened on the prime coat and using a thinner type primer. I like to mix the mud with a paddle and small amount of water if needed. 
A guess is the primer did not penetrate, perhaps the surface was too tight from wiping down.


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## Epoxy Pro (Oct 7, 2012)

I do think it was either an underlying issue or the Sure Seal. We wont use Sure Seal any more. 2 times we used it 2 times we had bubbling issues.


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## Jazz_Painter (Feb 22, 2015)

If you want to degrease/wash the walls, I'd use tsp ecological non rince or tsp normal (with rince though). Far better prep than any kind of soap. If you have to use soap for a reason, use tsp afterwards to remove and film or residue the soap can leave.

As for the bubbles, like Kritterkare said, it might not be your coats not adhering. If proper wiping of the dust after sanding hasn't been done prior to priming the drywall, the humidity created by the coats you're applying will make some spots bubble, spots that haven't stuck well to the surface in the first place.


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## Epoxy Pro (Oct 7, 2012)

Jazz_Painter said:


> If you want to degrease/wash the walls, I'd use tsp ecological non rince or tsp normal (with rince though). Far better prep than any kind of soap. If you have to use soap for a reason, use tsp afterwards to remove and film or residue the soap can leave.
> 
> As for the bubbles, like Kritterkare said, it might not be your coats not adhering. If proper wiping of the dust after sanding hasn't been done prior to priming the drywall, the humidity created by the coats you're applying will make some spots bubble, spots that haven't stuck well to the surface in the first place.


I have no idea what the drywall guy did for making sure the walls were clean. Knowing him nothing. I would have figured the room the saws were in the whole time would be an issue with dust but that room was fine first shot.


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## Tundra02 (Oct 22, 2014)

Had almost the same problem on my current job . The walls were painted in September with ProMar400 eggshell . Had to stop work in the house in Nov due to no HVAC hooked up in the house ( It's renovation ) . Last week the HO decides they do not like the color ( Topic for another threadhttp://www.painttalk.com/images/smilies/censored.gif ) This time I painted the walls with Super Paint satin and had one corner about a 2 foot be 3 foot area bubble . Figured I missed some MDF dust from the carpenter trimming the door . And said to myself " Another hour in this chit hole aint going to kill me " Next morning nothing :thumbup: The bubbled area was fine no blemishes .


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## whitem01 (Apr 4, 2015)

*Paint Bubbling*

I have a small ornamental concrete business. My products are 10'' and less and weigh no more than 2 or three pounds. I use white Portland or Duracal - a US Gypsum product. I dip the final product in concrete paint or porch and deck. 

Question is there anything I can use /add to the paint or apply to products before painting to prevent bubbles when the product is dipped?


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## PRC (Aug 28, 2014)

whitem01 said:


> I have a small ornamental concrete business. My products are 10'' and less and weigh no more than 2 or three pounds. I use white Portland or Duracal - a US Gypsum product. I dip the final product in concrete paint or porch and deck.
> 
> Question is there anything I can use /add to the paint or apply to products before painting to prevent bubbles when the product is dipped?


How soon are you dipping them? Typically cement and masonry needed 28 days rest before painting. Some products are made for earlier painting but I can't remember them at the moment.


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## Joseph (Aug 26, 2013)

I had the exact same problem with an older house I did a couple years ago and I think it was because I had to prime the walls before painting and didn't wait long enough before painting. I think it was because the moisture was still coming off the primer and causing air bubbles. Other than that I have no idea, was only on the one wall so I just sanded, patched and redid everything.


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## Joseph (Aug 26, 2013)

I've had some problems with Dulux Diamond's Interior Eggshell "Fine Silver" bubbling up. I've used it more than once and always have the same problem. The bubbles are really small and easily rolled out, just annoying.




https://www.calgarypropainting.com/blog/index.php


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