paint flaking

[Howard Phillips]

I live in a rental and my SO and I decided to repaint to cover the horrible work of the last tenants and the landlord.

As I started prepping the walls (filling, sanding, etc) the current paint coat just strarted to flake off, revealing the old paint. And not bits at a time. If I just rub the wall with my finger tip (not nail) the paint just falls off. If I rub it with my palm its like snow flakes. And his is happening everywhere!

ANy idea what's going on? It's not just little bits or certain sections, so I don't think it's because of poor preparation between there coats. The whole damn coat is coming off.

[David G Baker]

Howard,
Possibly latex painted over oil base paint with out the proper preparation. You will probably have to remove as much of the surface paint as possible before you prep the surface for new paint.

[Howard Phillips]

Thanks David. I was considering that as a possibility.

Do you (or anyone here) know if standard primer over the original oil base will be enough for me to put on my new latex coat (after I remove the current layer, of course)?

[Jim Rimmer]

Sherwin Williams (and other paint cos, I'm sure) make a primer to go over oil base paint prior to pinting with latex.

[Neal Clayton]

the zinnser shellac based primer should do the trick, too.