Question from Jean
It’s been 4 months and the high-gloss paint in the bathrooms of our new apartment still smell horrible and make me nauseous.
I recently bought AFM Safe Coat Hard Seal and applied two coats, but the adhesion is horrible. It beaded up a lot (because of the high-gloss paint) and the dried layers can be scratched off with my fingernail pretty easily. Plus the Hard Seal has a smell of its own that rivals the strong odor of the high-gloss paint underneath.
What should I do now? Prime the whole thing over with Safecoat Primer? Apply Safecoat no-voc paint?
Or apply more layers of Hard Seal?
Sand the surface first? Degloss the surface? With what product?
I’m pregnant and really want this place to be tolerable for me and my baby. Thanks for any advice…
Debra’s Answer
It’s difficult to answer your question without knowing if the high-gloss paint is water-based or oil-based. Sounds like it might be oil-based.
Don’t apply more Hard Seal. Contact AFM and find out how to remove it.
It may be that you need to sand the whole thing and start over. But if the paints are not fully dry they may not sand well.
You will need to remove the high-gloss paint, or sand it enough that it is not glossy. Then you can apply another paint. Paint itself, though, is not designed to block VOCs, so it would be best to remove it entirely.
Try a paint like Freshair at Home Depot and see if that works better for you. Do a test on a piece of wood first before painting a large area.
