Painting - Bathroom Painting Problem - Help!

We have a small, full bath that I planned on repainting when we bought our house 5 years ago (the house in now 15 years old.) I'm finally getting around to it and suddenly noticed that the paint on the wall by the toilet is peeling! (This is the daughters' bathroom, and I rarely use it.) Now, that I could handle. But when I flaked a piece of paint off, a small piece of brown stuff came off with it, leaving a small brown indentation in the drywall. This bathroom is very bad about steaming up when the shower is used, so I was planning on replacing the existing exhaust fan, since it seems to do absolutely nothing. My concern is the brown patch. Is it mold?! I don't even have it growing on the ceiling! What do I do??:eek:

The brown stuff was probably some drywall paper.

A good exhaust fan is very important to keep mold and mildew out of the bathroom.

I would sand this area down and patch the affected area with drywall patch and then a good primer.

I believe they sell mold deterctor type kits at home centers, you can try that to ease your mind.

It's hard to say w/o seeing it

Usually mold/mildew is black or green, but can be orange or brown

Does the brown change or wash off/out with cleaners?
Try 1 part bleach to 2 parts water and washing it

Certainly you do need that fan in working order, and vented to outside the house (not just blowing into the attic), but more information is needed to you proper advice on fixing your paint/wall problem

Does your house have finished drywall or plaster veneer?
I suspect the original paint was probably a substandard enamel or possibly flat latex :eek:

Once you make your repairs, prime them and then paint the bath room with a good latex enamel, preferably a kitchen and bath enamel. K&B enamels have more mildewcide.

The walls are drywall, with a knock down finish (yuck!) I doubt the brown will wash off since it's not just on the surface, it's actually down inside the drywall. (Imagine a black spot on a potato - slice a piece off and you still have spot; you have to cut it out. That's the easiest way I can explain it.) Should I try removing the spot, then filling it with joint compound or plaster before I prime and paint?
Also, does venting to the outside mean cutting a hole in my roof??? Because I'm pretty sure there's not one there right now.

Could you supply a pic?

Under your texture is probably a little bit of joint compound which is over the paper face [usually gray but sometimes brown] Under the paper is the gypsum. Is it possible it peeled down to the gypsum core?

Not knowing exactly what you have, I'd recomend priming the spot first and then filling with j/c.

Exhaust fans are usually vented thru the roof but sometimes they will go thru the wall. If you have an attic above the bath room, look and find your exhaust fan outlet. usually it's a flexable pipe, probably about 6" diameter.[maybe 4" I forget :eek:] It should be easy to tell if it is plumbed to the exterior or if it is just "hanging" in the attic, venting into the attic. An exhaust fan will work if it doesn't get out of the attic but it won't be near as efficent.

How do I insert/attach a photo?

:eek: I don't know :o

hopefully this thread will help ;)


http://forum.doityourself.com/showthread.php?t=320201

Unfortunately, I don't have a URL. If you have somewhere else you would like me to send it to, let me know. Otherwise, I'm stuck (I'm not much of a computer geek.) :wall:

Upload your picture to a free site like, photobucket.com

Once the picture is uploaded to their site, you will copy/paste the URL that they supply you under the picture.


With the URL copied, click on the "Insert Image" icon above the message box of your post. The Insert Image icon is square and looks like there are two mountains in it.

When you do this, either of two things will happen;

A box will come up asking you to insert the URL(i.e. www.photobucket.com/example) of the picture, at this point you will paste that address you copied a minute ago. Once you paste it, click ok, it will then be posted in your message.

If that box didn't come up, your pop up blocker is on and a message bar at the top of the window should come up saying it blocked a window. At this point you will click on this bar and select, "Allow Pop-Ups from this site......". Once this is done, you have to click on that "Insert Image" icon again.

Hopefully this makes sense for you.

http://i247.photobucket.com/albums/gg121/CaryAk/DSC00182.jpg

Aha!! Thanks guys! So, this is what it looks like.

I'm not sure if you should call a mold remediator, an exterminator, or an exorcist

Better start with a mold or inside environment tech
...something like that, some sort of mold specialist

Maybe you can find a "free in-home inspection" offer or coupon or something

It looks like mold to me :(

I'd also try to determine how/why the wall got wet and fix that so it won't happen again :eek: