# Interior paint remediation
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/interior-paint-remediation/678987
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [January 16, 2014, 6:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/interior-paint-remediation/678987 "2014-01-16T18:52:31Z")
**Posts on this page:** 13
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Inigo\_Montoya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inigo_Montoya)
#### Post date: [January 16, 2014, 6:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/interior-paint-remediation/678987/1 "2014-01-16T18:52:31Z")
**Situation** : maybe 5 layers of latex paint, layer of primer, layer of bubblegum pink latex, layer of dark blue latex.
Blue latex has delaminated, in places, from the pink and has been peeled off in sheets by a bored teenager.
**Solution #1** : new layer of primer, hevy coat of new latex. But will the missing blue strips that were peeled off still be visible?
**Solution #2** : I can rip the walls off down to studs and re-rock them for $200-$250, then do primer & paint. But this is a slippery slope because I know that under the sheetrock is 40 year old insulation and aluminum wiring. This will turn into a project resulting in new bedroom & closet doors, ceiling fan, LEDs recessed in a crown moulding, 3/12 romex & outlets, new window & wall/ceiling insulation. This is a $1,350 solution that will eventually be done before I sell the house, and it would make me happy. But this is not the best time.
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### Author:  [@Sparky812](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sparky812)
#### Post date: [January 17, 2014, 1:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/interior-paint-remediation/678987/2 "2014-01-17T13:20:26Z")
> [@The Great Sun Jester](#):
>
> **Situation** : maybe 5 layers of latex paint, layer of primer, layer of bubblegum pink latex, layer of dark blue latex.
>
> Blue latex has delaminated, in places, from the pink and has been peeled off in sheets by a bored teenager.
>
> **Solution #1** : new layer of primer, hevy coat of new latex. But will the missing blue strips that were peeled off still be visible?
Yes, they will be very visible.
You need to skim coat those areas to smooth them out, then sand, prime and paint.
Remember to feather out your patches, you’ll never get the walls perfectly flat, you just want to create the illusion that they are.
> [@The Great Sun Jester](#):
>
> **Solution #2** : I can rip the walls off down to studs and re-rock them for $200-$250, then do primer & paint. But this is a slippery slope because I know that under the sheetrock is 40 year old insulation and aluminum wiring. This will turn into a project resulting in new bedroom & closet doors, ceiling fan, LEDs recessed in a crown moulding, 3/12 romex & outlets, new window & wall/ceiling insulation. This is a $1,350 solution that will eventually be done before I sell the house, and it would make me happy. But this is not the best time.
If it’s not the best time, don’t start it.
Wait until you have the time, money and patience to complete the job, otherwise you may be opening a can of worms for yourself.
---
### Author:  [@Rachellelogram](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rachellelogram)
#### Post date: [January 17, 2014, 2:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/interior-paint-remediation/678987/3 "2014-01-17T14:28:40Z")
> [@The Great Sun Jester](#):
>
> **Situation** : maybe 5 layers of latex paint, layer of primer, layer of bubblegum pink latex, layer of dark blue latex.
>
> Blue latex has delaminated, in places, from the pink and has been peeled off in sheets by a bored teenager.
>
> **Solution #1** : new layer of primer, hevy coat of new latex. But will the missing blue strips that were peeled off still be visible?
>
> **Solution #2** : I can rip the walls off down to studs and re-rock them for $200-$250, then do primer & paint. But this is a slippery slope because I know that under the sheetrock is 40 year old insulation and aluminum wiring. This will turn into a project resulting in new bedroom & closet doors, ceiling fan, LEDs recessed in a crown moulding, 3/12 romex & outlets, new window & wall/ceiling insulation. This is a $1,350 solution that will eventually be done before I sell the house, and it would make me happy. But this is not the best time.
I like solution #2 a lot. In order to prevent scope creep, could you pay someone to do the ripping and re-rocking for you? Then you can do the priming/painting yourself, on a fresh slate.
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### Author:  [@Inigo\_Montoya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inigo_Montoya)
#### Post date: [January 17, 2014, 2:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/interior-paint-remediation/678987/4 "2014-01-17T14:39:49Z")
Thanks, **Sparky**. I was suspecting the peels would be visible but was concerned I might have been worried about nothing.
