Peeling paint on textured surfaces

Q: How can I deal with flaking paint on stippled walls and a ceiling? We had flat oil-based paint applied over 10-year-old latex and now there’s a mess. Our painting contractor has the manufacturer doing tests, but time is dragging on and our living room is still torn apart. What can we do?

A: That sounds like a discouraging mess you’ve got, but I can offer some suggestions. The real challenge here is the texture of your walls and ceiling. This makes removal of the flaking paint difficult, and without that preparatory step, new paint will continue to flake. Try a large plastic-bristled scrub brush, but if that doesn’t remove all loose paint (and it probably won’t), then applying new drywall over the old ceiling might be the easiest option. Depending on the depth of the texture in the current surfaces, you might have to scrape the surface a bit so the new drywall goes down flat. Other than that, it can be screwed directly to the old surfaces, with screws extending down into the underlying wood frame. Some stippling can be softened with water and removed completely by scraping. Give that a try and see if it works.