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Good news: the damp seems down to condensation, not a structural flaw, so a proper refurb should sort it. Just keep the place warm and well ventilated to stop it coming back.

Gardz is great for sealing flaky, powdery surfaces, but it does not fit your setup.

Peel Stop suits your loose edges from stubborn paper bits and old paint that you cannot fully scrape off.

That said, you are right about breathable walls, and slathering on Peel Stop could block that. Use it sparingly, just on the worst patches.

Winter is not the best time for this, but if you are sure it is only condensation, you should be fine.

If the colour is a priority then I would just go with whatever is available, you won’t get an exact match either way.
Regarding quality generally, in a child’s nursery, I would consider the Volatile Organic Compound (VOC) content of different brands of paint.

As a rule of thumb, the more expensive brands have a higher solid content and less chemicals. Ideally, Little Green or Earthborn if you want to be near zero VOC, although you’re in Farrow & Ball territory price wise - their Modern Emulsion, btw, is below 1% - which is considered low.
https://www.farrow-ball.com/media/wysiwyg/Product-Advice-Sheets/Paint-primers/GBMEM.pdf

This data is publicly available for all brands, just search for ‘Product Data Sheet’

I would just use a standard masonry paint on the walls, because you will get a build-up of trapped moisture over time, no matter what. This is going to involve regular maintenance, scraping and touching up. Don’t bother spending extra on Weathershield, it’s not going to help in this situation.

I’m guessing a lot of the advice you have got already will involve using some kind of sealer to block the moisture (water-tight is a phrase people like to use). Essentially, you have a leaking bathtub and no amount of sealing is going to beat the force of water wanting to get out. All such attempts end in failure, best to accept reality from the outset.

Restoring a 90-year-old door coated with grey paint over the original varnish is straightforward for a skilled professional. The grey paint and underlying varnish need to be stripped to reveal the untouched wood beneath, which should remain undamaged.

For best results, the door will likely need to be removed from its hinges and worked on off-site. This job requires a specialist with experience in wood restoration, not a general handyman.

Expect the process to take a couple of days, involving careful stripping, sanding, restaining, and varnishing to match the original finish.

For cleaning lichen from monocouche external walls, start by gently brushing off loose growth with a stiff, non-metallic brush to avoid damaging the render.

Then, apply a biocide like Benz Lightning Cleanze or a fungicidal wash (e.g., GK Concentrated Fungicidal Wash, diluted 1:4 with water) using a brush or low-pressure spray. Let it sit for the recommended time, usually 30-60 minutes for tough lichen or up to 24 hours for some products, to kill the lichen and spores.

Rinse with a low-pressure washer or hose, as high-pressure washing can harm monocouche’s delicate surface.

For stubborn black lichen, a second application or a follow-up with a product like Benz Tornado Cleanze may be needed.

Always protect nearby plants with covers and wear gloves and eye protection. Let the wall dry completely, which could take a couple of days depending on weather.

Yes, monocouche can be painted, but it’s tricky. Its through-coloured nature means painting isn’t always necessary, but if you want a new look, use a breathable, water-based masonry paint like Dulux Trade Weathershield or BIOCHECK ALLWEATHER to avoid trapping moisture, which can cause peeling.

First, ensure the wall is clean, dry, and sound. Fill any cracks with exterior-grade filler and sand smooth. If the surface is powdery, apply a stabilising primer like Zinsser Peel Stop.

Apply two coats of paint with a long-pile roller for textured surfaces, allowing four hours between coats, and keep brush strokes consistent for a smooth finish. Check the paint’s suitability for monocouche, as some renders are sensitive to certain coatings.

For specific product advice or if you’re unsure about the render’s condition, contact Monocouche’s customer service team directly as they’ll have tailored guidance for their products. Alternatively, a professional exterior cleaning service can assess and treat the walls to avoid damage.

info@monocouche.co.uk

It sounds like you’re dealing with moisture trapped beneath the surface, which can cause paint to peel as it tries to escape, especially during warmer weather. The concrete layer on your brick wall might be contributing to this by limiting the wall’s ability to breathe, and sealing it with primer may have unintentionally worsened the problem.

