Covering Brown water marks on ceiling

[Im a BusyBee]

can you tell me the name of the product in diy stores that will seal and cover brown water mark stains on the ceiling, so that i may emulsion over knowing they wont re appear? thanks so much

[pug100]

There may be some specific products out there, but the best tip I found from a DIY programme was to use white gloss paint. This not only seals the area but will then enable you to paint over using emulsion paint. The number of coats needed will depend on how bad the stain is. Also make sure you've cured the problem that caused the staining in the first place, otherwise it will re-appear.

[Im a BusyBee]

thanks so much - just as my husband thought and i was telling him we need to buy some special product for it! thanks once again

[philomena]

the product you are looking for is Zinsser stain block (aerosol) from international paints. You can paint over this with either water based paint (emulsion) or oil based paint (gloss, oil eggshell etc)l. You shouldn't really put a water based paint over an oil based paint i.e emulsion on top of gloss!

[ashfordshe]

Thanks to a "cowboy" plumber earlier this year we were left with several brown water marks on the ceilings. Two different professional painters came in on separate occasions both used the white gloss paint technique which cured the problem - apparently this is normal practice in the trade.

[kwicky]

We had these brown marks on the ceiling and were caused from our CH boiler flue. We used a few coats of emulsion to cover it but they reappeared later. You need to make sure the flue has the appropriate fire cement in the joins to stop it happening again.

[ethandron]

we were advised by a decorator to use oil based undercoat to cover such stains, before emulsion-ing over. we've used this technique a number of times and it really works. much cheaper than buying a 'special' product.

[theshedman]

Hi, I noticed that you have been told to use gloss paint to seal the stains. Well it will do it but you will have a job putting emulsion on over it. If you mix equal amounts of gloss and undercoat together and paint that on it will do the job nicely. Leave to dry then give a couple of coats of emulsion. I have done this on a number of ocasions and it works well.

Shed