Before I learned to put plastic over the smoke detectors, I’ve had sanding dust set off the alarm. But this is the first time that fumes from my primer tripped the blasted thing!
It was EAR SPLITTING, and went on forever! Finally I climbed up on the ladder and disconnected it from the power source. Still going off!! Turns out there was an alarm up on the next floor, that was also going off! Luckily the homeowner was reachable quickly by phone, and apparently this is a common problem in their home. She said to turn on the ceiling fan … and that did the trick.
I was smoothing a textured wall, and the penetrating sealing primer I like for that is Gardz, by Zinsser. The fumes won’t make you high like the KILZ Original that I used to use (even that never triggered a smoke detector), so I was surprised that it had anything in it to be detected by a smoke detector. Maybe it includes a carbon dioxide detector, and that somehow got tripped.
Either way, I’m sure glad we got the danged thing turned off … I like hanging wallpaper in peace and quiet so I can THINK!
Tags: alarm, carbon dioxide, fumes, gardz, KILZ, primer, sanding dust, smoke detector, wallpaper, zinsser
The Wallpaper Lady's Blog 
June 24, 2021 at 1:29 am |
I am wallpapering a pantry, the walls have been primed with Kilz Original Oil based primer and I have been told repeatedly that the wallpaper will not stick. I plan to prime over the Kilz with Roman Pro 977 Ultra as you suggested in this article. Just wanting to make sure that the process hasn’t changed due to product changes in near recent time frame
June 24, 2021 at 5:28 am |
Hi Johnette, thanks for visiting! Your proposed priming scenario is perfect.
Correct, wallpaper paste will not stick to KILZ Original, or most any other oil-based product, due to environmental changes made to the formulas maybe 10 years ago.
The 977 will stick nicely to the KILZ, and, of course, the wallpaper paste will grab ahold of the 977 primer.
Happy hanging!
June 24, 2021 at 3:55 pm
A great big THANK YOU!!! As a Custom Decorator I have spent my life passing on anything I have learned gladly to others. It’s so nice to see I am not alone in sharing knowledge to help others.