Unfortunately, there’s no straightforward fix, as this could be a longstanding issue. The best starting point is to identify the source of the moisture. The images provided do not offer any clues.

An all too common a problem since lack of preparation doesn’t become obvious until long after the job has been paid for. Alas, there isn’t a simple answer but the following steps should help..

1. Scrape and Clean: Remove all loose, bubbling paint to a firm edge. Clean the walls thoroughly with sugar soap solution, then rinse with clean warm water to remove any contaminants.
2. Sand and Fill: Lightly sand the entire wall surface. For areas where paint was removed, sand the edges and fill with Polyfilla or a similar filler to level the surface. You may need to repeat filling and sanding two or three times for a smooth finish.
3. Prime: Apply a thinned vinyl matt emulsion as a primer to any filled areas, ensuring it soaks in but isn’t too watery. Multiple coats may be needed for proper coverage and to ensure further coats do not ‘sink in’.
4. Paint: You don’t need a special paint for a well-ventilated bathroom. Standard vinyl matt emulsion works well. Use it for the first coat, then complete with your preferred finish (matt, eggshell, mid-sheen, or silk). Matt finishes are better for hiding minor surface imperfections.
5. Long-Term Considerations: Bubbling may persist if the underlying surface is defective. Delay major repainting as long as possible to allow any remaining issues to surface, reducing the risk of future problems.

This approach ensures a durable finish while addressing the poor preparation by the original decorator.

It seems like a classic case of trapped moisture, where sealing or painting over it is just making things worse. Removing the lower render, as suggested, could let the dampness evaporate naturally.

But for any lasting decorative fix, you’ve got to tackle the root cause of the moisture first - there’s no way around that.

Thanks for getting in touch, that’s useful to know.

You don’t say why you need to strip the paint, it sounds like it is firmly attached? As you have found, there is no simple method of removing paint from a large area and it should always be the the last option.

That said, paint stripping can often be a case of trial and error, no single brand works perfectly in every case although Nitromors often proves to be useless.

The most consistently effective option is Peelaway although it is quite expensive. P7 is likely your best option since you describe the bits coming off as being ‘plasticky’ - this suggests a water-based vinyl emulsion has been used.

https://www.peelaway.co.uk

It looks like you dodged a bullet there Ian, there is no need to use a stabilising fluid because that isn’t what it is used for.

If you are planning to paint the rendered wall at some point in future then you will need to apply a priming coat of masonry paint. This is a coat of regular masonry paint which has been thinned slightly so that it absorbs into the surface in order to seal the cement render and to provide a key for subsequent coats.

What is stabilising solution used for?

There is no set rule regarding diluting paint since a lot depends upon the type of paint used and the porosity of the surface, 50/50 would be extreme though.

Ideally, you need the first coat to be thin enough to soak into the surface but not be so thin that it becomes just coloured water. Trial and error is the key, start by thinning about 10% and gradually add more water until you get the right consistency. 20 - 25% is about average for a surface such as exposed brick or stone work.

Subsequent coats need to be thinned much less, just so the paint is easier to apply without losing its opacity, or covering-power.

The type of paint I would use would be a non-vinyl based tade emuslion such as Dulux Supermatt, Crown Covermatt or Leyland Contract Matt.

Regards sealing, in a bathroom it will be essential in order to help keep the surface cleanable. I would recommend Smith & Rodger Rocktop which is a water-based clear sealer. It doesn’t need thinning but you’ll need at least 2 coats to provide a suitable finish.

Problems you may encounter are…

1) Staining - it’s inevitable the stone will contain some contamination which will bleed through any paint finish. This will show-up as light brown irregular patterned patches. Use an oil or spirit-base stain-blocker over these areas before attempting to re-coat, otherwise the stains will just keeping coming through.

2) Breath-ability - if the other side of the wall is exterior facing then you may experience problems with penetrating damp which is unable to escape via the normal process of ventilation. This may show up initially as staining or bubbling on the paint surface. This is fairly normal and, in most cases, simply entails regular scraping and re-touching.

