New Paint on Wall Cracking - Acrylic Emulsion - Any Ideas? General decorating topics, questions and answers. find help, tips and advice on completing your decorating projects

[niko33]

Hi all, I recently painted a wall using an acrylic emulsion paint and the painting is cracking at some places. I did clean the wall before but I suspect that the cracks are appearing because of an old plaster. What do you recommend me to do? Should I get rid of the cracks, then sand this part of the wall and then apply a primer before painting it again? If you do recommend a primer do you recommend a specific brand? Thanks in advance.

[thedoctor]

Emulsion usually only cracks under 2 situations. 1) it has been applied on top of a coat that is not completely dry or 2) the surface it is going onto is unstable (flaky/powdery/loose in some way)

It would be horrible to fill all the cracks and repaint only to watch it happening again so we would suggest you looked at reskimming the wall if the cause is likely to be number 2.