Worrisome Stains on Wall

Drip stains on wall to left of countertop, from splashes and from spray cleaners.

Stain drips show up under my primer.

Dot-shaped stains show up under my wallpaper primer.

These stains were not visible until my primer went onto the wall.

My favorite stain blocker.

Some stains, like the top photo, I saw immediately. Others, like the next three photos, didn’t show up until I had applied my wallpaper primer. The primer adheres to the wall paint differently from how it adheres to the splashed substances.

I’m always worried when I see stains on a wall, because certain substances will bleed through wallpaper (and paint, too). Things like tar, tobacco, water, oil, ink, wax (crayon, candles), smoke, rust, food splatters.

In this bathroom, the splatters and runs are probably from toiletries and cleaning agents. But still, I worry that they may work their way through the new paper. It may not happen immediately, but eventually you may see marks, or maybe just ghostly shadows.

There are water-based stain blockers, but I prefer the old-fashioned shellac-based (BIN by Zinsser) or, my all-time favorite, oil-based KILZ Original.

Wallpaper won’t stick to modern oil-based products. So I had to apply the KILZ, let it dry, and then roll on my wallpaper primer (I like Romans Pro 977 Ultra Prime) and let that dry, before the paper could go up.

Now no worries about mysterious shapes and shadows showing up under the new wallpaper.

Tags: 977, bin, bleed through, KILZ, oil-based, primer, romans, shellac-based, stain-blocker, stains, ultra prime, wallpaper, zinsser