How to repair and repaint my bedroom walls

[chrisk1]

 

 

 

 

I've decided to fix and repaint my bedroom cause of how old and destroyed the original paint was. However, ive come a cross multiple issues that im not entirely sure how to fix or what the best solution is. 

Firstly, with the top part of the walls all around the whole room the paint is cracking some areas being a lot worse than others. I've started to peel off some really bad areas but im just not sure if its worth it or if thats even the best thing to do. The two options im thinking of is to continue to peel it all off and just repaint it all, or patch what ive peeled and then just prep really good then paint over the original cracking paint.

The second issue is this really big crack in the corner of the wall. Not sure how i should fill it. I have selleys spakfilla for the walls and selleys gap filla for the skirting boards, trimming and window frames. I just feel like it will be really hard to fill the crack with the spakfilla and a putty knife?

[MitchellMc]

Welcome to the Bunnings Workshop community @chrisk1. It's terrific to have you join us, and many thanks for your question about painting a room.

Thanks for sharing the photos. From what I can see, the best approach really comes down to the condition of the paint that’s still on your walls. Any areas that are already peeling or badly cracked are unlikely to stay adhered in the future, so for a proper, long-lasting finish, it’s worth continuing to chip away all the degraded paint until you reach a solid layer that isn’t going to flake off. You don’t necessarily have to remove every last bit of paint around the whole room, but the more you can clear back to a stable surface, the less chance you’ll have problems later. Those areas with hairline spider web-type cracks will need to be removed.

Once you’ve removed the loose paint, sand the edges so everything blends smoothly, then patch and blend in those areas with a suitable wall filler. For the large corner crack, I’d use a paintable gap filler. Because the crack looks quite deep, you can push in a foam backing rod first to give the filler something solid to hold onto. Then apply the filler over the top and smooth it down with a wet finger or a flexible spatula.

For efficiency, pick up a bladed scraper. It’s much better at removing damaged paint than a standard flat scraper and will save you a lot of time and effort. After all the peeling, sanding, and patching, you’ll have a stable surface to prime and repaint, which will give you a much cleaner and longer-lasting finish.

Please let me know if you have any questions.

Mitchell
 

[chrisk1]

Thanks for the welcoming Mitchell, and thanks even more the help. 

What do you recommend i do to sort my cornices/covers, peeling them is extremely difficult aswell as the peeling paint on the ceiling just above.

I'm also not too sure on how to go about the vents?

[JacobZ]

Hi @chrisk1,

Unfortunately, with the cornice, it's going to be tedious, but scraping the paint off with a scraper is still likely the easiest way to go about it. You could hand-sand it, holding the sandpaper so it conforms to the curve, but this would likely take longer than scraping it.

With the vents, again, the paint scraper will do the majority of the work on the front face, where it can be used easily enough. You could then use some folded-up hand sandpaper or a narrow chisel to scrape between the bars.

The unfortunate reality is that removing the paint will be tedious, but to ensure the new coating sticks, it will be a necessity. 

Let me know if you have any further questions.

Jacob