This paint stinks!!!! General decorating topics, questions and answers. find help, tips and advice on completing your decorating projects

[Ireland]

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[kimhodd]

I could be wrong but it seems to me that the oil in the emulsion is reacting with the sunlight. I think re painting may work

[bvirdee]

Hi,

I have to report exactly the same problem. My wife decided to save money and use some left over old paint from the cellar....The result, the room now stinks!

We tried over painting, but there was still the gassy smell.

I am trying to strip the paint but its very time consuming...I also have a Hot Air Gun at my disposal, and have tried to use this to 'dry' the paint. I think this may work, but I can't risk it not being successful...Therefore, I will just spend the time at christmas paint stripping....

It was good reading your post on this subject.

Thanks,

[biltong_jhb]

I've used Crown emulsion all over our new house and I have not had the same issue that you've had.

I was watching the RI Christmas Lectures on BBC last week and there was an episode on how genetic codes can affect our experience of smell. The example they showed was with androstadienone (a chemical found in male sweat). They showed that when a piece of paper soaked in a concentrated solution of androstadienone was "whiffed" by the audience, some found it sweet (akin to vanilla) and others found it awful (the smell of sewer drains and dead rats).

Now, I'm not suggesting that that exact chemical is found in your paint but perhaps there's some element of it that your genes don't like?

Or maybe it's just a duff batch and I should shut up :roll:

[kekec]

[quote="Stu W"]

To all

I have used two coats of Wickes Trade Matt and two coats of Dulux Rich Matt on top of Crown that was giving the stink - thanks God it worked as myself too have two small kids (3y and 7 month). Prior to painting over I've used sugarsoap and 'cleaned' the walls as much as possible.

No joy with Crown what-so-ever, they blame every other material/paint/damp etc....possible, althought it is a new build loft extention.

Hope this helps.

[Birchglen]

Hi

Have just joined this site - came accross it while searching for information on paint that smells like a drain - at least it's good to see that others have had the same problem.

Like many, I only get the problem when the windows have been opened - and yes, the paint used was Crown!

I see most of the postings were in 2007 - hopefully that means that someone has found a solution? - if anyone has any information please let me know.

[paulus]

We have exactly the same gassy smell in our newly painted dining room!
It too is a Crown product and the smell only seems to appear at around mid-day when either the room has warmed up and/or we've opened the patio doors which are in the same room.
Our kitchen and dining room are effectively one room and the gassy smell has been driving us mad as it's source highly specific.
We've had a gas fire removed from the dining room and have had a new gas main to the kitchen and we've been scared stiff that a. we have a leak of some sort and b. we'd have to rip up a new oak floor and a new kitchen floor!
Common sense told us that it wasn't a gas leak as there was no smell first thing in the morning when you'd expect to smell a build-up of gas overnight, but the exact cause was beginning to worry us.
Anyway, at least this seems to be a 99% sure reason as to a cause for the smell. Needless to say, Crown won't be getting our custom in future!

[51mon]

Similar problem here. We have an Orchard Green Crown flat Matt emulsion on the walls.

I don't know what the painter used on the ceiling.

I'm fairly sure that the problem is the ceiling paint. It is clearly related to sunshine or warmt in some way. Sunshine would make sense as I called transco like someone else, but I'm guessing what actually happened was the sun finally reached the point where with the doors open it shines down the staircase, and today I got the first whiff of that.

The painting was a last summer.The house is about 15 years old, plaster board walls. It was smelly at first, you expect a little smell with new paint, but it was fine over winter. Now the summer has arrived....

Anyway -- anyone gets a good solution - please post it here.

[Paint]

Hi to all,

I am not from UK, I am from Serbia and this place was the only one on the internet where I found people having the same problem with a paint and smell, as me and my family did. As your stories helped me to solve this problem, I wanted to share our solution with those who still have the problem unsolved.

We have used some Greek colors called Kraft (latex colors) and we had painted the whole flat. The result was terrible smell that started in the spring with the first strong sunlight coming into the flat (and our flat is faced to the south, so we don't have a problem with the sunlight).

The smell was directly connected to the amount of sunlight, outside temperature and the fact if the windows are opened or not.

