# Egg shell type cracking in plaster??



## jennifur75 (Aug 10, 2008)

*Egg shell type cracking in plaster AFTER painting???*

Hello! We live in a house built in 1950 and the walls are plaster. Two of the walls in the kitchen and dining room were wall papered. We removed the wallpaper and lightly scuffed the two walls with 120 grit sand paper as instructed by professional painters. We noticed a few tiny hairline cracks but they were very tiny. As we primed the whole room, these two walls have since shown increasing "cracks", essentially one wall is entirely covered. The best way to describe it would be a egg shell crack or a spider web. The odd thing about this is that right now (primer is still drying) they are raised up and it is only these two walls and not the other two that are showing these cracks.

We do not know how to proceed or if there is an easy fix for this, which of course we are hoping for! All responses and suggestions welcomed! We have attached a picture of the worst wall. 

Jennifer


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## EPI (Aug 10, 2008)

This does not look like cracking It looks like the coating is shrinking, you said you primed it, with what kind of primer? It looks to me that the coating is reacting to the glue on the wall. try a oil base primer then patch then prime then paint.


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## jennifur75 (Aug 10, 2008)

we used kils oil based primer after sanding the walls. it only seems to be reacting where the hair line cracks were at and where we sanded to the plaster. What do you mean by patch ?


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## jennifur75 (Aug 10, 2008)

In looking at it we agree there is some sort of reaction for sure, just not sure what is causing it since we used oil based primer. We are going to sand it down tonight but are wondering if we prime it again if this will happen again?? Any suggestions are great, I start a new job on Monday and will be crazy insanely busy, so we are trying to get ALL of this done before tomorrow night.


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## chrisn (Dec 23, 2007)

To me, it looks like you have painted over the residual paste left over from the wall paper. Even oil based primer will show that unless some attempt was made to remove it first. Now you have an even bigger job ahead of you.Another coat of primer will not fix it. It will need to be sanded down to remove the primer, then the paste needs to be removed before starting all over again.I cannot begin to understand why " professional" painters said to lightly sand the paste and not remove it first:no::furious::furious:The paste can be easily removed by spraying with hot water and a removal solution. http://www.safeandsimple.com/ is what I use but there are others wherever paint is sold.


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## Nestor_Kelebay (Jun 17, 2008)

I'm wondering if the fastest easiest way to expose the wallpaper paste so that it can be removed wouldn't be by softening it with a heat gun and then using a Sandvik paint scraper to scrape everything off the wall.

http://www.bizrate.com/paint_wallcoveringsupplies/oid718157577.html

I think scraping would go a lot faster than sanding.

I'm thinking that if the wall paper paste gets soft when it's hot, it may even be possible to "shave" the KILZ off the wall with a putty knife by pushing the blade through the soft paste.


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## slickshift (Aug 25, 2005)

chrisn said:


> ....it looks like you have painted over the residual paste left over from the wall paper....Another coat of primer will not fix it. It will need to be sanded down to remove the primer, then the paste needs to be removed before starting all over again.


I concur

:thumbsup:


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## jennifur75 (Aug 10, 2008)

We do not have a heat gun. Since it is all ready primered, can we try and scrape the offending areas and then sand them smooth? When we removed the final coat of wallpaper, we used a spray solution called "Dif" by Zinser. We are going to run to the store and get some 80 grit paper to help get through the primer, if there are any more suggestions please let us know! And thank you everyone for your input.


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## slickshift (Aug 25, 2005)

The DIF may have not been effective on the old adhesive
Or sometimes the final wipedown step is skipped

I wouldn't use a heat gun on 60 year old plaster anyway


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## jennifur75 (Aug 10, 2008)

We are sanding it down with 80 grit right now and it seems to be doing the trick nicely. We will finish it off with 120 grit, prime and paint again. Too bad it didn't do this the first time!!! My arms are ready to fall off. LOL


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## Nestor_Kelebay (Jun 17, 2008)

Jennifur:

You can buy a cheap heat gun at Wal-Mart or Zellers for $29. I'd say try using a heat gun to soften the paste under the wall to make your life a little easier.

Either that, of just phone up any carpet retailer and ask their Installations Manager if you can borrow one of their installers heat guns if you put down a damage deposit on it just to see if it'll make things go easier.


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## chrisn (Dec 23, 2007)

We are sanding it down with 80 grit right now and it seems to be doing the trick nicely. We will finish it off with 120 grit, prime and paint again. Too bad it didn't do this the first time!!! My arms are ready to fall off. LOL

After all that work, be sure to remove as much paste as possible,sanding alone will not do it. You need to re spray with your removal solution and scrub with a green scrub pad( used for pots and pans), rinse and repeat until it is no longer sticky.


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## bjbatlanta (Jul 16, 2008)

If the surface is actually sealed by the primer, you can apply a coat (or two) of joint compound over the rough area to smooth it out. If you apply the mud and you notice any "blistering", you have to get back down to the residual glue and treat it as you are apparently doing now. I "glaze coat" walls all the time for people who have removed wallpaper. As long as the surface is sealed, it can be skimmed (drywall or plaster). The key is the oil primer to thoroughly seal the surface.


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## jennifur75 (Aug 10, 2008)

Success!! We just sanded it down yesterday and repainted and it turned out wonderful! Thank you so much to everyone who offered their suggestions!! :thumbsup:


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