Question about Drywall Bubbling Up

[Cinneagh]

My wife and I just bought a house and have been repainting. We noticed that the top surface of the painted drywall bubbles up and comes off on the roller. We are using the same exact paint that was on it previously.

Where it is happening is around the water spigot in the garage, in the guest bathroom with a shower, and a random spot in the hallway. All are on interior walls. The house was built in 2005. I am thinking it is moisture and/or cheap drywall.

If anybody has any thoughts on this or any advice on how to address, it would be greatly appreciated. Sanding and spackling the spots and repainting have been hit-or-miss.

Hopefully this has not been covered in another thread. I did search on "drywall" but did not see anything pop-up.

Thanks in advance,
Jeremy

 

[Eds Garage]

Peeling paint coming off on the roller may mean poor paint prep from a previous paint job especially if the base paint was glossy. If there is water damage, there would probably be evidence of mold under the lifting paint or the drywall will be crumbly if you press on the area with stick. If you see mold or crumbly drywall, you will need to cut into the wall and inspect what is going on and fix the problem correctly. If it is just poor paint prep from a previous paint job, you can spackle and sand as needed or strip all the old paint off. Depends on how particular you are and expectations.

 

[Zeke]

Moisture.

 

[FlyBy]

Ditto on the poor paint/prep.

But my guess is that if it's bubbling, and it's near a water line, that there's moisture behind the drywall that's destroying it slowly, and probably causing it to mold.

A good idea is to cut out a small section on the bubbling area and see what lies behind it. Water stained wood and general dampness is a sure sign that water is coming in somewhere and could lead to a larger problem if not rectified.

 

[Beaumont67]

One of these adhesion problems, or a few:
a) moisture
b) very poor prep work, no sanding or a very clean starting surface
(then slapping on paint, with a roller...without back rolling much)
c) old paint job with oil base, next repaint...with water base or vise-versa

 

[bobemmerich]

Moisture. Or, just a possibility, that the last guy skim coated the entire surface with taping compound and it never adhered/dried correctly and now the new paint is causing it to get "wet" and peel off.

 

[TommyK]

Moisture.

+1

 

[mypov]

Cut a hole in the dry wall to find out - use a drywall key hole saw - cut the drywall with the knife almost parallel with the drywall to avoid going through your vapor barrier, or doing any damage to any electrical lines that may be underneath your drywall. Try to cut the hole as perfectly square/rectangle as possible to make patching easier.

Find out what is the source of the problem so you can address it properly - you do not want to just put some make up on the problem and be living in a house infested with mold. Especially if the problem is easily addressed.

good luck - if you find no moisture underneath/behind the drywall then it is likely poor paint/priming/prepping.

 

[dreamingmuscle]

My guess is that the drywall wasn't cleaned of the drywall dust before the original paint sprayed.

 

[Mmfh]

Isn't bubbling usually a sign of a bad reaction to something? Maybe the sheetrock guys did something stupid when it was built that is just showing up now?

I've seen houses built around here in the pouring rain, all framing, sheeting, everything is soaking wet. Then before it has a chance to dry, on goes the tar paper up top, wrap the sides with a moisture barrier, put that roof and siding and windows in.

These houses are like a steam bath if a warm day follows a bunch of rain and them covering up wet wood. I wonder if something hasn't been brewing at this place since its been built??

Seems strange to have a moisture problem in the hallway, misc spots here and there.
Make sure everything is dry and try to get something to stick the best you can.

Sorry, I'm just thinking out loud.

Mm

 

[cowboyjosh]

Chinese drywall? 05, 06 was the heyday of builders using Chinese drywall.

 

[mypov]

bad paint and primer, or lack of wiping/cleaning the drywall before painting usually results in flaking though, not really bubbling - in my opinion, which is definitely not infallible, I think bubbling is a result of moisture. Sounds like the paper could be separating from the sheet rock, else water moisture is somehow permeating into the paint and raising it off of the sheet rock. Could be ventilation issue, built up moisture escaping from the vapor barrier....Seriously no way to know unless you investigate. Unless it is just a poor paint job - hard to know without being there and seeing the symptoms.

