5 years ago I brought my house. After about 2 years, I notice on a wall in my kitchen there were straight sticky lines dripping down the whole wall. I thought I had a leak from somewhere. Heating, cooling and plumbing persons said they didn't know where it came from. It wasn't a problem they could identify. The problem got worse. It went from being in my kitchen to the entire house. Sometimes the dripping start at the top of wall or the middle . It is very inconsistent. Also sometimes the lines are sticky and in some areas, they are dark and the other day I saw a new area that looked like a orange liquid dripping down the walls. I had a building inspector to come out and even he did not know what this was. A mold expert, painting contractor, sheetrock contractor all said they had never seem anything like this. My house is looking horrible. Noone can tell me what is coming out of my walls. Does anyone know what this might be?
The first question to ask is how old is the house? If the house was painted with old oil base paint it may be oil migration , in the old days oil base gloss and semi gloss paints had linseed oil this oil could separate from the paint and bleed through the layers of newer paints. If that is the case you will need to wash surface with a paint thinner to remove oil( please be careful with these rags they can spontaneously combust) then prime with a good oil base primer then finish with a Acrylic paint.
Does anyone living in the house smoke? The reason I am asking is that when I moved into my home the previous owner had smoked. The walls were a glossy paint which gathered moisture. The tobacco smoke in the air had sucked into the moisture causing a yellow sometimes brown dripping down the walls. Since we do not smoke all we had to do was wash the walls repaint with flat or semigloss paint and the problem went away. Kinda makes you wonder what the walls of the previous owner's lungs must look like.
Anyway, it would be interesting if this was your problem. If so, please, stop smoking!
I was going to say the same thing. We moved into our current home after heavy smokers. We had stains dripping in the showers first, then the other area's of the house. It was super sticky and smelled bad. A painter friend said it was tobacco stains from heavy indoor smoking. We had to wash the walls and repaint. Painting over it alone will not solve the problem, tried that in the bathroom (mistake!). Good luck!
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Originally posted by Handy Girl: Does anyone living in the house smoke? The reason I am asking is that when I moved into my home the previous owner had smoked. The walls were a glossy paint which gathered moisture. The tobacco smoke in the air had sucked into the moisture causing a yellow sometimes brown dripping down the walls. Since we do not smoke all we had to do was wash the walls repaint with flat or semigloss paint and the problem went away. Kinda makes you wonder what the walls of the previous owner's lungs must look like.
Anyway, it would be interesting if this was your problem. If so, please, stop smoking!
Posts: 1 | Location: Oklahoma | Registered: 18 October 2005
If anyone that lived in the house, present or past, uses a nebulizer for breathing treatments for asthma or lung disease, the medication that is used in the nebulizer will cause a sticky substance on the walls.
In response to your question reqarding the sticky residue on your walls. If anyone in the home uses a nebulizer for breathing difficulty such as asthma or COPD (Chronic Obstructive Lung Disease), the medication that goes inside the nebulizer will cause this substance on the walls
Multi-faceted problem. Though stains likely are smoke related, it goes beyond that. Not only cigarette nicotene, but kerosene heaters, natural gas logs, etc. likewise will cause the stickyness and colorations requiring washing with good degreaser before painting. The streaking and running is NOT from the smoke residues, they only make the problem visually aware. The real problem is condensation related to insulation and vapor barriers. Likely your home is too tight in that interior moisture is not escaping. Properly using vent fans in baths, over range, and vented dryer with all those vents taking moisture via ducts to the exterior. Also, dehumidifiers are inexpensive and may be required depending on climate. Also look for moisture under the house. Consider adding if necessary, insulation between floor joists, plastic or tarpaper felt over ground in crawl space as a moisture barrier, rain gutters on roof, and positive drainage away from foundation. Your problem seems simply too much moisture accumulation inside with smoke residues bringing your attention to the real problem.
