# Forum Home Renovation Painting  Paint is Flaking, Peeling Off Ceiling

## Banjo76

Hi All 
My ceiling roof paint is flaking (peeling) off from the plaster ,
 Ive been told that when the house was built (1970's) they painted the ceiling with calcium paint.
Is there anything which i can do to stop this or is the best option is to strip it back and repaint it with a under coat, then paint it with two top coats

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## chrise

I had the same thing happen many years ago to a 70s home I had and I simply cleaned off the flaky paint and gave it all a light sand to make sure there was no more flaky stuff and painted it with a  good quality ceiling paint 2 coats. A mate of mine who is a painter said that would do it fine and it did, but if you are worried hit it with a good undercoat/sealer and then paint it. The biggest thing is to make sure you have all the flaky paint off, you will find I am sure that not all the paint is flaking.

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## Bodgy

I had exactly the same occurence. 1970's house etc. 
They used calcimine paint them, and modern paints won't stick. 
You need to buy a calcimine sealer. All paint stores have this. Once you coat the ceiling with this, then you can paint over no trouble. I did 9 years ago and no worries.

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## durwood

Calcamine was a powder mixed with water which dried as a thin paste and when you paint over it with the new plastic water based paint you soften it . 
The most successful way is to wsh it off first, but thatis a pain especially on a ceiling so the sealer bodgy mentioned usually is the answer. Though this may not work if the calcamine is really thick.

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## zelk

Applying BONDCRETE appears to be very effective. This was recommended to me about 20 years ago by a hardware store manager. My brother in law and I painted our own homes about eight ago. He had major work with ornate ceilings and tried Bondcrete whereas I decided not to use it. Today his ceiling are fine whereas my ceiling are flaking and it's time for a new paint job. I have talked to a few paint supply shops and they are not familar with Bondcrete being used for this purpose, I would discuss this with the manufactures.

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## bresmith

I'd recommend scraping back, sanding, undercoating and then 2 topcoats.  Had to do this with my place.  In my case though l think they painted without an undercoat so the topcoats started falling off.  The main problem l faced is where they'd joined the plaster as the paint stuck fine to the skim coat but not to the plasterbaord.  Hence after scraping back all the loose stuff l had patches of paint still stuck everywhere.  Lots of sanding and paint stripper and finally got everything level. 
I think you definately need to scrape the old paint off and not just paint over.  If you just paint over your current paint job still wont be sticking to the plaster and after a while will flake off anyway. 
Also make sure you get it all as level as possible because you won't be happy with the finish if it's not. 
Brent :Smilie:

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## Hybrid

I have this problem as well, although my flaky paint is on the bathroom ceiling and the ceiling above the old cooktop. I painted the bathroom ceiling less almost 12 months ago. Within 6 months of painting it, the paint started to crack and flakes started appearing. I thought I prepared the surface well by flicking off all the loose paint with a scraper and then sanding with an orbital sander. 
MY house was built in 1981 and may well have been painted with this calcium paint. The rest of the ceilings are fine though, it's only the batheroom and a small area in the kitchen. Any suggestions on how to fix this problem permanently?

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## Sturdee

> MY house was built in 1981 and may well have been painted with this calcium paint. The rest of the ceilings are fine though, it's only the batheroom and a small area in the kitchen. Any suggestions on how to fix this problem permanently?

  The water in the new acrylic paint, especially if applied with a roller, will moisten and soften the existing paint or more likely the patching of the plaster when prepped  by the previous owner. 
The spackfilla and plaster patching sold then will soften and flake from acrylic paint. The solution is to seal those parts with an *OIL BASED*  undercoat prior to painting with your finish coats. 
Simple solution to a simple problem.  
Peter.

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## Hybrid

> The spackfilla and plaster patching sold then will soften and flake from acrylic paint. The solution is to seal those parts with an *OIL BASED* undercoat prior to painting with your finish coats. 
> Peter.

  Great, I'll give that a go. 
Thanks :Smilie:

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