Kilz Primer

[hostage]

I have been doing a renovation of my bathroom on the last leg I picked up Kilz primer and got my contractor to do the priming as I had to go to work. Anyway the primer started peeling away and it is taking hours to remove the primer off. I spoke to my neighbor who paints for a living and says he has never seen that happen before and I also brought some strips of pilled primer to Home Depot and they offered me a refund, some sand paper, and some drywall compound. Home Depot also claims that they have never seen that happen before. We wiped/cleaned the walls before priming. I called kilz and they started to list all the reasons why it was peeling, none of which could be from a defective primer. Kilz says they are going to send an inspector, though if they think it is from not defective paint, they said I would have to pay them.

This has really got my goat. To me it is like having a shop sell you defective oil and when it screws up your engine, all they want to do is offer you some some more oil. I just want this stuff off my walls so I can buy a primer that doesn't suck and finish my bathroom and closet. It is taking me hours to get this stuff off the walls, this is the first and last time I use Kilz.

If anyone has any suggestions of easier ways of removing the peeling primer, please let me know. Some parts come off in couple feet sections, others are I am barely getting some off the walls.

-Hostage

 

[TilliamWe]

Re: Kilz Primer

Well, I know this is going to make you mad, but since it's not ALL peeling, it sounds like the surface has an issue. If the primer was bad, and you mixed it properly, it should behave the same everywhere. Unless it's on a different surface (i.e. drywall in one spot, wood in another).

My wife has used Kilz for years, everytime, with great results. Sorry for yours.

 

[foodfisher]

Re: Kilz Primer

Two Kilzes. One latex and one oil/alcohol based. Latex won't stick to oil based paints or soap scum. Always scuff glossy surfaces. I use a wallpaper scraper, carefull not to do any gouges.

 

[TilliamWe]

Re: Kilz Primer

Two Kilzes. One latex and one oil/alcohol based...

I remember when one was OIL based. It was stinky, but my wife covered up black striped paint on a bedroom wall with it once. Man, what a product!

 

[fishrdan]

Re: Kilz Primer

We wiped/cleaned the walls before priming.

Wiped/cleaned the walls with??? It sounds like a contamination problem to me, something on the walls that the primer wouldn't adhere to.

I've used oil based Kilz many times, never a problem.

 

[hostage]

Re: Kilz Primer

The parts that are peeling really bad are drywall and drywall compound. It is sticking a little better to the previously painted areas, though i can still scratch it off with my finger nail and not effect the paint under the primer.

 

[RiverRock]

Re: Kilz Primer

The kilz is to thick and not penatrating/soaking in the the new drywall and compound area's. The kilz is just laying on the surface of the drywall/compound, as well as the compound "dust" and not soaking into the new surface. If and when you get the kilz off the affected area's use a PVA primer or even a "flat finish" latex paint to seal and penatrate the new wall area's, then use the kilz primer over the PVA or flat latex paint. Basically you need a "wetter" product such as PVA primer or flat wall paint to penatrate the new wall area's first.

 

[hostage]

Re: Kilz Primer

So this is Home Depot's fault, as they recommended this product for new drywall?

 

[RiverRock]

Re: Kilz Primer

It's not their fault nor is it Kilz fault, as the can of Kilz does say "seals new drywall" It's just after 16 years of being in the residential and commercial painting industry I learned long ago Kilz applied directly to new drywall is a bad deal, Kilz is just too thick/dry of a product to stick and penatrate new drywall and sheetrock mud/compound. So, it's nobody's fault, however the contractor you hired should have known putting Kilz staight out of the can on new drywall is not the best thing to do as you seen the results of doing so... However, the Kilz should have been thinned down with approx 2 cups of water to a gallon of Kilz(latex). That would of allowed it to stick and penatrate the new drywall, or just used PVA primer/flat finish paint first. Just because a product says it does this or that, doesn't always mean it will... It's just one of the many, many tricks of the trade I've learned over the years through experience.
As far as removing all of the peeling primer from the wall, there is no easy way I know of... If the primer is stuck well in places, just leave it on the wall and don't bother to remove it. Get off all the loose stuff and then it can be fully re-primed correctly. Depending on the type of wall your going to have "smooth finish" the wall will probably need to be skimmed with more mud/compound to acheive a nice surface, then re-primed again. This would be the best and easiest way to deal with your situation. If the wall is to be a "textured" surface, still do as mentioned above, except there will be no need to skim with mud/compound as the texture will hide any lips from the old primer and new primer overlaping.
Also if your going to have a textured wall, use the same primer tactic PVA,flat paint or thinned down kilz to prime/seal the new texture. The texture that would be sprayed on the wall is basically sheetrock mud/compound and will need to be treated the same as the new wall.
Best of luck with the remodel.

 

[glenn property of pam]

Re: Kilz Primer

wow thats not fun as no one is going to take the responsability so you can either pay to repair it or scrap it off yourself either will leave a wall that will need repairing. this is when designer wall patterns/textures realy come in handy its like a fix/hide all. ive done some of my house in a design called broken leather using thined out mud a troll and a carrier bag it gives a random pattern on the wall in a swirly design and once painted in a solid color then high lighted with a wash it looks designer. every one asks about the walls, who did the work and how much did it cost.......little do they know its just a real cheap way to fix a wall when you are not skilled enoght to smooth skim coat sheet rock.

 

[hostage]

Re: Kilz Primer

I got a call from Behr yesterday, they left a message to contact them and send photos. The guy who left the message seemed a lot more helpful than the guy who helped me before. I am thinking of using some really addhesive tape to help remove it. Using some masking tape can pull some chunks of paint off.

-Hostage

 

[TilliamWe]

Re: Kilz Primer

Great info River Rock!