I recently heard that cold studs in the walls (especially metal studs) will cause debris in the air to stick to that cold area and cause "lines" or "ghosting". I don't know if it would drip though.
Posts: 70 | Location: Kansas City | Registered: 16 August 2005
It could be that there is a bee hive in between the inside and outside walls and they are making honey. That happened to a friend of mine and they had to tear into the wall from the outside and kill the bees and get rid of all the honey, it was one heck of a mess, but it started with an orange sticky substance dripping down there walls. I hope thats not what it is , good luck.
Sorry to bring up an old thread, but I am currently having the same issue.
I bought my 1946 house 1 year ago. My bathroom walls are "weeping" and a brownish substance is dripping down off the wall. Its impossible to clean off.
I had this promlem once before in an old aprtment building - also in the bathroom (and only in the bathroom). This leads me to believe it is some sort of moisture issue - not smoking, ghosts, or nebulizers.
the oil in the old paints sounds like the most probable culprit. How can I easily clean, and then repaint so I don't have this problem again?
Posts: 1 | Location: Orange, CA | Registered: 08 June 2006
I just bought my house a year ago. And I too am noticing orange sticky lines coming down some of my walls. The house is only 6 years old so I don't think it is a paint issue; Does anyone have any suggestions?
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Originally posted by Tee: 5 years ago I brought my house. After about 2 years, I notice on a wall in my kitchen there were straight sticky lines dripping down the whole wall. I thought I had a leak from somewhere. Heating, cooling and plumbing persons said they didn't know where it came from. It wasn't a problem they could identify. The problem got worse. It went from being in my kitchen to the entire house. Sometimes the dripping start at the top of wall or the middle . It is very inconsistent. Also sometimes the lines are sticky and in some areas, they are dark and the other day I saw a new area that looked like a orange liquid dripping down the walls. I had a building inspector to come out and even he did not know what this was. A mold expert, painting contractor, sheetrock contractor all said they had never seem anything like this. My house is looking horrible. Noone can tell me what is coming out of my walls. Does anyone know what this might be?
We've got the same brown stuff dripping from the walls. the house is over 50 years old and no one has smoked here during our 8 years here. We tried painting with Kilz but the stuff has returned. The kilz should keep anything from coming through from the inside of the walls, which makes me think it is just condensation colored by the dirt in the air. I just don't know what else it could be. However, if it could be harmful mold, I would like to know.
Needl Sr. (In my opinion), has the most likely answers. I do alot of fire, water & smoke damage restoration & I see this alot in old houses with new siding on them. Once people add new building materials to an old "breathable" house & make it air & water tight, you have problems like streaking, ghosting & the like. It may be a bathroom that is not vented or the vent is not running when they do shower. It may be the dryer. Unvented wall heaters are a major culprit. They burn the oxygen from inside the house which causes the air to hold more moisture, causing condensation. This will mostly accumulate on the exterior walls and pull the impurities out of the plaster and cause the streaking you see. Candles are the biggest ghosting problem I see in college dorms. Cooking could also do it. Range hoods should vent outside.
Fix the problem first, Then use BIN to prime over the streaking walls. Forget Kills, I have had too many call backs on that product. You can paint an ice cube with BIN. It is amazing stuff, just don't spill it on anything. The only thing that takes it off is denatured alcohol. Then paint the walls with good paint, stay away from the cheap stuff. Ask a painter, not someone at the store that sells the paint. Fancy names with big prices doesn't mean it is good paint.
Tee, i'm sure buy now your wall problem is finished. but i must repeat the last entry of Chaser. ONLY USE 'BIN' SHELAC BASE SEALER. it will seal all things nasty IN the wall. the extra work is really the easiest way. i've used it to do every discusting bathroom in all the apartments i've rented. never had the mold pop out again. remember NO LATEX SEALERS. check your sealer real close before you paint to make sure you don't have any islands or rings around tiny mildew pores in the surface, you may want to do a second coat.
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