If the exterior wall is particularly exposed to the elements though this could be a more serious problem and is something to consider before embarking upon the painting project to begin with.

The ‘ultimate protection’ version is formulated for the DIY market to be used straight from the tin whereas the trade version can be thinned to suit the surface which will vary from one case to another.

Special formulas and additives tend to be more about marketing than actual performance.

There is an advanced version of trade weathershield called ‘Maximum Exposure Masonry Paint’ which is formulated for coastal areas. Unless this applies to your case it probably isn’t worth the extra cost though.

Anything you apply to the surface of the paper is only going to be as strong as the adhesive you used. Factors such as the state of the bare wall surface, pre-decorating, will also have an impact.

It could be that normal levels of heat don’t have much that impact and, in any case, you can also use a decent overlap/repair adhesive to re-stick any edges that do loosen over time.

For future reference, for any areas where you anticipate adhesion problems, always use a ready-mixed adhesive (which tends to be stronger) and always use a lining paper first. Not only does this give a superior result, it also increases the performance of adhesives dramatically.

You should let the wall dry out first although this may take a while. If you apply any paint coating now then you’ll just be trapping the damp that can lead to further problems down the line. It’s also likely the paint will lose adhesion prematurely and you’ll be back to square one.

You are right, scrape back what you can and use a regular masonry paint, there shouldn’t be a problem with adhesion.

If you are able to remove the chalked surface you should do so and start again with a sound, firm surface. You may not be able to do this with all the affected areas but the more you can remove the better.

I’d suggest using a stabilising solution on any remaining powdery areas but only where it can’t be avoided since you can cause further problems later on with retained moisture.

Eleswhere, if paint surface are sound you should be able to paint over with regular masonry paint but it should be thinned slightly where there is bare brickwork/stonework or cement render,

Also, do a small trial area first to ensure the stabilising solution is doing its job and that there is no adverse reaction.

These kinds of coverage problems are quite common and the simple answer is that you have to apply multiple coats over the affected area in order to get a build-up of paint film. Only then will you get a uniform finish.

Emulsion paint is deceptively thick when it’s being applied and you would naturally expect it to cover a multitude of sins. Alas, when it dries, the paint film is incredibly thin and hides very little.

There is a difference between trade paints and retail paints in so far as the coatings formulated for trade use tend to have a slightly higher solids content. You wouldn’t notice a huge difference though and it’s certainly not a magic solution in this case.

I also wouldn’t go out and buy another brand of paint just for this purpose since you only need to cover the areas you’ve filled, not the whole wall.

Do this multiple times and then only attempt to paint the whole wall to a finish when you’re confident the filled areas will no longer be visible.

Also, make sure you apply these coats with a roller in order to match the surrounding areas as any obvious brush marks will just exacerbate the problem.

In extreme circumstances, where there are multiple repairs, it can be easier to use a lining paper to get all-round uniformity but it doesn’t sound like you need to consider this option.

Sounds good to me. The thing you need to be sure of is that your first coat soaks into the surface to provide a key. With roughcast you may need to thin the paint slightly for ease of application and doubly so for the initial coat on bare render.

Not that uncommon and there are no easy solutions.

Sometimes you have to use sugar soap neat in order to shift some stubborn contaminants such as grease and nicotine. I’ve experienced some situations where scrubbing with neat bleach was necessary. It can be a very unpleasant job but very satisfying when you’ve finished.

Just make sure you wear rubber gloves and cover your arms.

From the images you have supplied it looks like the first coat simply hasn’t bonded to the surface.

It could be the walls were slightly damp or powdery at the time of original painting. It isn’t unusual for these problems to show up over time as the paint becomes dry and brittle, loosing all adhesion and falling away. You may find that painting the areas that look solid for now also brings off more paint.

A stabilising solution isn’t going to help because the wall material itself looks fairly sound. I would also advise against using PVA because it forms a film which will trap any inbound moisture, causing more problems long-term.

I would scrape off as much flaking paint as you can and prime the bare wall areas with a thinned coat of masonry paint (thin enough that it soaks in but not so thin that it is like water) then allow to dry.

