prompted by this post in !mildlyinteresting@lemmy.world I decided to ask you about my predicament.
I live in the attic of a rundown house that’s close to 200 years old. looked like shit when I moved in, I’ve made it livable, I add and fix things here and there when I can, by youtubing stuff and using the tools I have.
recently, a cheap electric kettle caught fire and burned for several minutes, incinerating nearby items and the (plastic) base it was on. the result was a black smoke so dark you couldn’t see light from the windows, vantablack type of deal. once I dowsed out the flames (and surely inhaled that crap in major unhealthy doses) it took ages to air the place out.
in the aftermath, every surface was covered with greasy, black residue that you can’t just wipe off/vacuum.
I’ve thrown away most things that were covered with it, cleaned others over the past months. only upside of this mess is, it sticks to the surfaces so it doesn’t fall down and/or circulate in the air.
now I’d like to paint the walls. tried cleaning them with anti-grease and sponges and paper towels and stuff; that worked on kitchen cabinets, but it’s a no-go here, just makes a mess and dissolves the stuff underneath (lime-based paint with god knows how many layers).
I figured, if I paint the walls and the exposed wood beam with the right type of paint, it’ll just cover/trap the whole mess and I’d be done with it. then I’d like to clean/paint the ceiling paneling somehow.
can’t afford to move into healthier dwellings and the owner has zero fucks to give about the situation and is fine with whatever I come up with, including leaving it as is; even with the fire damage, the place is in way better shape now than when I moved in.
doable? tips? ideas?
edit: images
edit2: I wish lemmy’s UI would state the what the image limits are, it gets tiresome guessing how large is “too large”.
Try scrubbing the walls with TSP (or most likely ‘TSP substitute’), you can find it at any paint or home improvement store. Then coat it with a good primer like KILZ to seal it all in. You can throw whatever cheap paint on top of the primer (grab a mistint from the paint store).
Save your receipts and anyone but a horrible landlord should let you deduct that from your rent.
I’m also living in the attic of a 120 year old house learning to fix stuff via youtube and This Old House reruns.
I knew a painting contractor and he swore by KILZ if there was anything like nicotine or smoke on the walls beforehand. He said any regular primer and it would seep through but KILZ would block just about anything.
Another vote for KILZ. Bought a house from a bed ridden woman who only had smoking I guess. Layer of tar on everything. Striped carpet out, scrubbed walls with some denatured alcohol, then KILZ on walls and subfloor.
We did have to replace some of the ac ducting, but now you’d never know someone literally chainsmoked to death in here.
After several years selling paint and listening to stories. I recommend the TSP scrub and getting Zinzzer BIN shellac based primer (tinted VERY slightly gray to cover). Use a mid to high grade paint. One of the best coverage I’ve found is the ACE hardware C&K brand.
Hope this helps
BTW…I don’t work in paint anymore so this is unbiased product wise.
I have no connection to this company but after looking at the pictures i remembered about killz. Its a paint primer for this exact stuff. Theres even directions. Idk about the vinegar step but you’re gonna want to use this.
https://www.kilz.com/blog/best-kilz-primer-products-to-use-after-a-natural-disaster/
It shouldnt be much more then normal primer. It wont solve the issue of putting in the work because cleaning the soot will be a task.
3-4 coats of primer before paint should do the trick, but you can also try hitting it with a sander first to take off some of the scorching
Hey, other comments will have better advice on the paint than me, but I wanted to tell you that if there is a smoke smell resulting from the incident, you should see if you can get “Zep Smoke Odor Eliminator”.
This stuff works great for all kinds of smells but I can attest that it worked for me in largely removing the lingering smell of smoke in the case of cigarette smoke, so it might work for you too if you have a smell problem as well.
Pictures? With the house being so old is it drywall or plaster. Also ask when the last time the house was remodeled. Just because it’s 200 years old the walls most likely are not.
With enough wiping with a degreaser changing rags then washing the dirty rags and so on will remove the soot, it should. I dont know anything about lime paint but if its smearing black shit staining the walls that shouldn’t be an issue. Its tedious. You can also get a bottle of comical grade degreaser that will cut through it much quicker, just dont bleach or use any ammonia type products on the same rags because itll cause a reaction.
Typically the goal before painting is to remove all the soot possible, if you were to paint over it the paint wont stick to the walls correctly. Itll also still have that stoot smell.
D-limonene may be able to take care of the soot without harming the plaster/paint, but you will want to do a test spot.
It’s gonna take many, many layers of paint in order for it to not bleed through. You’re better off stripping the existing paint and removing the soot-stained parts entirely.
Edit: after seeing the pictures maybe it’s not that bad. As other comments mentioned, TSP cleaner and Kilz paint might be enough.
