Humidifier or bad paint?

5 years ago

We painted the house as soon as we moved in, in the winter. After the first year, we got a humidifier for the bedroom which is almost directly over the furnace room. Before using the humidifier I noticed one or two teeny tiny spots on the interior wall stood out.. The season after using the humidifier in this corner shown, there were tiny air bubbles in the paint that then chipped off into massive patches spanning up to 4ft. It happened on 3/4 walls at low and high heights. I had to repaint everything with a special primer and it's fixed now...except I'm paranoid about using the humidifier this year and it feels dry already.
I don't know if the walls weren't cleaned properly, or if there was smoke or residue leftover or if it was an oil paint before. It is the only room that has been affected like this. (I'm seeing a small bubble in the kitchen now too 😐 there wasn't a fan installed until I redid the kitchen.. And the bathroom ceiling was a disaster, also no fan until i put in ventilation, all within 1yr of purchasing house)...
Do you think it's safe to use the humidifier? I don't want another paint project 😭 It's a relatively small table top unit. Lowering the house temperature does not help with the dryness... I don't know of another way to sleep comfortably. We've never had this problem before. Advice +tips please.

Use the humidifier, it was bad paint

Ditch the humidifier

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Comments (8)

mike_home
5 years ago
Where are you located? How cold has it been at night? Are you measuring the humidity in the house and if so what are the readings?
Samantha
Original Author
5 years ago
South of Toronto, ON. Our thermostat ranges between 19.5 - 21C. Not sure about humidity measurement
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lindac92
5 years ago
From being a home owner for almost 63 years...I would say your problem is neither, but more a case of some moisture from the outside.
How old is your house? does it have house wrap? In wall blown in cellulose? what's above the bubblesd paint spots?
sktn77a
5 years ago
^^^^^^^ Certainly looks like moisture behind the paint.
PRO
JudyG Designs
5 years ago
last modified: 5 years ago
You don’t mention the age of the house. If it's an oldie, but goodie, the problem may be the original paint which was used, called calcimine paint. We had it our first home (c1911), but were fortunate to have our painter identify it.

You can google it and find out how to deal with it...
mike_home
5 years ago
Tape a piece of plastic wrap to the ceiling. After a few days if there is moisture on the outside of the wrap then it is a humidity and condensation problem. It the moisture is behind the plastic wrap then it is moisture coming from above the ceiling.
ci_lantro
5 years ago
Before using the humidifier I noticed one or two teeny tiny spots on the interior wall stood out..

Sounds to me like you had a paint adhesion problem that got progressively worse and that it is unrelated to using the humidifier.
jimct01
5 years ago
I think you have a combination of issues. There is definitely a paint adhesion issue. Could be caused by poor preparation before painting. Not cleaning the the surface sufficiently or with the wrong cleaner, not removing loose paint or really cheap paint. I don’t think any paint made today would be the issue. . How old is the house? Maybe an insulation or vapor barrier issue or lack of either. Running a room humidifier without a good quality hygrometer ( reliable ones are not cheap) to track and measure the humidity Is foolish. Here is what happens, the water condenses inside the cold walls, wetting the wall material and the insulation. Eventually this can cause an expensive mold issue. Yes the paint is peeling likely from excess moisture in the wall. There are charts on the internet that tell you what a safe interior humidity level is for each given temperature range. As it gets colder out, you need to adjust the humidifier to lower the humidity level to match the outside temp. While 40% humidity may be fine when it’s 5 to 10 degree C it’s way to high when the team is -10 to -15 C. Conceivably the water may be coming from outside the but I am betting on the humidity being way to high. I had a similar issue . I have an older house with blown in insulation and no vapor barrier and forced hot water baseboards. i had a room humidifier which I tried to control. However on a wall with the basebard heat source condensation was building up behind a framed print from a famous artist. It caused me to have to part with considerable cash to have it restored. I threw the humidifier in the trash. I didn’t want take a chance on a mold problem in the wall Or any more damage to artwork.