I recently painted my bathroom a nice shade of yellow. Ever since then, I’ve noticed these brown ‘drips’ on the walls. I guess it has to do with water accumulating on the walls after a steamy shower, but why brown and slightly sticky? Could it be minerals in the water? I have never had this problem when I lived in NY (I don’t think).
Anyone?
Rose
lets just say that i always ask the drips (no matter what color, race, creed, or whatever) to leave; for some things it’s just important to have a little privacy
I"m no expert, but I recall a relative of mine having that in their bathroom and telling me it was sulfur and such in the water.
Any smokers in the house? What type of heat do you have? Is it gloss enamel or flat paint?
Ive noticed that too. I’ve always assumed it was from an accumulation of hair spray.
really bad aim?
It’s probably residue from soap and such that has bled through the paint. My advice is to paint over them with a primer like Kilz and then repaint over the primer. It’s kind of late to try and wash the walls since they’ve already been painted. The Kilz is specifically designed to cover stains and stuff like this. Good luck!
Yeah, but if you can clean it off, its not residue. If its high up, its probably smoke from the oven or heaters, etc mixing with water. I only see it in places people smoke or have smokey heaters.
I have those drips in my bathroom and neither of us smoke and the heaters haven’t been turned on in two years.
I’ve always just assumed it was shower steam combining with something on the walls. Don’t know what it is, but they clean off easily so I don’t worry about too much.
Do the drips consistently show up in particular places? You might want to look at metal fixtures and vent covers near the drips for corrosion. Air vents are particularly prone to rusting when they’re exposed to steam, and the water droplets that condense on them carry some of that rust down onto the walls, leaving reddish brown spots where the droplets evaporate.
In my bathroom the drips will show up on all three walls (the fourth is the shower). Usually higer up on the wall. I have never noticed if there are any on the ceiling. There is a fan but it is in the center of the ceiling.
So if the fan is the source of the color then it is somehow spewing the droplets all over the bathroom and that doesn’t seem likely (the air flow is in the other direction).
The drips seem pretty random, they don’t start in any one place. I used latex bathroom paint and primer when I painted, and put on 2 coats of primer over the plaster because we had taken down the original wallpaper, and had to patch a few holes. It doesn’t look like a stain coming through, just yucky little brown droplets appearing magically on the walls.
I never smoke in the bathroom, and any smoking in my house is confined to the computer room. We have gas heat. My heating unit is in the central dining room (it’s a very old house) and there are no radiators in the bathroom (nor any other, for that matter). Gets quite nippy in there in the winter!
Brr!
Rose