my house is a tri-level 30+ yr.s old after living here 20 yr.s the main floor open LR/DR walls have started popping off the interior paint, over the past 3 yr.s I have sanded, mud/ patched, re-primed & painted twice, have had experts, from roofing, to drywall, to even the paint man. experts look at it all to no avail. I stand still with no knowledge but hate to keep re-doing the same work. It looks like old paint popping/flaking off the exterior of a house that has been weathered for years which is not the case. please, any help would be greatly appreciated.

Paint fails on walls regardless of outside or inside because of a few things.
Vapor pressure being trapped behind the paint causing it to fail. Very common on outside of homes.
Poor prep when the paint is applied. i.e. Gloss paint under new paint and not properly prepared such as sanding, cleaning, etching to allow the new coat to properly adhere.
Finishes not compatable. Which comes down to poor prep again.

If I was to guess, without seeing the room, struture, seeing the paint chips that have flaked off and knowing where in the country you live. I would think its poor prep with a possibilty of incompatable paint. The last coat of paint put on the wall did not properly bond to the coat below. The result is a constant failure at that point. All the sanding and prep in the world on the last coat you did does nothing to help the paint you went over bond to the layer below that. If in fact that is where the failure is.


Once you put the second layer of paint on the walls incorrectly, unless you remove all of it, Where ever it remains is a poor bond that often can fail. Even if you sand and prep the walls correctly fron that point on. You still have the poor bond with the second paint coat done years before. Some of the newer paints bite much better then the older paints we used to use. The result is failure of the bond on the paint below.

thanks for your reply, I live in Rex, Ga. a bit south of Atl. I know it sounds crazy, maybe not, but how could I get it down to the bare dry wall or sheetrock to properly prime & paint it short of sandblasting it which to me would be more time consuming & messt than I think I could possibly live with as I do live in this house & have for over 20 yr.s. I just don't get why it wouold fail after all these yr.s? not doubting you a bit please understand that as your reply has made more sense than all of the specialist that I've had look at it. Only other option I guess would be to remove & replace all the sheetrock? With all the crown, window & door & floor trim yikes! BTW the paint was/is & always has been the same brand,, color & latex, no satins or gloss, not that it makes any difference at this point, just want to get it fixed & it's beyond my scope of non expertice & seems to be of those that have seen it as they all were at a loss as to what, why & how to fix it. I don't want it just covered up, I want the problem fixed that causes the interior walls to look like spider veining, at first, then progresses on to further cracking to the point that it will pop off at a touch & sometimes on it's own, then properly primed & painted. All I'vce been offered by those that have looked at it is a quick cover-up. Even though I will be selling the house I cannot in all good faith be the persoon that passes this problem along to some unsuspecting person that wants a home. I'm sorry for being so lengthy, just wanted to share further info on this & thank you for your help on this, wish you had seen it or I could send you a few pictures, although I hate to take advantage of your generous nature. ~Shirl

If the room is fairly small. You can use sizing paper on the walls and paint over it.
Its wallpaper that is paintable. It comes plan or with embossing on it for that fancy smancy look. It often is used on walls with older plaster that just has to many cracks and patches to fix. This may be a perfect place for you to use this product.
It simply goes up like wall paper. Just be real carefull with the seams so they do not show once painted. If you use the plane paper, you can always spackel between the cracks on the seams if there not perfect. Take your time and it will turn out fine.

me again, & thanks again, however, the foyer steps down into the LR which is appx. 12ft. wide by appx. 17 ft. long that adjoins the formal DR which is appx. 12 ft. wide by about 11 ft. long that abuts the eat in kitchen which means the main wall that has this problem is 24 ft. wide not counting the other adjoining walls, this 24 ft. wall is the only one with no windows on it thus it would be easier as there are no window moldings to have to contend with the LR is 9ft. tall while the foyer & DR are 8ft.. do you think that a wallpaper, even a painable one would cover all the cracking? If so that sounds like an easy fix, I sincerely appreciate all of your input, I guess everyone else was as stumped as I am. I guess I better learn how to hang wallpaper, how do you find a reputable person to do these things?

If you have excessive cracking. Regardless of what wall it is. You have to determine the condition of the wall first. If the plaster is loose and falling down you do not want to cover it. If its just cracked you want to scrape out the cracks and get a good quality spackel compound and fill them first. Do not use the pre-mixed stuff. Get the spackel mix in the bag. The number on the bag tells you how long you have to work with this stuff untill it drys to much to use. Get the 90 mix. It will give you about one hour of time to mix and put on wall. It drys fast and is much harder then the pre-mixed stuff. If the walls look fairly good after you can use the paper to hide the uneveness.
But.. there is always one. If you go to a good quality paint and wallpaper store, Not the big box ones but a local one that works with local contractors. Ask them about the fiberglass matting they sell to go over plaster walls. I am not sure about the name as I only used this stuff once many years ago, But it works great.
You apply it using an adhesive that is rolled onto the walls. then the fiberglass cloth which is kind of like a window screen but much finer is applied over the adhesive. Once applied the adhesive is applied over the mesh and allowed to dry. This stuff make the wall really strong. It prevents cracking, holds any loose plaster that you missed removing tightly to the wall and ends up looking like you never had any issues with the wall. Its a little harder to install then sizing paper, but works nice once up.
Just remember. regardless of what you use, you must first remove any loose material and fill the gaps with plaster. Otherwise you will have issues later on once your done and cleaned up.