Weird, paint smells fine, get it on the ceiling and it smells rotten...

Discussion in 'Painters' Talk' started by ian anderson, Sep 27, 2010.

  1. ian anderson

    ian anderson New Member

    Hi guys

    Wonder if anyone has experienced this? Just painted over some assumed nicotine stains around the light fittings in a badly neglected place.

    Using a new tin of water based isolating primer (Jotun) which has very little smell in the tin.....get it on the ceiling and man, it smells terrible! Not a paint type smell, a rotten, horrible smell.

    The tin even said that the paint is 'low odour'....

    Any ideas?

    Thanks for taking a look :)
     
  2. teabreak

    teabreak Screwfix Select

    Hi Ian,
    There has been some talk in the press about "new formula"
    paints smelling bad. You might be intrested in this link.

    http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/watchdog/2010/06/smelly_paintupdate.html

    It might be worth trying some old formulation paint, perhaps oil based primer / undercoat as it's only a patch to try and seal in the smell.

    Regards,
    teabreak
     
  3. ian anderson

    ian anderson New Member

    Holy carp!

    Reading the link info, yup thats exactly what has happened to us!

    We bought this house off an old couple who had been here 30 years and done bgguer all in that time. Place was a mess and I am paranoid to paint every square millimeter to get rid of 'them'.

    But it is disheartening if painting wont 'freshen up' the place.

    I admit to not washing the walls down, I went for power sanding with my monster half sheet sander. Most of the woodwork is down to the bare wood.

    But the conclusions from the link are inconclusive. Is it 'dirt' embedded in the old surface or is it some kind of chemical reaction with the new paints. It is weird as the paint in the tin smells fine.

    The annoying thing is that you can't buy undercoat here (norway) just water based primers/sealers that are thick rubbish that doesn't cover well.

    I have an oil based wood primer but no undercoat :(

    Thanks for taking the time teabag! At least I have a few more 'search terms' now. Searching for paint + smells just turns up lots of stuff about the regular paint smell which I would love to have.

    Ta mate!
     
  4. ian anderson

    ian anderson New Member

    Dude, I meant teabreak! Too bloomin hoppin mad to read properly!
     
  5. ian anderson

    ian anderson New Member

    Just read about a million complaints on a thread called "this paint stinks!" on the diy docotr forum (sp for admins robot!) about "paint odour phenomenon"

    Nice.
     
  6. teabreak

    teabreak Screwfix Select

    Hi Ian,
    I’m afraid that “going green” seems to mean problems in all sorts of fields, lots of green cleaning products and chemicals don’t seem to work as well as the old “planet killer” ones did.

    I think a lot of people are finding that the new formulations are harder to get a good result with; I find I need to work faster to keep a wet edge and avoid brush marks with new paints. So far I have not had the smell problem but no doubt it will come!

    If I were you I would pester the manufactures about the problem.

    It may well be that you can’t get the same paints as we can in the UK, but can you obtain a sealer like Zinsser Bulls Eye 123?
    It is water based so may be fairly green, it’s designed to blot out and seal stains so might seal smells as well.

    Zinsser BIN is a shellac based product thinned with methylated sprit which seals difficult things like resinous timber well, but as it uses a sprit solvent I doubt you can get it.

    Good luck,
    teabreak.
     
  7. Puma.

    Puma. New Member

    It is thought to come from bacterial action, I have a feeling bleach would work for a while but not be permanent, you want some anti-bacterial additive for the paint or a wash as a pre treatment for the walls - I have not tried this!!! There are antibacterial paints also.
     
  8. ian anderson

    ian anderson New Member

    Thanks for your thoughts guys. I agree that it is a solvent/bacteria problem. There is obviously something in the paint that is 'waking up' the carp and bacteria that has built up over the years in this house.

    Bloomin ironic really as I had emulsioned the ceiling with no problem (apart from it not covering the worst staining around the lights). So, I buy what these guys call an 'isolating' primer which just happens to be 'low odour', kinda ironic.......no paint smell, just a smell like a tramp has been sleeping in there for a week!

    The forum stuff about crown also seems to be low odour paints...hmm....

    Actually I have had 4 emails today from the techies from Jotun the manufacturers of the paint I used. They were helpful but * me for not cleaning the surface first :(

    I guess that I thought that sanding the surface right back would work (amateurs eh!) You never get problems like this laying bricks thats for sure!

    Anyway, now armed with a powerful cleaner which I suspect is like sugar soap, I will clean it off a bit and give it all a couple of coats of emulsion and see how it goes.

    Wish me luck, the wife is not very impressed so far......:-0

    [Edited by: admin]
     
  9. Goodwill

    Goodwill Member

    Hi Ian,

    Some things to remember when painting:

    Paint is a chemical formulation and so you must do your best to stop it coming into contact or mixing with any possible contaminates and thereby changing its nature.

    You applied paint directly, without preparation, to a surface which had been exposed to contamination over a thirty year period. By the way, nicotine is odourless and colourless, the small amount that is realesed by a burning cigarette is insignificant. The main contaminate is the tar produced by the burning tobacco which is carried in the warm moist smoke, subsequently condensing and depositing the tar on the surface.

    Always wash down very thoroughly before painting commences, often several times with tobacco tar contamination. Rinsing off should be carried out with several changes of clean water.

    Sanding an unwashed contaminated surface can sometimes drive the contaminates into the surface and so cause further problems when paint or varnish is applied, especially the retardation of the drying.

    I hope this info helps you to achieve a better job on the rest of your house.

    Cheers

    Goodwill
     
  10. Mr. Handyandy

    Mr. Handyandy Screwfix Select

    Spot on, Goodwill.


    Mr. HandyAndy - Really
     
  11. ian anderson

    ian anderson New Member

    sigh.....I know :(

    Thanks guys! I had been sanding the wood frames about 50% down to the wood and got a great finish.

    I guess that I switched over to the walls assuming that sanding the surface would do something similar. But like you say stuff (read cr*p) soaks into ceilings and walls more than oil painted stuff.

    "could do better".....been a while since I heard that! At least the rest of the house now stands a chance. Its hard 'rinsing' the cleaner off though. I am assuming that wiping it off with a sponge and lots of fresh water will be fine? Good job the wooden floors are not down yet!

    Thanks for the responses, they were polite too...:)
     

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