Painting after new skimcoat

[grandpappy]

My wife and I just finished skimcoating our bathroom and then painted using a laytex primer and a laytex topcoat. A few days later we noticed that the paint began to show hair line cracks all over. We went to the local home improvement store and they suggested that we repaint using a oil based primer, so we did and let it cure for a week now. Well the cracks and coming back. :wall: Does anybody know how and why? Help before this becomes the last home improvment project we do together. Thanks

[prowallguy]

My first instinct is that the skim coat wasn't completely dry. If its painted before its dry, it will cause cracking in finish coats.
You need to wait a while until its completely dried/cured, then see how big/bad the cracks have become.

[grandpappy]

Thanks for the advise.

[jeffk]

I agree w/ PWG. If you used sheetrock mud or spackle and put in on thicker than 1/`16" thick it will crack as it dries. I get deep fissures forming if I put it on 1/4" thick or more. I let it dry overnight with a fan in the room (speeds up the process) then skim it thin. The finish thin coat doesn't crack.