Wellness
A cheat sheet on fixing 4 common wall paint problems
As long as you’re indoors, you’re likely surrounded by walls and ceilings. Beyond being functional pieces of concrete that were erected to section, segregate and shelter, walls can be ornamental too. They add surface area to your home — surface area with serious zhuzh potential. With age, wear-and-tear and excessive UV degradation, they can get tired and need a pick-me-up. Read on to learn how to pick up on these distress signals, and how you can fix them in a jiffy or two.
1. Peeling
Peeling paint is the equivalent of dead skin cells falling off your body. Your skin has run its course, and it’s ready for a new, fresh layer to replace it. But because walls are non-living organisms without the ability for cell regeneration, it needs a little help. Paint starts to peel when it separates itself from the underlying surface. The underlying surface could be another layer of paint, or the wall’s bare bones — like brick, concrete, plaster.
It can be caused by:
- Moisture or water infiltration, leading to poor paint adhesion.
- Inadequate surface preparation, such as failing to remove dirt, grease, or old paint.
- Use of low-quality or incompatible paint products.
How to fix peeling paint
- Carefully remove the peeling paint, ensuring a clean surface. Peeling flakes may disintegrate in your hands — ensure you have sufficient cleaning materials available at your disposal.
- Rectify any potential underlying moisture issues — this could be plumbing issues such as leaking — and allow the surface to dry completely.
- Apply Gush EcoSeal. Gush EcoSeal is a water-based sealer that achieves the following:
- Blocks out impurities from inside your wall from ruining your wall coat; including fungus, moisture and alkali.
- Allows your wall coat of paint to adhere better — Gush EcoSeal is a powerful bond that sticks hard. This gives surfaces greater durability.
- It creates a brand new, blank slate for your walls — with its white finish. Surface imperfections and pores are covered up, giving you a smooth and clean surface to paint on.
- Paint coats have a longer lasting vibrance.
2. Cracks
Similar to when your phone screen visibly shows hairline cracks or a cluster of cracks — cracked paint can be quite unsightly. You can’t drop your walls like you can with your phone, so what gives?
It can be caused by:
- Temperature fluctuations, causing the paint to expand and contract. If you’re blasting your AC at 16°C in one moment, then open up your windows to the raging 42°C Sun the next second — your walls could be screeching in distress.
- Insufficient flexibility of the paint film. Perhaps you simply used a low quality paint incapable of going through the motions of contraction and expansion.
- Improper surface preparation or inadequate priming. Or maybe you skipped out on the primer and went straight to painting on the wall’s bare bones.
How to fix cracked paint
- Remove loose or cracked paint and smooth the surface.
- Fill the cracks with a high-quality spackling compound or patching material.
- Sand the patched area for a smooth finish.
- Apply Gush EcoSeal and repaint using Gush Care or Gush CleanCare.
3. Blistering
Yikes. As the name suggests, blistering involves bubbles of air or water that have appeared on the surface of your walls. This happens when your paint cannot adhere to your walls properly. Blistering is caused by:
- Moisture or water vapour trapped under the paint film.
- High humidity levels during the painting process.
- Painting over a damp or wet surface.
- Painting over a contaminated / dirty surface.
How to fix blistering paint
- Scrape off the blistered paint and address any moisture sources. You could pop it like a pimple, which gives you some leverage to peel or scrape it off.
- Allow the surface to dry thoroughly.
- Apply Gush EcoSeal to the affected area and repaint accordingly. Do note that depending on the paint colour, you may or may not have to repaint the entire wall. For darker colours in particular, oxidation occurs — which means touch-up colours will probably not be a complete match anymore.
4. Fading
Fading happens even to the best of us. That favourite purple T-shirt you’ve been wearing as a uniform for the past 3 years? It’s pretty much white now. The same thing happens to your walls, for the same reasons:
- Prolonged exposure to sunlight and ultraviolet (UV) rays.
- Use of low-quality or non-UV-resistant paint.
- Harsh weather conditions, such as excessive heat, rain, or snow.
How to fix fading paint
- Fading paint simply means one thing — it’s time for a refresh. Go through the process of painting your walls all over again, and have fun this time. Here’s a fun suggestion: instead of monochromatic walls, why not try your hand at painting a mountain mural? We’ve some tips on how to do that.
- Remember to use a Gush EcoSeal first. It acts as a protective barrier, like how base coat is used on your nails before applying coloured polish.
- As a preventative measure, you could opt for UV protective window films to keep as much of harmful UV rays away as possible. It also keeps your home cooler, saving you on electricity bills. Gush ClearCool is a great option — it comes in 3 different transparency tints. Depending on your preference, you could choose for more light to stream in, or less. Either way, up to 99% of UV rays are blocked, with 14.45% of energy savings.
Mind your walls.
Our walls are the silent and strong pillars in our lives — it’s important to give them the respect that they deserve. First by knowing and identifying the issues they’re facing, how to rectify them, and most importantly, learning how to prevent them in the first place. Mistakes happen, and thankfully, our walls are more than forgiving. With Gush paints, your walls are given super powers. Powers of air-purification, alongside a bunch of other protective features like anti-moulding, anti-bacterial, toxic-free, odourless, humidity-control and stain resistance. Plus, they come in a bunch of gorgeous colours too.
