Said It Here

New paint peeling off trim

Applying water-based latex paint directly over older oil-based coats without proper sanding or priming causes the new layer to lose adhesion and flake off. This prevents the finish from bonding securely, leaving homeowners with surfaces that peel away even on built-in furniture and trim.

What people tried

Every workaround mentioned in the threads below. We haven’t tested any of them — and nobody here is claiming they worked.

  1. 1
    Scrape loose paint, scuff with sandpaper, apply a bonding primer for slick surfaces, and repaint.
  2. 2
    Repriming and repainting the wall
  3. 3
    Painting over the damaged spot with Kilz paint matched to the wall color

In their words

Unedited, most upvoted first, each linked to the thread it came from.

Half my house is peeling like this since they went over the old oil-based paint with latex.source ↗

garster25 · r/HomeMaintenance · 2 upvotes

The new paint is already peeling off of the trim of my built in wardrobe.source ↗

tofuscramble420 · r/HomeMaintenance · 1 upvotes

Sprayed bleach on ceiling, came back to streaks in wall paint.source ↗

How the hell do I fix this, it’s never happened before.source ↗

xanthesdad · r/CleaningTips

Where this came up

People with this problem also raised