Any DIYers around here?

RebeccaS

I've scoured the Internet but nobody seems to have done the same amount of damage I have and I can't find any concrete answers.

Basically, we're moving house (yay) so I'm doing all the stuff...

When we first moved in, we couldn't hang pictures because the walls are solid and we couldn't even get a specially tipped drill bit through, never mind a nail, so instead of hanging them... We glued them with no more nails.

It was the BEST idea I've ever had.

So today, I got a knife to try and prize the pictures from the walls. It worked, but it brought all the paint with them.

We live in a pretty old apartment building, and the units get repainted every few years, and have done since the 60s and I've pulled off like 1mm of paint, and I've gone through to what looks like the drywall or some kind of coating for the bricks underneath. In one spot, I've pulled right into the brick and have made a big hole :shake:

So now I have all these like... Dry? Patches in the walls with no paint on them (some are around 8" circumference), and around the edges of the holes the paint has lifted from the wall.

Anyone know how to fix it?

person

I'd recommend putting a coat or two, depending on the depth of the hole, of lightweight, shrinkfree spackle with a 4 inch putty knife and then sand that down with some 100-150 grit sandpaper or a sanding sponge (don't soak it in water).

Sand or scrape out any loose or bulging paint or drywall before filling the holes.

karasti

If it's plaster I think it'll have to be repaired differently. We get holes and stuff in our walls all the time, but they are just sheetrock so we use a repair putty, slop it on there, level it, sand it and repaint. But I don't know that that kind of putty will stick to what you are describing. It sounds like plaster to me and I think that needs different repair. I'm sure someone will know better. When i was in college, we had plaster in our rooms, and my roomie and I had bunks. At night we'd lay in bed and chat, and peel chunks of plaster off the roof. When it came time to move out, we didn't want to get in trouble or have to pay, and since it was the ceiling we figured they wouldn't notice. We used toothpaste to cover up the missing patches and go away with it Probably won't work for a wall though.

Perhaps a home store has a plaster repair kit?

RebeccaS

I'm worried that sanding out the lifted paint will just cause more damage? Will it just thin it out so it will feather nicely into the spackle?

RebeccaS

@karasti from what you're describing I think it might be Sheetrock? Because this wouldn't be peel able as it's right on the brick, you couldn't get your fingers behind it like you can with plasterboard.

RebeccaS

No, you're right, it is plaster. It like... Crumbles.

karasti

Sheetrock will have a paper surface and behind that it's a chalk-like substance. Sheetrock itself is only...half an inch thick maybe and is generally screwed onto the wood frame of the building (I'm probably describing this badly, lol) If you punched a hole in my wall, your fist would go right through to the insulation, and beyond the insulation is the outside wall. Paint doesn't peel off sheetrock very well, it'll take the whole paper surface off though and expose the white chalky stuff. In my experience, using the spackle/putty evens it out nicely and then you just have to sand it to smooth it and then paint, but it seems to me it's different than what you are describing if it's coming off in layers.

RebeccaS

Well, it was the paint itself that was like... Peeling, and I think it's peeling off plaster. It's like, white and where I have made a hole that is deep rather than wide it's like crumbling.

The other holes haven't damaged the plaster at all, they just don't have any paint on them.

I don't know if I'm Describing this well

Tosh

You glued your pictures to the wall with no more nails? Oh man; you are from Middlesbrough.

I think you need to scrape/sand off any remaining glue, then put a few coats of diluted PVA glue over the crumbly plaster (otherwise any subsequent paint will just get absorbed like a sponge) to seal it, and then paint the whole room.

A picture would be helpful though.

P.S. Did you try to use masonry nails and masonry drill bits when you originally tried hanging the pictures?

Tosh

The holes could be filled with a filler and sanded down. It won't look perfect though. Then diluted PVA glue and pained over.

RebeccaS

Yeah, we bought a special drill bit to get through the wall that was a nightmare. We did manage to get a mirror up with it... But that's just a whole new set of pictures lol.

Pictures:

RebeccaS

RebeccaS

So you can see our most recent purple paint job, then you can see the cream underneath and what is peeling off there is just layers of paint, except for the third picture where I've pulled out some of the wall itself. The white spaces are just wall, not paint.

Zayl

Don't panic!

Firstly, you need carpenter's putty! this stuff is very cheap and can be found at just about any home improvement/hardware store. Put it onto the damaged area and smooth it out, then just paint over it.

RebeccaS

OK, I'll give it all a go.

