need help Ask your questions and find answers on many subjects relating to plastering and dry lining

[jamjo]

recently bought a property which has been empty for about 5 yrs paint in kitchen is very flakey in patches should i remove all exising paint or sand down effect areas and repaint, will be changing colour to match new kitchen any way but dont want to strip whole kitchen would prefer to sand effected area and re- paint entire kitchen is that a problem ?

[stoneyboy]

jamjo,
An almost unanswerable question. Depends what is causing paint to flake. Try using a filler knife to scrape under the paint, you can then decide whether you should strip or patch repair.
end

[kbrownie]

As stoneyboy says.
it is difficult to get a total grasp of your situation, we can offer advice on what you tell us hopeing you have both anwareness and correctly described the problem.
Flakey paint is best removed by sandind down or there is a paint remover in the projects part of this site look for removing/stripping paint: https://www.diydoctor.org.uk/projects/paintstrip.htm that is really good. Then after that have a look at your wall and see if it is in a good condition to decorate, if so fine. If not may need a bit of repair work, a scim over, over boarding or pulling down.
kb

[the specialist]

hi jamjo,

If the property has been empty for 5 years and presumably unheated it is quite likely still damp. I would carry out a strict heating and ventilation regime to dry out the building. Your flaking paint could quite simply be due to internal condensation over a long period of time. A lot of people believe that only occupied buildings suffer from condensation quite wrongly. All buildings contain moisture and are also affected by changes in temperature due to climate changes throughout the year.

If the plaster appears sound and is not crumbling and the wall is dry you should be able to sand off and repaint. Check the wall with a moisture meter.

Aidan