Assuming this works out OK you should be fine to go ahead and repaint as normal. It’s inevitable that more loose paint is going to come away eventually though so don’t expect this to be a one-off job.

For a perfect result you’d need to completely remove all the paint on the front elevation, which is going to be difficult and expensive.

The pragmatic approach (which you seem to have already accepted) would be to simply get a good colour match and undertake a regular program of scraping paint off as it becomes loose and touching up until you are certain all the loose material has come away and that your remedial work is staying firmly stuck.

This is where things have gone wrong, to try and fix and get rid of the wall paper paste i tried to lightly sand and then painted over this area of the wall. This extra coat of paint on this area of the wall looked bad and stood out too much, so I applied another coat on the walls.

This would be the third coat of emulsion Matt paint, this got rid of the mark on the wall but due to rushing I didn’t do the edges of the wall first like i had done originally.

I wasn’t happy with the finish when comparing to first two coats. It was annoying me that much I have done a final coat which would be the fourth not including the mist coat. the finish still doesn’t look good I think after spending so much time originally I have been rushing just due to lack of time due to personal circumstances.

I know what I have done wrong and I need to apply the Matt emulsion and do the edges first in the same way I did when I completed the first and second coat, which I was really happy with until I got paste on my walls.

However, the concern I have is will I cause damage to the wall if I do one final coat with having already done 1 mist coat, and 4 coats of Matt emulsion having already been done?

I have read too much paint could causing flaking etc. sorry for the long message but I wanted to try and explain the context. I am confident I can finish the job to the standard I will be happy with if I apply one more coat.

Or am I causing more potentially issues and should I just admit failure and leave the walls as they are?

If you are satisfied that you’ve covered all traces of the paste and it isn’t showing through, and you’re confident you can achieve the finish you want then go ahead and add more coats as required.

Sounds like the timbers were painted without any preparation and there is simply no adhesion?

To guarantee a perfect result would necessitate the complete removal of the loose paint layers although this isn’t always practical. The problem remains that any coating you use is only is good as the one beneath it.

Where you have just flaking edges you can use a product called Zinsser Peel Stop which will penetrate beneath the edges and act as a kind of adhesive. This isn’t going to help where you have large patches of poorly adhering paint though.

The recommendations from your painters sound like they are grasping at straws. Bedec is a brand of paint so I’m not sure how that helps? Weathershield is formulated for outdoor use and does perform well but here we return to the original problem that you are applying it to an already potentially loose/defective surface.

My suggestion is to have a good attempt at removing as much as the existing coating as you can and re-paint in the normal manner - accepting you may still get paint flaking off afterwards. This may mean you have to repaint more often than you would prefer. Or, yo may be lucky and any paint that was loose will have come away from the surface by now.

The alternative is strip back to bare wood. For high level work where you may be paying for scaffolding and/or don’t want to be doing it too often, this is the only sensible solution.

It’s always going to be difficult to get an acceptable finish when you are trying to cover different types of paints on a wall surface. It isn’t impossible but does take a lot more work than many people imagine because it involves applying multiple coats.

Emulsion paint is deceptively thick when it is wet but actually dries as a thin film which, as you have found, doesn’t do much to hide previous brush marks or shiny surfaces. Multiple coats will do this or, in extreme circumstances, using lining paper to get a uniform finish can sometimes be easier.

You shouldn’t be using a shellac-based sealer over a large area because of the high VOC content. In such cases, (for covering water stains) an oil-based primer is a better alternative.

Again though you are going to face a similar problem when it comes to coverage and it will take several coats of emulsion to match the existing finish. Thinning with white-spirit isn’t advisable (to any great degree) because you’ll just need extra coats to get the same stain-blocking effect.

If the affected areas are minor then an aerosol-based sealer will be easier to cover.

The main tip i can offer is to use a mini-roller to apply the primer and, when it is dry, to paint over these areas only with your choice of finish, again with a roller, until you get a result you are happy with. Then, and only then, repaint the entire walls to a final finish. Ideally, 2 full coats.

Doubt it. The staining comes about when minerals on the surface become soluble and migrate through subsequent coats. Rubbing down the surface is more likely to accelerate this process rather than prevent it.

