# Newly Textured Ceiling is Flashing



## chris916 (Feb 25, 2012)

Yeah, I know this sounds like a noob question, and on the surface it is. I've been doing the same routine for several years and now I have sudden failure. After removing an acoustic (popcorn) ceiling, I skimmed the joints and nails with lightweight joint compound, textured with red dot (general purpose). The next day, once everything was nice 'n dry, I sprayed and backrolled the ceilings with Behr's drywall primer/sealer (not PVA) Don't scoff...this stuff worked for me for years, better than Zinsser's BIN if you can believe it. One fat coat has always been sufficient to seal it properly. I let it dry for about 3 hours (the can claims 1 hour recoat, but I like to wait longer) I sprayed ceilings with Kelly Moore 1005 Swiss Coffee. [Yeah, I know it's the contractor grade, but 550 doesn't look right on my ceilings--I've tried. The ceilings flashed like crazy on all the joints and nails with 550.] I put 2 more coats on. It's as if the paint was just reactivating the primer and all the layers were just soaking into the sheetrock. OK, so I blamed the primer. (even though home depot says there hasn't been a reformulation in a while...whatever) So I rolled on 2 solid coats (drying in between) of Zinsser cover stain....my go-to, never-fail sealer/primer. Same effing problem. WTF? I started looking around the HO's house and the walls were flashing (work I did not do, was completed several years prior by the homeowner) I spoke to KM guys for advice, they were stumped. I spoke to my manager-pal at Sherwin Williams and he said some strange stuff about vapors and moisture being transfered between the insulation, the sheetrock and the paint. That's pretty far-fetched, but who knows. I've never seen this type of flashing happen before. Anyone ever encounter this? I've received advice to prime the sheetrock with PVA before texturing, but this turns into a tar-baby (extended dry times, texture-dragging, flaking, etc..) and doesn't solve flashing issues. That's why I've been so loyal to the Behr product...it has never flashed on me before. This photo is the ceiling, with a coat of Behr Drywall Primer/Sealer, 3 coats of KM 1005, 2 coats of Zinsser cover stain, 2 coats of KM 1005.


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## robladd (Nov 22, 2010)

Check out these 3 products from Hamilton.
Prep Coat Plus, Prep Coat Plus Powder and Prep Tex.

I have had great results with prep coat plus prior to texturing.


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## ProWallGuy (Apr 7, 2007)

Its flashing after two coats of oil primer?


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## chris916 (Feb 25, 2012)

*flashing*



ProWallGuy said:


> Its flashing after two coats of oil primer?


Yep. Hard to believe, right? This is one for the record books for me. And I've asked several old-school painters I know, as well as numerous paint store employees. If it was just an issue with the Behr primer, I could easily get past it and just switch primers....but cover stain failed. I know a solution would be to just skim the whole ceiling, retexture it and repaint it...but that is not cost effective. It also makes no friggin sense that oil didn't cover it. That's the part I'm having trouble wrapping my brain around.


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## RH (Sep 7, 2010)

Shellac?


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## Damon T (Nov 22, 2008)

We had a similar problem recently . The drywall guy did a bunch of repairs on the popcorn ceiling, didn't prime the Sheetrock before re-texturing with popcorn. On the undisturbed areas we had no problems, but on the section of ceiling he did without priming prior to texture, you could see flashing of the joints. My guess is that the texture took differently over the tape seams than over the bare sheetrock, we painted with SW 700, which is a primer / flat paint finish. You could see the lines after two coats. The drywall guy came back to fix a loose seam, and then re-sprayed with the 700 again. After the third coat you couldn't see the flashing anymore, or so I'm told. It was good enough for a picky homeowner anyways.

If you still have flashing issues after priming, painting, and re-priming with cover stain, then the texture pattern itself may be different. Hard to see from the pics.


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## Damon T (Nov 22, 2008)

You've got a lot of product on there now. It may take a while to cure out and have the sheen die down. I'm not familiar with the km product. Is it a dead flat? 
For dead flat we typically use SW builders solution Matte. You could also try another dead flat, BM WB ceilings paint etc. I'm sure km must have dead flats (if yours isn't). 

It looks from the photo that the texture is denser over the seams. Is that how it looks in person?


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## nEighter (Nov 14, 2008)

Hire a professional ceiling repair specialist. I am in KC, sorry can't travel to CA.


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## TERRY365PAINTER (Jul 26, 2009)

Hey I am a Kelly Moore guy both products rock . 
Did you texture the ceiling. Pop corn ceilings have a tendency to yellow of time . I generally Sand the ceiling first then prime it . Let that dry 
Then mark everything that is bad . Bad seems , joints etc . Skim float where needed . Sand if it's knock down with lots of big windows . I will prime 
Again . If the ceiling or yellow or brown ! Man cover stain !!! It. .... Texture and finish coat it . 
The best fix is skim floating the ceiling . Then it will be perfect .


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