Vala wrote: And is there any point where it will be unlikely to bubble up in the future, like a certain number of weeks or could this happen any time?
In my experience when this happens almost immediately its a one time thing - scrape and sand the bubbles spot prime and paint you should be fine. But then that's just my experience, and it really depends on the root cause I guess
Just going by what I have seen with my neighbors house, it is a year and she called them back , they did repairs but then saw more new ones so unfortunately it didn't seem to just fix itself, and that and the fact that it wasn't just the sunny parts seem to indicate that it wasn't the sun heating the surface only. The results are very similar but your has worse bubbling. i remember they did some washing and I remembered thinking wow painting all ready? it was probably a couple days but not weeks so maybe moisture gets trapped in cracks and comes back to haunt? I had the issue painting my steps and deck one summer I used sikkens rubol it only seemed to happen to me where there was sun and I didn't primer and I learned never to put that stuff on surfaces you walk on because it is too slippery. I have seen similar issues only smaller bubbles when I spray painted stuff and then before it was really cured came back and loaded on a second coat and I attributed that to not waiting long enough for the first coat to completely off gas. . but that would be spray bombs and oil based paint and I am assuming this is latex. I noticed another neighbor out doing a really good job washing her fence one day and got home the next day to see it painted and thought oh boy, but I watched and her fence never bubbled it stuck fine, no primer. so who knows? very difficult to determine the exact cause and you need to do that to prevent more issues, otherwise all you can do is to try to eliminate as many variables as you can control. I can sense the frustration because I am sure you are on a roll with all of this but maybe if you just stop at primer and wait for cooler dry weather to do the topcoat? or talk to a local painter to see if they can give you better advice? If it is humidity the local painters are probably well aware.
Well your neighbor used latex, mine is oil. with latex's reputation for staying flexible, I can understand bubbles forming after a year or so. I'm using oil so hopefully its the one time thing.
oil or latex, it wont make any difference as to bubbles forming. Bubbles are either an adhesion problem or an issue of off-gassing , the gas getting trapped under a cured skin. both types of paint can suffer similarly. the shape of the bubbles may differ a little I guess but using oil isnt going to protect you from such issues. In fact if it is a dampness issue you may be more susceptible to it, water being the "thinner" for latex paint, so therefore can mix / be absorbed by it until its cured.
My next door neighbors had a problem with their oil based paint a few years back. They contacted the paint company and they sent somebody out to diagnose the problem for them. If it happens again,maybe call the paint company.
just came across this bit of advice on nps website
To distinguish between solvent blistering and blistering caused by moisture, a blister should be cut open. If another layer of paint is visible, then solvent blistering is likely the problem whereas if bare wood is revealed, moisture is probably to blame.
If it happens again, cut a bubble open and see what you can see. It also says its more of a problem with dark colors (because they heat up more in the sun)
