Q Recently I was asked to quote some interior repainting in a fairly new home. The new owner wants several textured ceilings painted as part of the job. Looking at them, I don't think they've ever been painted. I've heard horror stories from other painters about stipple ceilings coming off on their paint rollers, and I certainly don't want to spray unless there's just no other choice. what should I do?

A First-time painting of stippled and textured ceilings can be worrisome if you've never done it before. Some painters avoid them by telling their customer that it 'looks great' and doesn't need painting yet. But that's no way to make a buck!

The trick is to find out just what you're dealing with. How soft is the surface? Is it water soluble? A little prodding with a wet finger in a corner will tell you what you need to know.

Textured ceilings come in a variety of styles, from orange peel and spatter to Spanish and California "knockdown." It's not the pattern that matters-it's the material itself. Most of it is fairly firm, ranging from drywall filler to interior plaster, and can be painted with a roller. Use a thick one if the texture is very coarse.

If a little of the texture material comes off on your wet finger, use alkyd-flat latex won't seal it sufficiently and might dissolve the binder in the stipple so that some of it comes off on the roller.

However, in an area or in an institution which requires low-VOC paint, you may have to prime the ceiling with a VOC-compliant shellac-based stain blocker before applying a latex topcoat. This is also a good idea if the ceiling has stains which could come through a latex finish.

If the ceiling has an acoustic, fluffy popcorn type of ceiling, then you'll have to spray on the alkyd flat or the shellac-based blocker, plus a latex topcoat

Be aware that some of these soft acoustic-type ceiling finishes could contain asbestos. If you're simply painting over them without disturbing them, you're pretty safe since you'll be sealing up the danger. But don't attempt to remove any fluffy ceiling without first having a bit of it tested for asbestos.

Hard or fluffy, it's hard to repair significantly damaged textured ceilings in a way that doesn't show. Thin cracks can often be hidden by applying a light coat of additional ceiling texture with a textured roller (or sprayer) over the entire ceiling. If you try to fix anything more major than that, you and your customer will probably be disappointed with the results.

The best solution for a badly damaged ceiling texture is to remove it and replace it either with another textured finish or smoothed drywall. If they haven't been painted yet, most textured materials are fairly easy to strip off. The trick is to wet them just enough to soften them before scraping the stuff off with a plaster knife. Don't get it too wet or you'll damage the drywall underneath. A plant sprayer bottle or a weed sprayer with a tank and wand works best. Rounding the corners of the plaster knife with a file helps avoid gouging the drywall as you scrape. If the texture has already been painted, doesn't come off easily, or contains asbestos, it's time to call in the wall and ceiling contractor.

Q A couple years ago I repainted a residential facility. My crew and I did it right: thorough preparation and quality latex paint. Now some of the paint is cracking and peeling, mostly in bathroom and kitchen areas. The building manager called me to come and fix it, but I don't think the problem is our paint. It's deeper. When I pull off a paint flake, the color on the back is different than on the front. There's still paint on the wall underneath. He just wants it repaired and I want to keep him as a customer. How should I deal with this and avoid such a situation in the future?

A It sounds like there's an adhesion problem several layers down. If there's still paint on the wall when you pull off flakes of paint, then it's an intercoat adhesion problem. If the surface beneath is bare wood or some other material, then it's a substrate adhesion problem. Either way, it doesn't matter how well you prepared and applied the latest new coat.

Lack of adhesion has all sorts of causes. It could be the wrong primer or even the lack of a primer on the original substrate. It could be deterioration of the substrate itself. It could be moisture getting into the substrate either through cracks in the paint or from behind the substrate. It could be lack of preparation, such as on a glossy surface. It could be a layer of contamination such as dirt or the residue from cleaning materials. It could be incompatibility between types of paint. Sometimes the amount of colorant in a new coat can affect its bonding ability to the type of paint under it. Simply, the increased film build of many layers of paint eventually becomes enough to pull the paint off, if there's a weak bond somewhere underneath.

It's always a good idea to test the adhesion of the existing coating before starting the project, particularly if you have any reason to be suspicious of the existing paint. An adhesion test performed on a sample applied to the existing finish can tell you whether there might be a compatibility issue between the paint you're proposing to use and the previous coat and also whether there's an adhesion problem deeper down. If you notice any cracking or peeling, that may be just the tip of the iceberg. In a multi-unit facility, the problem could be widespread and just beginning to show.

Apply a small patch of the paint you intend to use in a few different spots in a typical room or hallway. Be sure to follow the preparation and application directions exactly. Let it fully cure before carrying out the adhesion test. If there's a failure, where is it occurring? Between the new paint and the surface? Or between previous coats?

If you've got an incompatibility problem, you can switch to a different paint or you can determine the right transition coat to interface between the existing paint and the coating you want to apply. If the problem lies deeper, you need to find out how extensive it is. I'd start by testing eight places in one room of one unit. Some should be high up, some down low, and some near light switches and doorknobs where skin oils and cleaning residues are likely. Remember, though, every one of those test sites will have to be repaired, so don't overdo it.

