paint on garage ceiling peeling

[68 sat]

My buddy was in the proccess of repainting his garage ceiling when the original paint began to peel off. It seems the previous owner never primed the sheetrock and just applied cheap paint. Is there a way to prep the ceiling for paint without peeling all the old paint off? Thanks

 

[Nowater]

Sherwin Williams always gave me good advice. But, I am thinking if the paint is falling off that easily there may be another problem like moisture. Can you see above the ceiling?

 

[Highbeam]

Primer has never been a requirement of making paint stick. You have another problem.

 

[Weekend_warrior]

I would say check for Moisture and look the ceiling where its peeling. If no moisture or other problem I would say its improper prep in addition to paint type. Maybe he didn't get good adheision? Like it was dusty, or way out of temp range when painted. If you can't find any problems I would scrape what you can off most should come off easy. Then hit it with a good couple coats of stain blocking primer(spray it on) and follow up with a good quality paint.