Thanks everyone!

person

Thanks for the pictures. I deal with this kind of stuff in my line of work. You may have to scrape off some of the surrounding loose paint, go easy or it could go on forever. Lightweight spackle is the best for small holes and patches. It looks like a few of these could be rather large though so you may want to pick up some sheetrock mud and put a couple coats of that on, even if its plaster walls and not sheetrock. I like to use a sanding sponge to sand once its dry because they are nice and flat and smooth out the patch evenly.

Seriously, I know what I'm talking about. I could go on but that should be enough to fix you problem. If you have others issues around this let me know and I can steer you in the right direction.

person

Thinking about it a bit, if you start scraping that paint it could potentially go on for a long time before you get to a solid area of paint. So you may need to get a bit of primer designed to glue that paint down such as PeelStop or whatever they have in Canada, maybe something like Tosh said a PVA glue or something before patching.

Tosh

In the army, for married quarter march outs, we'd fill any holes in the walls with toothpaste and touch them up with magnolia paint (all army married quarters were magnolia).

I think those holes are a bit big for that though.

RebeccaS

Well all we have to do before we leave is prime the walls. It doesn't need to be good, just good enough But yeah, I'll try gluing the edges before I fill in the gap. I peeled at it a little more and it's just lifting bigger and bigger patches. I could probably bring the whole wall of it down!

So glue, sand, fill, sand, paint?

Tosh

glue (seal the porous wall), fill so the filler is just proud of the wall - i.e. it bulges out slightly, sand the filler down in line with the wall, seal the filler (it's porous) and paint.

That's how I'd do it, but read the instructions on the filler you buy; it'll tell you how to do it. Youtube is also a mine of good DIY advice and instruction.

person

RebeccaS said:

Well all we have to do before we leave is prime the walls. It doesn't need to be good, just good enough But yeah, I'll try gluing the edges before I fill in the gap. I peeled at it a little more and it's just lifting bigger and bigger patches. I could probably bring the whole wall of it down!

So glue, sand, fill, sand, paint?

Yep.

Tosh said:

glue (seal the porous wall), fill so the filler is just proud of the wall - i.e. it bulges out slightly, sand the filler down in line with the wall, seal the filler (it's porous) and paint.

You can just seal the filler with a coat of most paints on the patched areas. Tosh is right it will soak up the paint but there's no need to buy a seperate product.

Dakini

RebeccaS said:

I've scoured the Internet but nobody seems to have done the same amount of damage I have and I can't find any concrete answers.

Basically, we're moving house (yay) so I'm doing all the stuff...

When we first moved in, we couldn't hang pictures because the walls are solid and we couldn't even get a specially tipped drill bit through, never mind a nail, so instead of hanging them... We glued them with no more nails.

It was the BEST idea I've ever had.

So today, I got a knife to try and prize the pictures from the walls. It worked, but it brought all the paint with them.

We live in a pretty old apartment building, and the units get repainted every few years, and have done since the 60s and I've pulled off like 1mm of paint, and I've gone through to what looks like the drywall or some kind of coating for the bricks underneath. In one spot, I've pulled right into the brick and have made a big hole :shake:

So now I have all these like... Dry? Patches in the walls with no paint on them (some are around 8" circumference), and around the edges of the holes the paint has lifted from the wall.

Anyone know how to fix it?

First spackle, then paint. There's no easy way.

RebeccaS

Great stuff, thanks everyone!

DairyLama

A good tip is to wear sunglasses indoors so you don't notice these things so much.

Cinorjer

person said:

Thanks for the pictures. I deal with this kind of stuff in my line of work. You may have to scrape off some of the surrounding loose paint, go easy or it could go on forever. Lightweight spackle is the best for small holes and patches. It looks like a few of these could be rather large though so you may want to pick up some sheetrock mud and put a couple coats of that on, even if its plaster walls and not sheetrock. I like to use a sanding sponge to sand once its dry because they are nice and flat and smooth out the patch evenly.

Seriously, I know what I'm talking about. I could go on but that should be enough to fix you problem. If you have others issues around this let me know and I can steer you in the right direction.

I've fixed up many a wall with your problem, and this one is right. Go get some lightweight spackle. It comes in small containers. Also get a wide putty knife, at least 4 inches wide and the metal type, not cheap plastic. Finally a sanding block and fine grade sandpaper. Also take a paint chip off the wall and the home depot will use their computer to match the paint. Build in layers, light sand, patch up with paint, and you've done a professional job. It's an easy fix.

RebeccaS

I should have just asked you guys to come over and fix it