I am assuming you’re using the word ‘plinths’ to describe the lower course of stonework at ground-level?

You say this is already painted so it’s unlikely that the paint is the problem. Any attempt to ‘wateproof’ masonry walls is going to have the opposite of the desired affect because all you’re doing is trapping internal moisture that would otherwise naturally evaporate.

Is there a DPC, is the stonework and mortar in otherwise good condition and is it sealed where it abuts doorways, etc?

There is seldom a simple answer to these kinds of problems as it’s often a combination of factors.

It’s OK to paint air bricks so long as you take care not to get a build-up of paint in the holes which will restrict the air flow.

It sounds like you’ve used a water-based stain blocker and should have used an oil-based one insted.

More info here… Which Zinsser Stain Blocker?

You may need to apply a few coats to affected area in order to achieve the best finish but there is nothing to alarmed about. The less than perfect results you’ve heard about are likely where people have applied a coat of stain block and then one coat of finish, expecting this to be sufficient.

If the damps stains are minor you can use a spirit-based (aerosol) blocker which tend to be easier to cover.

I wouldn’t advise the use of an eggshell/satin finish in such cases because the problem you are experiencing is likely due to high levels of UV radiation which is exasperated when using such coatings that have low levels of light deflection.

If you are determined to use such a finish then the general advise with all paints is that you get what you pay for and using a recognised brand, formulated especially for exterior use is the safest bet. Water-based finishes also tend to perform better externally than oil-based alternatives because they maintain flexibility for longer.

So long as you apply both coats in the same day you should be OK to use the same tape. The problems arise when tape is left in place for long periods and the paint coating has had time to fully cure.

If it looks like the tape is not going to come off cleanly then it’s best to use a sharp blade to score the edges first but this is an extreme situation, you shouldn’t really have a problem if you are careful.

Yes

If you are painting the architraves and skirting then I’m not sure why you went to the trouble of using a coloured filler?

That said, it’s not that unusual to find the products you’re using are incompatible and sometimes you just have to admit defeat and use something else. It might be worth spot-priming the areas you’ve filled with a spirit- based primer before using the undercoat again.

I am not familiar with the products you mention though, search results suggest they are generally sold in Australia?

I am not aware of any training material about this since it should be common sense that there are always going to be random splashes and risk of spillage - accidents do happen.

However, if your partner is happy to continue not to use dust sheets then the best thing to do is not interfere, she is bound to have a mishap at some stage and will learn the hard way.

This video sprang to mind, btw

https://twitter.com/i/status/1643111538486829056

Yes, you can paint over K-Rend with Sandtex and any other brand of regular masonry paint.

And, no, it’s never a good idea to add PVA since the paint will have sufficient adhesive qualities already. PVA can also create a film which is detrimental to the breathability of the paint finish.

If this is a recent application you should contact K-Rend directly for advice in case this invalidates any current warranties.

It seems like you may have over-painted the sealant before it had fully cured, this can take a few days in some instances. Obviously, without seeing for myself, I’m guessing.

I would be tempted to leave it for a few days before trying to paint again since you’ll get a thick build-up of paint that may show some cracking as it dries out.

In the meantime, you may want to get in touch with C-Tec as they are more likely to be able to guide you further.

technical@ct1.com

You’ll need to wipe down with white spirit to remove as much residual surface oil as you can and leave a couple of weeks to give it chance to dry out to the extent that a paint coating has a chance of adhering.

I’d suggest an aluminium wood primer as a first coat which will aid adhesion and also block the staining. Then you have a choice of a conventional oil-based matt finish such as Coo-Var Matt Black

Or, Zinsser AllCoat Matt Black which is a water-based self-priming finish. You take a risk with this product in terms of adhesion and long-term performance though. There is also a chance that you still get some staining coming through.

Also, bear in mind, matt black paint is not, by its nature, reflective and will absorb high amounts of heat and ultra-violet radiation which will break down any paint coating over time and denature the wood material beneath. You should, therefore, ensure that the paint coating is maintained at regular intervals to counter this.