I just bought a rehab that has heavy nicotene stains throughout. Does anyone have any tips on cleaning and painting in this scenario?
Thanks in advance for your help.
Clean walls with tsp before repainting. If stains bleed through, you'll need to use a stain-blocking primer like Kilz. Stains would have to be pretty bad for that though.
the first house i ever did had the worst nicotine stains i have ever seen. the windows looked liked they were painted with a very very thick layer of maple syrup (no exaggeration) anyway being young and inexperienced i tried to paint over the stains. when i came back in the morning all the paint was lying on the floor. every last bit of it had slid off the wall and ceiling over night. whatever brand we used to cover the walls they stopped making but just go to home depot and tell them your problem. youll probably need tsp.
gobiran: my jaw just dropped! I thought I had seen some bad nicotene stains, but I have never heard of the paint sliding off the wall! Holy cow!
I use Kilz stainblocker/primer. One coat usually does it.
On windows, I've had to use a razor blade to scratch the stuff off. On other surfaces: any Comet-like product (powdered bleach cleanser) and some brillo pads.
So I live in this loft apartment with stamped tin ceilings from the 1920's. Before I built this place the space was occupied by this printer that had four or five little old ladies who chain smoked Luckies. The ceiling was brown from the tar. But tin ceilings are a pain in the ass to paint, all those little crevices.
So we fired up the compressor and sprayed it. White laytex. Looked great. Came back in the next day and it looked exactly the same shade of brown as when we started as the tar had soaked through the paint overnight. Got out the Kilz, sprayed it again. Looked great. Came back the next day and the ceiling was yellow. Took three coats of Kilz to seal in the tar. Never saw anything like it.
So on the second coat of Kilz I turn around and my helper is smoking a cigarette. Now Kilz is alcohol based paint and is very flamable. And we are spraying it on the ceiling so we have this fine mist of it which is perfect for explosions. I don't think I have ever yelled at anybody quite so fiercely as I told that guy to put the cigarette out.
So a word of Caution. Kilz is highly flamable. Be careful with it.
Clean walls with tsp before repainting. If stains bleed through, you'll need to use a stain-blocking primer like Kilz. Stains would have to be pretty bad for that though.
the first house i ever did had the worst nicotine stains i have ever seen. the windows looked liked they were painted with a very very thick layer of maple syrup (no exaggeration) anyway being young and inexperienced i tried to paint over the stains. when i came back in the morning all the paint was lying on the floor. every last bit of it had slid off the wall and ceiling over night. whatever brand we used to cover the walls they stopped making but just go to home depot and tell them your problem. youll probably need tsp.
gobiran: my jaw just dropped! I thought I had seen some bad nicotene stains, but I have never heard of the paint sliding off the wall! Holy cow!
I use Kilz stainblocker/primer. One coat usually does it.
On windows, I've had to use a razor blade to scratch the stuff off. On other surfaces: any Comet-like product (powdered bleach cleanser) and some brillo pads.
LOL! that is crazy!
My vote is for TSP and a Kilz type primer. I wouldn't even bother with testing, just do it.
So I live in this loft apartment with stamped tin ceilings from the 1920's. Before I built this place the space was occupied by this printer that had four or five little old ladies who chain smoked Luckies. The ceiling was brown from the tar. But tin ceilings are a pain in the ass to paint, all those little crevices.
So we fired up the compressor and sprayed it. White laytex. Looked great. Came back in the next day and it looked exactly the same shade of brown as when we started as the tar had soaked through the paint overnight. Got out the Kilz, sprayed it again. Looked great. Came back the next day and the ceiling was yellow. Took three coats of Kilz to seal in the tar. Never saw anything like it.
So on the second coat of Kilz I turn around and my helper is smoking a cigarette. Now Kilz is alcohol based paint and is very flamable. And we are spraying it on the ceiling so we have this fine mist of it which is perfect for explosions. I don't think I have ever yelled at anybody quite so fiercely as I told that guy to put the cigarette out.
So a word of Caution. Kilz is highly flamable. Be careful with it.
This is a great site for unique ideals for home repair that I have used for some time http://doityourself.com/clean/nicotinestainswall.htm
[addsig]