# Recovering after saltwater damage?



## KBert (Jul 15, 2014)

Hi all,
Before advising the owner to have two bedrooms’ dywall ripped out and replace, I’ll ask your advise.
Both bedrooms were damaged when Hurricane Paloma slammed the island of Cayman Brac at Cat. 5! In each room a pair of windows were blown in and an opposing set blown out; wind speed >200 mph. These rooms face the sea, set back ~ 150’. A lot of sea spray (and sand, small rocks) swirled through these rooms for a few hours. 
After the storm I patched were required, refastened, mopped the walls with lightly bleached water to halt mold and (I thought…) get enough salt off to repaint.
WRONG! I’ve been dealing with peeling paint / lack of adhesion for years. It’s time for a permanent fix.
Will any of the Zinnser / Bullseye products work for me? I expect a LOT of scraping of existing paint to remove it from where it’s not really adhered. Are there products which will allow paint _removal_ from drywall? Where I can then SEAL the surface to allow repainting successfully?
Is there an approach short of replacing it all, please?
Thank you, Karl
PS Should this be in another sub-forum?


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## Mudstar (Feb 15, 2008)

KBert said:


> Hi all,
> Before advising the owner to have two bedrooms’ dywall ripped out and replace, I’ll ask your advise.
> Both bedrooms were damaged when Hurricane Paloma slammed the island of Cayman Brac at Cat. 5! In each room a pair of windows were blown in and an opposing set blown out; wind speed >200 mph. These rooms face the sea, set back ~ 150’. A lot of sea spray (and sand, small rocks) swirled through these rooms for a few hours.
> After the storm I patched were required, refastened, mopped the walls with lightly bleached water to halt mold and (I thought…) get enough salt off to repaint.
> ...


Sorry your paint sticking question is on the wrong forum all together. Remove all rock and finish it all I can advise.


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## chris (Apr 13, 2011)

Oil base should fix after a GOOD scrape and sand


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## FAB (May 6, 2014)

I did a few drywall tear outs and replacing due to hurricane sandy as well as my own house which had 5ft of water on first floor. 

If there was water in the house you really need to replace that rock and not only that but do some mold remidiation to the studs and outside sheathing. On all the rock i tore out were infested with black mold on the back paper . Its not visible from the face of the rock. 

I could see even sea spray hitting the drywall at 200mph soaking all the way through the rock too unless the rock had a super good sealer on it. Salt water is a huge difference from rain water.

If you were to keep the rock which i dont really advise but then again we havent see pics of the extent of damge i would try a strong sealer like Gardz or Peelbond to adhere to the wall.


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