# Drywall Repair - Paint peeled off down to drywall



## TJoy

The paint on my bedroom wall peeled off down to the drywall. Now I have a wall with the drywall exposed with brown card-board looking spots where the outer layer of the drywall came off with the paint. My question is what do I do to repair the drywall so that I can paint the wall.


----------



## Mike in Arkansas

Really? Off the drywall? Must have been a really bad paint job or defective paint. Are you sure it's drywall and not some kind of hardboard panelling or something? Sorry, I'm sure you know what you have but I didn't think that would be possible. I've had paint peel off previously painted surfaces that wern't prepped properly but in my admittedly limited experience, never off bare drywall. In my experience, paint just soaks into drywall. The only thing I can think of is that some one sprayed the wall and the paint actually dried before hitting the wall, just leaving a film. Not sure that's possible either. I'm no help obviously but at least it's a bump to the top.
After posting and rereading it now sounds like the drywall paper itself is peeling? Wow. Only thing I know to do would be patch with joint compound, sand and repaint or replace defective drywall. Is it peeling on it's own or has someone damaged it somehow and then pulled the drywall paper off? If the latter then it could be patched, if not then well................


----------



## Ron6519

TJoy said:


> The paint on my bedroom wall peeled off down to the drywall. Now I have a wall with the drywall exposed with brown card-board looking spots where the outer layer of the drywall came off with the paint. My question is what do I do to repair the drywall so that I can paint the wall.


Sounds like someone didn't prime correctly.
Post a picture.


----------



## Jessidog

TJoy said:


> The paint on my bedroom wall peeled off down to the drywall. Now I have a wall with the drywall exposed with brown card-board looking spots where the outer layer of the drywall came off with the paint. My question is what do I do to repair the drywall so that I can paint the wall.


It sounds like the surface paper on the drywall peeled off and you are seeing the cardboard underlayer. If this is right, I would cover those spots with drywall compound and then sand it smooth to feather into the surrounding area. I use my random orbit sander that connects to a vacuum to capture the dust. But sanding by hand will work. Many people make the mistake of making the repair area too small. Depending on the size of the damage, you may need a 6'' or 8" drywall knife. The larger patch allows better blending of the patch with the surrounding wall.

The drywall probably has a sprayed on texture. If you paint the smoothly sanded repair areas, the repair will be visible because of differences in the texture. Buy a can of spray on orange peel texture from Home Depot, Lowes, etc. It's in the paint department. Experiment on a piece of scrape to get a texture that is close to the existing finish. I spray on the texture, which is thicker than the existing finish. I wait a few minutes and then *lightly* drag the drywall knife over the surface to "knockdown" the bumps. Then prime and paint. If you work carefully, the repairs will be virtually undetectable.

David


----------



## tcleve4911

All the paint? on all the walls?
Moisture problems?


----------



## TJoy

*Thank You*

Thank you all for your responses.
David, I think that you provided me with just the information that I needed - special thanks to you.

For everyone that had the 'how did that happen' questions, there is the story in brief.
The wall was an accent wall in the bedroom. My intent was to just clean, primer, and paint. However when removing tapastry holding brackets from the wall (had been there for several years), it took a small chunk of paint with it. When sanding down the spot, there was a section that was not smoothing down as easily as the rest. I made the mistake of pulling on it and. . .WOW. . .a 4" piece of paint pulled off exposing the drywall. Where I had sanded (by hand), it was seperating from the wall. Long story short, the entire wall peeled down to the drywall. There were spots however that did not peel as easily and needed some help. That's where some of the paper on the drywall pulled off. The end result is a spotted wall in places. I thought at first perhaps due to moisture as the bathroom is a small on-suite bathroom with no windows so I leave the door open mostly but. . . .there is no sign of moisture or water damage. Regarding the other walls - that's a wait and see scenario. They are currently white and have no brackets to remove. I'm hoping that I can just primer and paint those walls but. . .there's no telling. More surprises may await.
THANKS AGAIN ALL


----------

