# drywall repair bleeding through paint - why?



## Zeebo (Jul 4, 2005)

I am finding that my minor drywall repairs (i.e. small quarter size holes, cracks, minor surface defacements) are bleeding through the paint. What I mean by "bleed through" is the outline of the dry spackle or drywall mud (after it is sanded down) or it's shadow is apparent after paint is applied and drys. You can only see the outline when it is in the light. My process would involve filling the hole, sanding, priming and painting with flat or eggshell (latex). I usually use 100% acrylic latex primer followed with good quality pain.

What am I doing wrong??? is this called flashing??? What would you suggest.

Thanks.

Zeebo


----------



## painterofeveryt (Apr 8, 2005)

are you thinning down your mud at all ? it does shrink more when you thin it,hope this helps


----------



## Zeebo (Jul 4, 2005)

painterofeveryt said:


> are you thinning down your mud at all ? it does shrink more when you thin it,hope this helps


Hi...thanks for the response. No I'm not thinning down the mud. The fill that I use is usally in the can, pre made, such as DAP. You just open the container, take it out with a knife and spread on the wall to fill the hole, crack, etc. After it drys, I sand and prime. When I apply the paint...and when the paint drys...I see the outline / shadow of the plaster repair in the paint....but only when light is put on it. Is this common or is there something I can do to prevent this??


----------



## woodmagman (Feb 17, 2007)

An existing wall has a texture to it from various coats of paint. If your patch has no texture then it will be seen as a patch. Piming and painting is the problem and the solution.


----------



## Workaholic (Feb 3, 2007)

I think light joint compund works better than spackle. Are you just trying to paint the spot? if so you might not be comming out far enough and you may be seeing where you sanded farther out on the wall. 
If this not the case then you may want to prime, then put two coats of finish on your touch up area, especialy with eggshell or semi-gloss.
I would also suggest using a paddle mixer on a drill to mix your paint prior to touch up. 
If all else fails you may have to repaint the whole wall, and that would be a real pain for a thumb sized spot.


----------



## Zeebo (Jul 4, 2005)

Workaholic said:


> I think light joint compund works better than spackle. Are you just trying to paint the spot? if so you might not be comming out far enough and you may be seeing where you sanded farther out on the wall.
> If this not the case then you may want to prime, then put two coats of finish on your touch up area, especialy with eggshell or semi-gloss.
> I would also suggest using a paddle mixer on a drill to mix your paint prior to touch up.
> If all else fails you may have to repaint the whole wall, and that would be a real pain for a thumb sized spot.



Thanks for the suggestion. I should have been more specific. I am actually painting the entire wall. My problem shows up when I am painting an entire room. I will fill holes and cracks, followed with sanding and spot priming and 2 coats of paint. 

Thanks again,

Zeebo


----------



## painterofeveryt (Apr 8, 2005)

try durabond 5 or 20 and see if that helps the problem,still sounds like the thickest part of the mud is shrinking down a bit...


----------



## Chris G (May 17, 2006)

Before you fill a hole, you might want to use the butt end of your knife, or screwdriver, and bang it into the hole to make a crater. This will soften the appearance of the edge of the hole, as well as ensure there are no high spots. 

You might need two coats of mud. Or finer sandpaper. You should feel no edge whatsoever with your hand. And use a good primer. And while you are it, dont spot prime with a brush, use a mini roller to get some stipple on there.


----------



## neolitic (Apr 20, 2006)

Chris G said:


> .... And use a good primer. And while you are it, dont spot prime with a brush, use a mini roller to get some stipple on there.


Right on.
I like a 3/8 nap and a 3--4" roller. And either a PVA or Cover Stain on any raw spot repair.


----------



## BMAN (Aug 21, 2006)

Most primers are a little thins o there will be a texture flash. Try primeing with the actual paint after the primer coat. use a roller to apply this finish coat prime.


----------



## PlainPainter (Dec 29, 2004)

Ive noticed that mud repairs with 1 coat of primer and two coats of paint will have next to no stipple - while the rest of the wall which already has had like 4-8 coats of paint has stipple built up over time. So you see a difference where the paint is very flat over the patch and then immediately very stipply everywhere else. You just have to build up more paint over this area - I just accept it for what it is.


----------



## Faron79 (Nov 29, 2007)

*Used Spraytex???*

Maybe a stupid question...
Have you guys used the Spraytex from Homax?? For the "orange-peel" wall texture, it's a Godsend!! 
The newer version of this has the little "droplet-control" tab on the spray-tip.
I'm no PRO by any means, but the Wife made me fix a corner-bead crack about 3ft. long on a higher wall (we were repainting anyway...). So, after sealing-off/filling/sanding this portion, I got the Spray-tex out and did a couple quick vertical-corkscrew-patterned passes.
Let it dry, and primed with my C2-One Primer :thumbup: , and 2 full coats of paint...and voila! I cannot tell there was a repair there!!!
For small areas, I just cut a hole in some cardboard slightly bigger than the repair, and make a 2 quick passes over the "hole"...one vertically, one horizontal. 

Works for me anyway!

Faron


----------



## kdrose27 (Dec 7, 2007)

*Response*



Zeebo said:


> Hi...thanks for the response. No I'm not thinning down the mud. The fill that I use is usally in the can, pre made, such as DAP. You just open the container, take it out with a knife and spread on the wall to fill the hole, crack, etc. After it drys, I sand and prime. When I apply the paint...and when the paint drys...I see the outline / shadow of the plaster repair in the paint....but only when light is put on it. Is this common or is there something I can do to prevent this??


Are you using a water based filler? Try switching to a water based mud, what else may be happening is you are spreading the paint to thin on the wall. Dont be afraid to use the paint put a nice pro. coat not too much that it runs but enough to cover it evenly.


----------



## Frankawitz (Jun 17, 2006)

Zeebo, what you have is new wall surface where you have repaired, to get the stipple that PlainPainter is talking about you can take a brush and dab the paint on over your repairs, hope there isn't a lot of them, or you could try this get a 5 of Block Filler and use a 1" or longer nap lambs wool roller skin, roll it over your repair this stuff sets up in about 15 to 20 minutes then you can paint your two coats of paint, as for primer it's a sealer it's not going to give you a lot of stipple, it soaks and being that it's thin like water, the Block Filler is like marshmellow fluff, so when it drys you have instance stipple.


----------



## Any Season (Nov 19, 2007)

BMAN said:


> Most primers are a little thins o there will be a texture flash. Try primeing with the actual paint after the primer coat. use a roller to apply this finish coat prime.


I agree, we usually fill and sand, then spot prime it when we are cutting the room in. Then before we roll the room, just run around and roll all the small patch spots, then just roll the walls as usual. No spots.


----------



## BMAN (Aug 21, 2006)

Sometimes a whizz roller will also help build the texture back up to the new smooth patch.


----------



## regal (Oct 20, 2007)

roll aura over that wall with a aura cover, no spot prime, and you will not see the repair/flash.


----------

