What is Mud Cracking?
Ever notice that there appear to be faint lines show up on your recently painted wall, or too much paint build-up in the corners? The problem may be due to mud cracking; which occurs when too many layers of paint have been applied, or too thickly, during the paint application process. As it is, trying to improve a paint’s coverage by adding too many layers of paint can lead to problems further down the track, such as mud cracking. Porous solutions can also lead to the formation of a paint film, which in turn leads to mud cracking over time.
Unfortunately, there is no easy fix for issues such as mud-cracking. Often, it requires an entire removal of excess coating by scraping off the paint layers and sanding down to the base coat, priming and repainting using a high quality latex paint. However, along the corners or edges where paint buildup is apparent, sanding down the edges and repainting the corners can be done, provided the paint is high quality latex based. When using a high quality latex paint, there is a higher solid content, meaning the tendency to run into mud cracking issues after painting is significantly reduced.
There is also an increase in coverage, so multiple coats of paint or excessively thick coating is not required. So to reduce the possibility of mud cracking, only use high quality latex paints, and ensure that coverage is evenly spread out over the paint surface during the application process.
Mud cracking: irregular cracks looking like dried mud in dry paint.
