DIY Doctor UK DIY Forums

Hello

This was meant to be a diy job but due to ill health I hired a professional painter & decorator to redecorate a spare bedroom. Because this room is prone to condensation and mildew stains on the ceiling and walls, the painter advised using Eggshell paint. So rather than replace the wallpaper I asked the decorator to paint over the existing wallpaper and artexed ceiling using Eggshell. A month later this room is still smelling of paint. I’ve tried keeping windows and the bedroom-door open all the time which helps a bit. But if I close the door to the bedroom and keep the windows shut such as you would overnight, next morning when I go in there that bedroom is literally stinking with paint smell as if it had just been painted – even a month after the job was done. I’ve tried leaving cut onions, buckets of water overnight, bowls of vinegar etc. to try to remove this smell but none of these remedies work. I think the decorator used McPhersons Eggshell paint though I’m not sure.

It wouldn’t bother me that much but because I’m thinking of selling this house in the new year, if that paint smell is still lingering when I get to that stage it will make it far harder to sell.

Can anyone advise how long it might take for this paint smell to finally disappear entirely? Its been a month now since this job was done.

Thanks

This sounds to me like your painter has used brushes, rollers etc which he's previously used on woodwork and not treated the brushes adequately, meaning that the gloss get painted in with the emulsion, creating the pungent smell that hangs before. I managed to do that in my bedroom and my missus couldn't stand the smell so we ended up sleeping on a couple of cheap mattresses in the living room for a couple of weeks - separate ones! Give it a couple of weeks, get the windows open from the off, but I'd ditch the onions if I were you. Scented candles or an oil burner could be alot more effective

1st thing i cant understand why he would want to eggshell your ceiling in the 1st place. Dampness is due to poor ventilation, 99% of the time. If it was me i would have advised you of this and told you to at least leave the vents on the windows open all the time.

As for the eggsell. Well i would have gave you a few options, I would have fungasidal washed the marks off, gave a day to set and offered you these options.

1, dampseal the affected area and repaint,
2.Undercaot the affected area and repaint.
3. Stainblock the affected area and repaint.

Thats all that neeeded to be done, the dampness will come back no matter what you do unless you deal with the cause 1st.

As for the smell. no idea. been painting for years and years and never 1s had this problem, After the paint has set it should go away after a few days.

Good luck with it tho.

Mark

Slice half an onion thinly, place it on 3 or 4 plates around the area and it will absorb the smell of the paint overnight.