**Rachel** : Pay someone to … what does that even mean? 😉
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### Author:  [@Rachellelogram](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rachellelogram)
#### Post date: [January 17, 2014, 5:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/interior-paint-remediation/678987/5 "2014-01-17T17:34:01Z")
You know, like how you pay your boss to look the other way while you browse the Dope at work 😉
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### Author:  [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)
#### Post date: [January 17, 2014, 5:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/interior-paint-remediation/678987/6 "2014-01-17T17:44:35Z")
There are wall papers designed to be painted over. Saves a lot of work in stripping.
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### Author:  [@Inigo\_Montoya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inigo_Montoya)
#### Post date: [January 17, 2014, 9:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/interior-paint-remediation/678987/7 "2014-01-17T21:28:19Z")
Fascinating. I wonder if it would be of much use to me though. All the walls in the house look like they have sort of ‘self-textured’ through repeated paintings (it used to be a rental) and years of rough tennants, and I have my doubts about what wallpaper would look like on that.
So close to just renting a monster Dumpster and having some quality family time tearing ALL the walls out! Scope creep is me.
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### Author:  [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)
#### Post date: [January 17, 2014, 9:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/interior-paint-remediation/678987/8 "2014-01-17T21:45:39Z")
> [@The Great Sun Jester](#):
>
> Fascinating. I wonder if it would be of much use to me though. All the walls in the house look like they have sort of ‘self-textured’ through repeated paintings (it used to be a rental) and years of rough tennants, and I have my doubts about what wallpaper would look like on that.
Some of them have a raised pattern which might hide the rough undercoats. I don’t know though, I’ve only seen them after they were applied, don’t know what it was like underneath.
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### Author:  [@Maastricht](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maastricht)
#### Post date: [January 17, 2014, 11:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/interior-paint-remediation/678987/9 "2014-01-17T23:35:15Z")
Make your own structure latex by mixing in some paper confetti and sand in the paint? That would fill and obscure the peeled off parts.
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### Author:  [@j666](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/j666)
#### Post date: [January 18, 2014, 2:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/interior-paint-remediation/678987/10 "2014-01-18T02:12:39Z")
This sounds like the perfect opportunity to teach a bored teen-ager about the consequences of one’s actions and how to rock & mud a wall.
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### Author:  [@gotpasswords](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gotpasswords)
#### Post date: [January 22, 2014, 9:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/interior-paint-remediation/678987/11 "2014-01-22T21:16:32Z")
Want it done right, or done fast and wrong?
You already know there’s some adhesion of layers problem with the paint. Some of it has already been made apparent by the kid picking and peeling it. More will delaminate in the future, taking the new primer and paint along for the ride. Trying to paint over it all will only end in heartbreak.
You need to get down to at least that (sixth?) layer of solid primer by scraping and/or sanding.
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### Author:  [@Inigo\_Montoya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inigo_Montoya)
#### Post date: [January 22, 2014, 10:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/interior-paint-remediation/678987/12 "2014-01-22T22:18:38Z")
Are you my grandpa? The ghost in my earhole whenever I want to take a shortcut that says, “Come on, you’re better than that.”?
I can rock & mud the room in a weekend, which for me would be a lot easier than scraping. But if I rub that lamp, I’ll have to deal with a genie (see solution #2). Best to do nothing right now, I guess.
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### Author:  [@j666](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/j666)
#### Post date: [January 22, 2014, 11:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/interior-paint-remediation/678987/13 "2014-01-22T23:56:09Z")
> [@The Great Sun Jester](#):
>
> Are you my grandpa? The ghost in my earhole whenever I want to take a shortcut that says, “Come on, you’re better than that.”?
>
> I can rock & mud the room in a weekend, which for me would be a lot easier than scraping. But if I rub that lamp, I’ll have to deal with a genie (see solution #2). Best to do nothing right now, I guess.
If you can do the walls in a week-end, you can do walls & ceiling in a long week-end. Insulation takes a day, at most. Hanging a ceiling fan is no harder than replacing the light fixture if you’re doing the ceiling anyhow. The doors and crown don’t have to be done at the same time.
Pay an electrician to do the wiring.