Designing Kitchens and Bathrooms - peeling paint

My bathroom has a small shower area that has a arch way type door opening that creates a headspace above the shower, there is a light/vent fan in the ceiling of this area and it is vented to the outside through the roof.
Hot showers create alot of steam that accumalates in this area and over time the ceiling paint starts peeling, we always let the fan run for a long time after each shower to remove steam and moisture from the area.

I have scraped and sanded, primed and painted may times but it never seems to last long.
I use latex paint each time and i'm wondering if i should use a oil based paint instead ?

I hate to recomend oil base :( and although it offers a little more protection, I'm not certain that it will cure the problem.

What type/brand of latex paint are you using? Have you tried a kitchen and bath paint?
Is the paint peeling down to the sheetrock or is there a layer of paint/primer still adhered to the wall?

It is bathroom paint, and it seems to peal down to the primer.

why is oil based paint bad?

Oil base is kind of out dated for interior residential work and can cause issues when trying to recoat with latex. Years ago oil base was the best enamel you could get but oil base isn't quite what it used to be [formulas have been changed to meet gov't approval] and the latex and waterborne products have greatly improved.

What brand of K&B paint did you use?

I used Olympic premium paint.

http://www.olympic.com/paint_products/interior_paints/olympic_premium_kitchen_and_bath/index.htm

I don't know how well Olympic paints stack up compared to SWP or B.Moore but generally the coatings that Lowes and other big box stores sell are based on price rather than quality.

I'd suggest going to SWP or BM and talk to them about your problems and ask if they think their K&B paint will solve the problem. It could be that an epoxy or an oil base paint may be the best bet but I'd want to make sure before I went that route.

I think this project calls for either Benjamin Moore's or Sherwin Williams K & B paints...or actually Zinsser's Perma-White would be an even better choice

These premium quality paints are self-priming
Not that I would suggest not priming in your case, but the "self-priming" is going to give you an extra boost where you need it

Still scrape and sand
Then prime
I'd suggest going with the Fresh Start if using Moore's K & B, and the Prep Rite if gong with Sherwin's K & B
(each primer line has more than one product in it, be sure to ask the Paint Store personnel to make sure you are getting the right one for your application -ex: Fresh Start All Purpose latex, not Fresh Start Quick Dry Exterior Alkyd))

If you don't mind white/light colors for that area, then the best combo for your problem is Zinsser's 1-2-3 for primer, and topcoat with two coats Perma-White
I can strongly recommend the Zinsser product combo for a tough problem like this, the only thing is it doesn't tint medium or dark well at all

Thanks for all the help, i used the z 123 and so far so good , it's been a few months now and no sign of peeling again.
hope this fixes the problem for long term.