While it is certainly not unusual to see peeling paint on the exterior of someone’s home, it is a bit less common to see peeling on the interior of the home.

It would even be safe to say that seeing peeling paint on the exterior of a home is eventually an expected sight at some point during an exterior paint job’s life cycle, not so much on the interior.

Now there are those rare phenomena that can make sense for peeling interior paint to be present.

Examples would be when old, calcimine-influenced ceiling coatings will not allow paint to properly adhere or when there is a leak somewhere within a home’s structure that subsequently causes paint coatings to peel.

But what about in newer homes, where paint is seen to be peeling on the interior for seemingly no reason whatsoever, why does this happen??

Peeling interior paint can occur for a variety of reasons.

One such reason, and perhaps the most obvious, is if the correct bonding primer was not used when the walls were originally painted.

Another reason could be is if the surface that was being painted may have had an elevated moisture or humidity level at the time it was painted.

This is a tricky one because even if a moisture meter (a tool used to measure the moisture content of a surface its prongs are “plugged” into) is utilized prior to preparing a surface for painting, its measuring needles may not be able to penetrate deep enough to where moisture may be lurking within the surface that is being painted.

As this moisture gradually works its way out, it can cause the paint coating to come off with it.

This type of situation can occur in basements or areas that are prone to being particularly damp.

It can also happen when surfaces are painted during times of the year when there is naturally more humidity in the air (i.e.- Summer).

Still another reason for interior paint peeling is if there happened to be some type of foreign residue – often invisible to the naked eye – sitting on or within the surface when painting takes place.

As one can see, there are quite a number of reasons why peeling interior paint can happen.

Although these are the most common, on rare occasions interior paint can peel as a result of a “bad” patch of paint.

These types of incidents are EXTREMELY isolated, but it certainly is feasible that a micro percentage of the time that this could be the culprit.

If you do find yourself in a situation where you are dealing with interior peeling paint, all is not lost (as disheartening as it may be to stumble upon this scenario).

Once it is evident that there is an interior peeling problem, the issue should be able to be rectified by traditional surface preparation approaches (removing the peeling paint areas, filling/sanding as necessary, and properly priming).

If you work to rectify the issue and at some point this nuisance returns, the recommendation would be to find the most reputable, knowledgeable paint expert possible to review the situation with (even if you may have to pay to do so!).

Interior peeling paint can be quite the annoyance once it is discovered.

What will be even more annoying though is if it is left to simmer and is not properly addressed to rid its menacing existence.