A fireplace can give your living room a sense of warmth and comfort even when there’s no fire, but a weathered and cracked chimney can often let in rain during the colder months which can seep through the walls. Over time, moisture from the water can cause the paint on the wall to bubble, peel and flake. And since it’s a little too late for waterproofing, water damage can turn your cosy little living room into an unloved and tired space.
Have a water damaged area in your home? Repairing water damage isn't always as daunting as it sounds. We've put together a quick step-by-step process for those who are up for tackling the project themselves. Before you start any project, we always recommend speaking to our expert staff first to make sure you get the job done right.
Steps To Repairing Water Damage
Clean The Area
Before you start a project like this, give the water damaged area a good clean. This is the textbook first step in any paint project, including repairing water damage on walls. We recommend using something like a Selleys Sugar Soap with a damp cloth and then allowing time for the area to dry.
Clear And Scrape Any Flaking In The Area
Remove all bubbling, peeling and flaking paint with a scraper to smooth out the surface.
Cover Water Damaged Area With A Peel-Stop / Sealer Binder
For this, we used Zinsser’s Water Based Peel-Stop. What this does is act like a glue which permeates into porous surface, preventing water from seeping back through. Essentially, it makes the area solid again and protects the surface from future water damage – sort of like a specialised waterproof paint. After you have applied the Peel-Stop, allow for an hour of drying time.
Apply Filler
Once your surface is solid and dry, apply a filler to make the surface smooth and ready for painting. Typically, you should give this step at least a full day of drying time. We kind of cheated in the video above by using a hair dryer to speed up the process, but best practice here is one-day drying time.
For this process, we used Selleys Polyfiller. It’s quick drying which is perfect for cold weather.
Sand Surface
Once your filler is dry, sand the surface until it’s smooth and ready to be painted on.
Apply Water-based Primer / Sealer
This step will make the surface of the wall perfectly prepped for applying paint. A Water-based Primer / Sealer is typically used for gyprock surfaces. Water-based Primer / Sealer’s are the preferred application for interior surfaces also. In the video above, we used Berger Triple Prep which has been designed for ceilings, walls and timber which allowed us to use it on the walls and the architraves.
Apply Paint
Now that your surface is clean, protected from future water damage and primed, you are ready to paint and give some much needed colour to your wall. In the above video, we used Berger Everlast on the walls with Dulux Snow Season Quarter for colour. On the architraves, we used Berger Water-based Enamel in Gloss and left this untinted white.
The result speaks for itself. In the video above you can see the before and after shots which really tell the whole story. Our ugly, water damaged living room is now a fresh, comfortable living space.