Since we were expecting a baby, we decided to try anything in order to solve the problem on time. Firstly, we had repainted the whole flat with the paint from other manufacturer. After few days the smell was already back and the intensity was unchanged. So, from our experience, repainting is not a solution.

As we were getting even more frustrated, we decided to remove all the paint from the walls in the whole flat, and do the new paint job. After removing last two layers and before the painting, the smell was still remaining in the flat, so we have decided to remove all paint layers that existed on the walls. After finishing this, we painted it with a new paint. The only place where the removal of all old paint layers was impossible was the part of the wall in the leaving room.

The result was: we DO NOT have any bad smell anymore, except sometimes (low intensity) in the leaving room where we have left some parts of the old paint.

So, from our experience, you have to remove whole the paint (that one that caused the problem as well as all previous layers) from the wall and to repaint the walls (hopefully with a paint of some other manufacturer).

I hope that we will help some other people to solve their stink paint problems.

Regards

[loo]

I have just found this website and yippee Im not imagining things, had kitchen and dining room painted by an insurance firm (due to a leak) and they used crown emulsion and after the smell of paint disappeared I noticed a gassy smell (cats wee/ammonia) smell its been driving me crazy I opened all the windows and doors and you guessed it, it got worse. The insurance firm are sending someone from crown out tomorrow (he says hes never heard of it happening before so am printing these comments off to show him) Im worried that now its cooled slightly the smell is minimal and afraid he is just going to fob me off!! Anyone got any further updates or info??? Will let you know how I get on tomorrow and thank you all for assuring me I was going mad for smelling my walls for the last month!!!

[ciccia]

How very bizarre! - We had our house painted in March 08 - when the weather warmed up I started smelling 'gas' at the back of one of the rooms that had been painted. I called out Transco twice and they thought I was barmy. We then sold our house in June - still confused but knowing that it wasnt a gas leak. After a week of moving in to the new house we had some rooms painted (by the same painters) - July 08 - and guess what, the same smell returns...............I was flabbergasted! - I sniffed all the sofas, the carpet etc etc and then realised that the only factor in common was the painters..... (previously I hadnt linked it to the painters as the gassy smell in the old house wasnt immediately apparent) - I put 'smelly gassy paint' into the internet and came up with this forum...............and guess what, my painters always use white crown emulsion on the ceilings and the walls are always dulux........................
I spoke to crown on friday and they claimed that they hadnt heard of the problem however supplied me with a possible solution???? Put a coat of alkali resisting primer (diluted as per tin) followed by another coat of emulsion (the Crown customer support lady suggested I use Crown emulsion which they would pay for but I said no thank you!) - we will see what happens. But as you all say, it does only appear in warm weather or when the windows are open??? We have come back from a weekend away and all windows have been shut. I have opened the windows and guess what, the smell has returned........... I personally think Crown should seriously investigate this issue - they claimed to me that it wasnt harmful, but also, how many people are spending hundreds on investitgating gas problems that dont exist, or are having to live with this foul smell which may or may not be noxcious???

[Steve the gas]

Here Here

[loo]

Do you know whats annoying me (apart from my house stinking) the fact that crown say time and time again they havent heard of this problem before, Im currently waiting for the results of my paint "test" but early indications are that there is nothing wring with the paint but that it must have been the paint that was on before!! If it is a reaction to previous paints how come it only happens once crown paint is placed on top!! Surely this is still a crown problem and I wish they were just honest and say we have had this problem before sorry and send someone round to prime and repaint. why should I waste another weekend and even more money rectifying something that isnt my fault, I am seriously thinking of contacting Watchdog to see just how often this is occurring and I wonder what Crowns reply would be then? Insurance company are offering to repaint the rooms they done but apparantly the ones I painted I have to go back to Crown and see what they say!

[loo]

Having just gone downstairs and been hit by the smell again (the suns out!) I have just mailed Watchdog, perhaps if other people do we might see some action. Will let you know how I get on

[ciccia]

We have used the alkali resisting primer (undiluted) + 1 coat of dulux emulsion in the sitting room as a trial before we start repainting all the other ceilings. Unfortunately it hasnt been very sunny - though Fri was warmish and I did smell something in the other rooms but not the sitting room.... (it does still smell 'newly' painted so may have to wait a bit). Crown have hinted that they have had a problem in the past when too much ammonia had been added but apparently that was a very long time ago.......