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My husband painted our kitchen walls about a year ago. He had not used it before but decided to prepare the walls by washing them with a solution of sugar soap. The paint blistered and we removed the blisters by rubbing the walls down again with sand paper and repainted 3 times. We were not entirely satisfied with the result but thought it was ok. I have noticed that the walls seem to becoming more patchy and need redoing but don't know where to start . Can anyone help ?

paint the wall with a pva solution, do about 3 coats, and that should stop it

Thankyou so much .I will try that.

There is a good chance that the paint bubbled because it was put on too thickly and it didn't adhere properly to the walls. I would rub it all down and any bare patches give a coat or two of watered down emulsion first, then give all the walls a mist or watered down coat of the finish paint then follow this with two coats of the finish emulsion and that should work. Unless there is a real problem with the walls I wouldn't use PVA as it can actually cause problems like bubbling. Below you will see a copy of an e-mail from Dulux sent a few years ago confirming this. I am not saying it shouldn't be used under any circumstances but should only be used if really needed.

This e-mail was received from Dulux about putting PVA in with the first coat of emulsion or applying to walls as a mist coat.




Thank you for your E-mail I can categorically confirm we DON'T recommend using PVA to seal new or bare plaster. This is because the PVA will seal any residual moisture on the plaster and may cause bubbling when it dries. This is also stated in the BS 6150 and our ICI site work instruction.

Hope this helps.

Omar Amjad, ICI Paints Technical Advice CentreICI Paints, Wexham Road, SLOUGH, Berkshire. SL2 5DSPhone: +44 (0) 870 242 1100Visit our web site at http://www.duluxtrade.co.uk