Why does Paint Peel on Ceilings?

There are several reasons as to why you might have cracked paint on your ceiling. However most often you’ll find the reason is because of 1 of these 2.

1. the primer undercoat was not applied to the bare board, or

2. the first coat of paint was sprayed on.  If the paint was sprayed on perhaps the painter didn’t clean off the fine dust that was left behind when the plaster was sanded off.

The purpose of applying primer undercoat is to bind to the plaster board and raw plaster. The paint could hold for years, but with movement and temperature changes and as the paint ages, cracks appear and can peal off the plaster board and plaster joins in particular.

What does ‘Sanding off ‘mean?

When plasterboard is applied to the walls and ceiling, the joins, corners, doorways and screw holes are plastered so when it dries it can be sanded with a machine. The sanding machine is connected to a commercial vacuum cleaner. Then he sands all the corners and places that the sanding machine can’t get to by hand. The vacuum cleaner catches a large amount of the fine dust but there is always residue that remains.

When the fine dust hasn’t been cleaned off properly paint doesn’t hold and years later it can peal back in places.

These are important things to consider before you paint your ceilings. The area must be clean and dry in the firsthand to allow for the paint job to have longevity.