Covering up under layers of paint

Cianos

Hey,
I'm trying to paint over some cartoon characters that were painted on a wall. Trying to paint all the walls white now, but even after loads of layers, the bright colours of the cartoon characters can be seen. Any advice appreciated!

Cian

mad m

Scratch a good few deep lines in wall,polybond and get wall re-skimmed. Its probably the only wall to rid cartoons for good. Oh as matter of interest, what was the cartoon characters?

ircoha

you could consider putting on wallpaper that then can be painted
else go for a darker colour

Cianos

mad m wrote: »

Scratch a good few deep lines in wall,polybond and get wall re-skimmed. Its probably the only wall to rid cartoons for good. Oh as matter of interest, what was the cartoon characters?

When you say scratch a few deep lines in the wall, how deep should they be? A couple of millimetres?

The characters were original pics done by somebody in the back room of a teahouse project I'm involved in here in Berlin. I want to turn the space in to a gallery and invite different artists every couple of weeks to use the space to display their work. So the walls have to be the usual gallery 'clean room' look.

mad m

Actually scrap my idea. As ircoha said you could actually line the walls with lining paper (1000 grade)...Don't butt join the egde's of paper,leave a mil or two,paint wall and fill the mil gap with polyfiller and re-paint.

I was just wondering about the cartoons as last house I lived in,a mate of mine was a classical animator and did a few cartoon characters on the walls for my kids...Anyway maybe try the lining paper....Its a thick plain wallpaper that you can paint over.

What is the height of ceiling and width of wall that the cartoons are on? I can work out how many rolls you would need.

Cianos

mad m wrote: »

Actually scrap my idea. As ircoha said you could actually line the walls with lining paper (1000 grade)...Don't butt join the egde's of paper,leave a mil or two,paint wall and fill the mil gap with polyfiller and re-paint.

I was just wondering about the cartoons as last house I lived in,a mate of mine was a classical animator and did a few cartoon characters on the walls for my kids...Anyway maybe try the lining paper....Its a thick plain wallpaper that you can paint over.

What is the height of ceiling and width of wall that the cartoons are on? I can work out how many rolls you would need.

Thanks for the advice. I've actually applied a lot of layers at this stage, so only bits of the characters are visible now. I've also noticed that the thick layers of white paint that have been applied are actually cracking a bit where they cover the other colours...would this be from the two different paints reacting?

Anyway, I think one roll would do the trick as most of the wall is fine except for a few bits. But I'd be worried that after doing this, it'd be obvious that there are then patches of wall that look different to the rest of the wall. Because it's going to be a gallery space I'd like it to look as flush as possible. Or is this where the pollyfiller comes in?

Thanks again

RKQ

Lining paper is a good idea.
You could also try painting with gloss paint, to cover the cartoon figures.
Then paint with good quality emulsion.

Gloss should cover cartoons.

mad m

Cianos wrote: »

Or is this where the pollyfiller comes in?

Thanks again

Well thats why I said leave a mil or two between butt or edge of lining paper. Some people butt right up to both ends but this can lead to overlapping and bulges. A contractor I used to work with always insisted on leaving the mil or two gap then polyfilling it to create a flush wall.

The reason why the paint is cracking is maybe too many heavy layers of paint on at once. You would have to scrap these now as I would guess it will only get worse as time goes on. Seal area after scraping, you might actually get away with flush filling over cartoons with polyfiller to try and take the edge away before you paint wall again....

jack of all

Have you considered a specialist stain blocker, these are used to hide smoke damage, graffiti etc? Could be far more cost and labour effective than skimming or lining paper. A good paint shop should be able to advise.

builditwell

Have to agree with jack of all, I would use a stain blocker like EB cant remember the rest of name or a good coating of polybond which is not too weak and use a very good quality paint. I am using obliterating covermat by a well known brand ! ( item usually worn by a king) and 2 coats of this would cover even the darkest of colours when applied properly.

Regards

Builditwell

mad m

The way I was seeing the problem was not with the actual colours of the cartoons burning through the new emulsion,it was the actual layer put on. I got cartoons drawn on by a mate of mine (Click link at bottom of my sig). I knew by the thickness of acyrlic's that he was putting on it was going to be a nightmare to get rid of in future. The walls would have to given a really good sanding down etc...Yup then the stain blocker is the way to go....Bin primer is fast drying sealant....Be carefull as its like water when putting on and will run like snots if put on thick.

Cianos

Thanks again for the replies on this one. I still haven't gotten around to doing the job yet. I was thinking the lining paper sounds like the best approach, just throw it up and I know then that there's no way you'd be able to see the colours underneath. Also at this stage because I tried lashing up so many layers of the emulsion, the bits over the characters have a completely different texture than the rest of the wall which looks a bit bad. So if I put up the lining paper it'd be giving it a fresh start.

What dyou think?

jack of all

The lining paper will give a good job, just make sure it goes on well and is neatly done- it's only a wallpaper afterall and if it's poorly applied it won't look great either. Have you considered using "Scandatex"- it's a special type of "lining paper" that's made up of a mat of woven fibres, you hang it and overpaint it and you're left with a lightly textured surface. It's not everyone's cup of tea but it can look very well and it's great for problem walls.

Cianos

jack of all wrote: »

The lining paper will give a good job, just make sure it goes on well and is neatly done- it's only a wallpaper afterall and if it's poorly applied it won't look great either. Have you considered using "Scandatex"- it's a special type of "lining paper" that's made up of a mat of woven fibres, you hang it and overpaint it and you're left with a lightly textured surface. It's not everyone's cup of tea but it can look very well and it's great for problem walls.

Thanks for the suggestion but I won't be covering the whole wall, just a patch really so the aim would be to have the texture look as close to the rest of the wall as possible.