Paint wiping off of walls

[murphyalice17]

My husband and I recently painted two different rooms in our house with the same paint, first using a high-quality primer. Two weeks later I tried wiping off a fingerprint with a damp rag (water only), and the paint wiped right off the wall. Everyone we talked to about this is perplexed, including the sales rep for the paint company. Any ideas where the problem lies? The paint and primer were applied directly to the drywall, so it shouldn't be affected by anything underneath.

[Cal]

(04-08-2011 03:33 AM)murphyalice17 Wrote:  My husband and I recently painted two different rooms in our house with the same paint, first using a high-quality primer. Two weeks later I tried wiping off a fingerprint with a damp rag (water only), and the paint wiped right off the wall. Everyone we talked to about this is perplexed, including the sales rep for the paint company. Any ideas where the problem lies? The paint and primer were applied directly to the drywall, so it shouldn't be affected by anything underneath.

Couple thoughts and questions Murphyalice;

1) Was the primer allowed to dry say 1 day before applying top coat?
2) Did the primer come off also?
3) What type of surface or paint sheen were you covering, assuming you used a non-scrub-able flat interior paint.

Thanks~
Cal

[murphyalice17]

(04-08-2011 10:48 AM)Cal Wrote:  

(04-08-2011 03:33 AM)murphyalice17 Wrote:  My husband and I recently painted two different rooms in our house with the same paint, first using a high-quality primer. Two weeks later I tried wiping off a fingerprint with a damp rag (water only), and the paint wiped right off the wall. Everyone we talked to about this is perplexed, including the sales rep for the paint company. Any ideas where the problem lies? The paint and primer were applied directly to the drywall, so it shouldn't be affected by anything underneath.

Couple thoughts and questions Murphyalice;

1) Was the primer allowed to dry say 1 day before applying top coat?
2) Did the primer come off also?
3) What type of surface or paint sheen were you covering, assuming you used a non-scrub-able flat interior paint.

Thanks~
Cal

Cal,
Thanks for the reply! We finished the primer on a Sunday and applied the top coat the following Friday. The primer DID come off as well. We actually painted on several different surfaces, all of which our new paint wipes right off of:
1. Bare drywall
2. Drywall that once had wallpaper on it that had to be removed.
3. A few walls had paint already on them (not sure what kind), so we covered them with a coat of primer and one coat of the new paint. However, when we wipe with water on those walls, it wipes off both the new paint and primer, but not the old paint.

The kind of paint we used was interior with an eggshell finish. It says that it is stain resistant and scrubbable. It says to wait 7 days before washing with warm, soapy water. It had been exactly two weeks when I wiped the fingerprint off and discovered the disaster.

We talked to a professional painter, who suggested that it might be the primer, but the sales rep is adamant that this couldn't possibly be the case. He came to our house and took the numbers off our paint cans to have them tested at the lab, but supposedly they came back fine.

[davewill0001]

I agree with Cal. You should also consider what type of paint you have used, like if its latex or enamel. The surface of the wall should also be considered.

[murphyalice17]

(06-16-2011 10:02 PM)dexter8kem Wrote:  Good idea. Can you post some pics so that things will be more clear for giving feedback?

Thank you for the input, but we've actually settled things with the company (three months later), and they paid us a fair amount of money to keep our mouths shut. We didn't take any pictures, but we have recently painted over the defective paint with a different brand, and while it is also eggshell, it has withstood substantial scrubbing

[EthanJoshua]

It could be not cured or it could just be a crappy paint. Do you have to wipe fairly hard to get the paint to come off or does it come off easily?