As a final test, close your eyes and rub your hand over the entire wall surface. The more time spent filling holes, patching, smoothing, and sanding, the better the end result. After the walls are thoroughly dry, sand smooth. Then apply joint compound to all seams, nail holes, bumps, or other damaged spots. If the paper is impossible to remove, you’ll have to intensively prepare the wall before painting. If you encounter wallpaper that’s been painted over, first try the wallpaper stripping techniques recommended at right. Options include priming the surface with an alkyd- or oil-based primer that can be followed by latex paint applying a “calcimine recoater” such as Benjamin Moore’s Super Spec or using other problem-surface coatings, including Scotch Paints’ Draw-Tite and Zinsser’s Gardz. While any number of products can give results that last several years, none will solve the problem forever. (Some experts recommend mixing in a little vinegar, then cleaning with fresh water, then repeating the process three times.)Īllow the cleaned walls or ceiling to thoroughly dry before applying a sealer coat. Follow by washing the surface with a well-dampened sponge. The first step in this process is to scrape away all areas of peeling or popping paint. The second method is to encapsulate the calcimine by sealing it. The solution delaminated every coat of paint on the wall, which then had to be scraped away.) (One pro went so far as to brush 13 coats of wallpaper stripper on an old calcimine ceiling. The first is to remove the calcimine completely-a project that’s as messy and time consuming as it sounds, involving multiple washings with and without solvents, scraping as you go.
There are two methods of dealing with old calcimine, and neither is easy. If you do have calcimine paint, simply repainting the surface will not solve the problem, especially if there are layers of both oil- and water-based paints over it. If your hand comes away with a chalky residue, it’s likely this venerable old paint was used sometime in your home’s history. Calcimine can be detected by rubbing a damp finger on an area where paint has chipped off. Eventually, the top paint will pull away and begin to flake. Because it lacks active binders, calcimine can prevent modern oil and latex paints from adhering properly. It was meant to be washed off before fairly frequent reapplication. These are Dresser designs from the ‘Centennial’ collection, Bradbury & Bradbury.Ĭalcimine paint is not very durable. Proper preparation of plaster surfaces is critical when the new papers are this eye-catching. Popular throughout the 19th century and into the first third of the 20th, calcimine paint had a dead flat, soft pastel look that permitted builders to “finish” plaster walls quickly. Calcimine (also known as kalsomine or distemper) is essentially ground chalk blended with water with glue as a binder. What lies beneath the older the walls and ceiling, the more chance that you’ll find old calcimine paint embedded under successive layers of paint or wallpaper one clue is that the surface layer will be peeling or flaking.