How to repair flaking paint

Summary: Learn how to remove flaking paint, Repair peeling paint in a bathroom and Redecorate flaking paint.

Occasionally ceiling paint in the bathroom can start to flake. This may be due to a lack of ventilation, because the first coat was not diluted or a proprietary sealer was not used. Some simple steps must be taken to repair the ceiling decor.

How to repair damaged paintwork

  • First make sure you have a waste bag to hand and possibly a vacuum cleaner as the floor will become covered in a layer of scraped paint.
  • Using a paint scraper remove all paint from the ceiling. You will be left with quite a mess on the floor so regularly clean up to avoid potential accidents or nuisance.
  • If there are deep indentations in the paint where the flakes used to be you will want to go further with the surface preparation and use an electric palm sander to smooth the surface. If not, the indentations in the paint will most likely show after repainting.
  • Once the ceiling is back to the plaster finish, pour some emulsion paint into your paint tray, add a cup of water to it and mix it thoroughly. Proceed to paint the ceiling with a roller or brush. Any excess diluted paint can now be disposed of.
  • The purpose of diluting the paint on the first coat is to avoid pulling any plaster away. You can buy specialised paint to seal plaster but this is fairly expensive and the watered down paint serves the purpose well.
  • Once the first coat is dry, which should be about an hour at most, you can recoat the ceiling with one or two further coats of paint which do not need to be diluted.

How to repair damaged paintwork video

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