If paint adherence is fine at all the locations in the first unit, then you don't need to test more than a few more rooms in some of the other units. If some spots show serious paint delamination, then test those same kinds of places in the other rooms in that unit. Use those results to determine where to test in the other units.

If the testing indicates large areas of intercoat weakness, the old coats of paint on top have to be sanded off in all the suspect areas in each unit. It's either that or replace the walls or other substrates altogether, which is usually more expensive yet. Talk it over with your customer. It's hard to be the bearer of bad tidings, but unless the owner plans to unload the building in the near future, he probably wants to maintain the facility and will appreciate your candor-once he gets over the shock.

Meanwhile, get in the habit of adhesion testing whenever you're faced with repainting over multiple previous coats. The fate of your new finish depends on it.

Q A friend recently warned me that I should be testing for lead on every home I paint that was built before 1978. He says I could get sued for not following proper procedures if someone in the house later gets lead poisoning. On a really old house that was peeling badly, you can be sure I would, but what about those built in the '60s or '70s?

A If you don't test for lead on a house or building constructed before 1978, assume it's there and take appropriate precautions. Before 1940 virtually all paint with any white pigment had lead in it. And you can pretty well bet that most homes and other facilities built before 1960 have some heavily leaded paint on them down under the more recent coats. Any significant surface preparation on those buildings should definitely be done using lead-safe procedures and, depending on which state or city you're in and how much old paint you're removing, you might be legally required to use a specially trained and certified crew to doit.

But what if the house is only about 30 years old? What if the preparation doesn't require more than a powerwash and a bit of scraping here and there? Do you need to recapture all the wash water? Does your crew have to wear respirators?

Probably not. Where you're not disturbing the deeper layers which might have lead, you don't need to take extreme precautions. If you'll be taking off any paint that includes the first couple layers, do it in a way that doesn't create dust, fumes, or scatter paint chips. That means no power sanding, water or grit blasting, or torches or heat guns. Pay special attention to windowsills, door frames, baseboards, and trim where impacts, friction, and long-term wear and tear makes creation of lead dust or paint chips more likely.

If you test for lead and find some, then you've got take all the proper precautions-and your price for the work is going to reflect it. You may well lose the job to a cheaper, less scrupulous competitor who doesn't bother to check for lead. Those outfits will appeal to the kind of owners who don't want to know if there's lead paint on their building, since federal law then requires them to reveal that to buyers. It is also important that proper precautions are followed, including applicable federal, state, and local regulations, and that completed projects are properly inspected and authorized for occupancy.

Even if your business liability insurance covers lead poisoning-which most painting contractors' policies don't-I would say that it isn't worth the risk to take on a project which could involve lead and not protect your client, your business, your employees, and yourself. I might lose a job here or there, but I'd be able to sleep at night.

And yet on most 30- to 40-year-old properties with paint in good condition, the danger is probably minimal. If the lead is only in the bottom layers of paint and most of the surface is in good shape, common-sense surface preparation and careful cleanup will keep the customer's property safe. If you only pressure wash the intact paint on a low setting, taking care not to dislodge it, then the wash water won't carry lead into the soil. If you mist and scrape or wet sand the peeling areas, with drop sheets to catch the paint chips, it's unlikely any lead will escape into the environment or that your crew will inhale it.

Will that protect you from litigation by desperate landlords and mercenary former employees? There are no guarantees. If you want certainty, don't paint anything built before 1978 without testing for lead and then following all the rules.

If you have not already taken a training program and become acquainted with the right ways to deal with lead-based paint, a good first step is to read a booklet called Lead Paint Safety: A Field Guide for Painting, Home Maintenance and Renovation. It's an 80-page booklet jointly issued by the EPA, HUD, and the Centers for Disease Control. You can look at it on the Internet at www.epa.gov/lead/leadsafetybk.pdf.

The National Paint and Coatings Association sponsors a free Lead Safe Work Practice Training Program which meets the HUD-EPA curriculum and has been set up in cooperation with the attorneys-general in most states. There are classes scheduled all over the country. Go to http://leadsafetraining.org to see where and when classes are being held and to sign up.

The EPA itself offers a number of training courses dealing with lead paint safety. You can access them at www.epa.gov/lead/traincert.htm. The Web page also has an interactive map you can click to see what the regulations are in each state. In most states it's only lead paint abatement-the wholesale removal or encapsulation of the lead paint layers-that requires certified workers and sometimes an authorized contractor.

Look at it this way: an opportunity to repaint a home or facility built before 1978 is an opportunity to educate the owner about the risks of lead paint. Federal law requires contractors disturbing more than two square feet of painted surfaces to give homeowners the above pamphlet before starting any renovation work. To get these and other EPA pamphlets, call the EPA's Indoor Air Quality Information Clearinghouse at 800-438-4318       

Here's your chance to be one of the good guys. Encourage the owner to test the building. Then you'll both know what you're up against.

by Manuel Fernandes

PDCA Technical Services Division  2005

PDCA stipulates that this PDCA Tech Services article from 2005 provides just general advice, and PDCA is not to be held legally responsible for actions in the field based on reading this article.