Painting plaster and removing calcimine
August 20, 2011 8:46 PM Subscribe
DIY advice for scraping off calcimine and repainting plaster walls?
I am moving into an apartment which has plaster walls. The paint is peeling off in patches in areas. I'm assuming the material is calcimine. I will do a lead paint test first, and if it proves safe, I want to set to scrape and patching the walls with joint compound and then painting over the peeled patches.
What supplies do I need to do this with around 4 people working together? We need to paint an 1100 square foot space with 9 foot ceilings.
The more specific product type and tool descriptions are, the better.
I am moving into an apartment which has plaster walls. The paint is peeling off in patches in areas. I'm assuming the material is calcimine. I will do a lead paint test first, and if it proves safe, I want to set to scrape and patching the walls with joint compound and then painting over the peeled patches.
What supplies do I need to do this with around 4 people working together? We need to paint an 1100 square foot space with 9 foot ceilings.
The more specific product type and tool descriptions are, the better.
I hadn't heard of calcimine before, so I did a Google search and found this site. It seems to have all the info you are looking for.
From the description of the process, it sounds like 4 people should be able to do a full removal in a day, but if you use the wet method they describe, you'd have to wait a few days for everything to completely dry before painting.
Near the end it mentions "calcimine coating paint" implying that there is a specific product for this. Google found me this PDF.
Good luck
posted by Anoplura at 11:24 PM on August 20, 2011
From the description of the process, it sounds like 4 people should be able to do a full removal in a day, but if you use the wet method they describe, you'd have to wait a few days for everything to completely dry before painting.
Near the end it mentions "calcimine coating paint" implying that there is a specific product for this. Google found me this PDF.
Good luck
posted by Anoplura at 11:24 PM on August 20, 2011
FWIW I have never heard of calcimine being used on walls. Most old school plaster walls were covered with wallpaper. Perhaps in your case the walls were painted at a later date as the wallpaper was replaced.
The first step is to determine for sure that you are dealing with a calcimine problem, and what has been coated over it. Because it is essentially chalk, calcimine can easily be detected by rubbing a damp finger or a sponge on the surface and looking for a chalky residue. Just like if you wet your finger and rubbed a dirty chalkboard, imagine the way the chalk would look and feel on your finger.
In the early part of the 20th century, oil paints became popular. The first few coats of oil paint would penetrate through the calcimine and hang on for several years, and the strong binders in oil paint also assisted in temporarily binding the calcimine to the surface. However, eventually oil will oxidize as the oils break down and dry out, and will begin to peel away. Oil paint dries to a firm, stiff finish, and will likely chip and flake away in small pieces. The chips will feel very brittle - crunching between your fingers.
posted by Gungho at 5:38 AM on August 21, 2011
The first step is to determine for sure that you are dealing with a calcimine problem, and what has been coated over it. Because it is essentially chalk, calcimine can easily be detected by rubbing a damp finger or a sponge on the surface and looking for a chalky residue. Just like if you wet your finger and rubbed a dirty chalkboard, imagine the way the chalk would look and feel on your finger.
In the early part of the 20th century, oil paints became popular. The first few coats of oil paint would penetrate through the calcimine and hang on for several years, and the strong binders in oil paint also assisted in temporarily binding the calcimine to the surface. However, eventually oil will oxidize as the oils break down and dry out, and will begin to peel away. Oil paint dries to a firm, stiff finish, and will likely chip and flake away in small pieces. The chips will feel very brittle - crunching between your fingers.
posted by Gungho at 5:38 AM on August 21, 2011
I've only heard of calcimine on ceilings, like my Mom's ceiling when I (stupidly) offered to re-paint the upstairs ceilings in her house. I repainted, which peeled right off, so I looked up what was happening.
This site is what I found, and I followed each step in it, which took FOR. FUCKING. EVER. However, after I was done (seriously, it wasn't a large amount of ceilings, but the process of paint removal took me over two weeks), the new paint adhered perfectly and we haven't had a peeling incident in the three years since.
posted by xingcat at 7:32 AM on August 21, 2011
This site is what I found, and I followed each step in it, which took FOR. FUCKING. EVER. However, after I was done (seriously, it wasn't a large amount of ceilings, but the process of paint removal took me over two weeks), the new paint adhered perfectly and we haven't had a peeling incident in the three years since.
posted by xingcat at 7:32 AM on August 21, 2011
Also -- use TSP for all the washings...nothing else really brought up all the calcimine.
posted by xingcat at 7:33 AM on August 21, 2011
posted by xingcat at 7:33 AM on August 21, 2011
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With an apartment I don't really know. I have had awesome success with B-I-N primer on pretty much everything, but I don't know about calcimine specifically.
posted by sanka at 9:22 PM on August 20, 2011