One of the pet peeves among homeowners who are house painting in Pleasant Hill is seeing blistering paint especially on the exterior walls. Nothing is as discouraging as finishing house painting only to discover blistering, sometimes called “bubbles”, in the new paint finish. The key to avoid these blisters from happening is to know what causes them. Proper preparation is, of course, also important to avoid these bubbles.
What is a blister? This is something that causes the top layer of the paint to lose its adhesion and then separate from the older layer. Usually, a blister occurs when the paint has completely dried, and so far there are no good ways of predicting if or when will blisters appear. However, there are ways to help make them less likely to occur.
Moisture is the number one culprit that causes blisters. Sometimes moisture is already present (for instance, when paint has not been properly dried, or when it has rained, or when the moisture occurs underneath the paint). It is really important that all of the surfaces are completely dried before you apply a second coat of paint.
Areas such as the basement or the bathroom tend to be humid. When painting in such places, it is important to take particular care and get rid of as much moisture as you can from the area while you are painting.
Mixing paint types may also cause blisters, especially if you apply them on the exterior surface. If the current paint on your walls is oil-based, you should re-paint them with an oil-based paint too, never latex. The same applies for applying new paint over a current latex-based coating. Heat causes expansion, and both oil and latex react differently to it, which causes blisters and peeling paint.
Quickly applying paint may also be the cause of blisters. The top layer may be completely dried before the lower layers. This results in paint solvents that transform into vapors underneath the top layer, which ultimately causes blisters.
Dirt is also a reason for blisters. When you apply paint over a dirty surface, the paint will change its form as it dries, the dirt will pull the layer off the surface below. So it’s important to have your surfaces properly cleaned and prepped before applying paint. It is also recommended that you have your walls primed for even better paint adhesion.
Another way to keep blisters from happening is to scrape them off. Next, sand the surface. Make sure that you have surfaces that are completely dry before you apply new paint. If the problem of blisters still happens, check behind the walls; check the room or the basement, to make sure there is not any moisture in those areas that causes blistering.
There are no proven ways yet to prevent all blisters from happening. But knowing what causes blisters will surely help you in preventing them. It also takes a little more patience in scraping those blistering paints, and then repairing and repainting your walls while doing house painting in Pleasant Hill.