- after re reading OP - does rather sound like poor priming job, maybe wrong type of paint was used in the bathroom and garage. Bathroom paint should be kitchen and bath paint, alkyd, garage (depends if it is maintained at a fairly consistent temp).
Is the water spigot leaking or dripping condensation on the paint? - if you don't want to investigate, I would start by removing ALL the paint in the problem areas right down to the drywall...then buy a HIGH QUALITY primer and re prime the problem areas. apply paint to your leisure, and hope the problem is fixed...if it fails again then look for leaks and other problems.... best of luck.

 

[slip knot]

Sounds like a bad prep job to me. Probably whoever painted the place before you didn't clean it very well and your "base" coat wont hold because their base coat is turning loose.

Had a similiar situation in a repo I bought two years ago. My painter at the time swore he knew how to repaint "over anything" he patched the areas that needed attention then blew a heavy orange peel texture on to blend it all together. He started painting the living room and by the time he got to the last wall the first wall had fell off onto the floor. Seems he didn't think that walls needed cleaning prior to painting. Had to hire another crew to come in and scrape all the texture from the entire house and start over.

 

[Cinneagh]

Okay, it is probably the paint bubbling up...

Thanks for your input, guys. I'll open up the drywall for moisture just to make sure.

As usual, I should have provided some more details:

The color is Duron Flat Antique White and it was sprayed on originally by the builder in EVERY room. The garage was unpainted. We are rolling and after the 1-2 application, the original coat bubbles up in spots and comes off in the subsequent roll.

I am thinking it is a combination of:

1. Cheap, imported drywall
2. Prep, or lack thereof
3. Moisture introduced from the outside (the previous family had little kids and BIG bathtub and yard water toys, etc., when we did our first walkthrough...)

Anyway, I'm overthinking this, I am going to get to it and get it done.

Thanks again,
Jeremy

 

[tcianci]

Don't go tearing everything apart. Every pseduo-expet on here immediately plays the phantom moisture/mold card. Your last post holds a clue to the problem in the garage.

You can expect paint failure on drywall around tubs, it's just a chronically wet area and the paint bond and condition of the drywall will no doubt be compromised and it will continue to be a point of maintenance for the life of the job. Don't go readiing stuff into it. Everyone on here who immediately defaults to pointing the finger at a shoddy builder/defective product scenario isn't helping you get this thing fixed.

Your first post says that "the top surface of the painted drywall bubbles up and comes off on the roller." From there the thread goes dowwnhill to Chinese drywall and far fetched moisture problems.

Obviously none of us have seen the condition first hand so even my comments could be wrong. The areas you speak of are areas where there is no doubt joint compound on the surface of the drywall, as is expected at edges along a tub or a penetration such as a sillcock. As I mentioned both those areas are subject to EXTERNAL water damage from splashing and in the case of the sillcock, even lots of cold water running through the pipe can cool the pipe to the point where humidity will condense on the pipe and wet the wall around it. This would be the most likely explanation of the failure youre seeing there. Your new paint is saturating the area and re-activating the existing coating. Subsequent rolling pulls the new and old finishes up . It's not an unusual situation.

In your garage you mention that you are experiencing the problem between the 1st and 2nd coats if I read your description correctly. This is a typical case of your first coat not being sufficiently dry before the 2nd coat is applied and you're just re-activating the fresh paint underneath.

The patch in the hallway is anyones guess. There is not sufficient information provided to guess at what's going on there.

Dig out any failed mud, patch the surface, make sure things are good and dry, wipe it with a damp rag before coating it with a good primer such as BIN or Bullseye 123. Then paint it. Double the time between coats. Declare victory and go home proud.

 

[Kevin54]

My guess is that the drywall wasn't cleaned of the drywall dust before the original paint sprayed.

That's one big cause right there.
I'd venture to say improper prep is the case