Topic: How do I remove glow stick liquid off of walls and ceilings ?

I need HELP ! I have a unit in which apparently several glow sticks were broken and the liquid spattered all over the walls and ceilings. This is invisible during the daytime hours. The unit was painted before the current resident moved in and all looked good. Upon the first night the new residents stayed there imagine their surprise when they turned off the lights to see this stuff everywhere.

Yesterday we painted primer on and waited until last night to see if that was going to do the job. Nope ! It's still there.

Has anyone had this problem before? Any suggestions are appreciated.

This article may help:

www.ehow.com/how_6057569_glow-sticks-out-paint-walls.html

Thank You. Anything we try will have to be done at night since you can only see this when it's completely dark. No residue can be seen or felt

I might also check with your paint company (sherwin williams or dun edwards) to see if their additive for primer that is used to contain tobacco damage might work?

I wonder if treating it like mold would work?

Thank You Johnny...the primer we used was Sherwin Williams and they said it would cover everything...well it doesn't. We are not even sure how long this has been on the walls and ceilings. Current staff thinks it could possibly have been before the previous residents moved in. I am going to have the magic eraser used tonight. Any work you do has to be done when it's completely dark so you can see what you're treating.

I am not talking about the primer itself; there is an additive that they have that is supposed to block almost anything.

I might see if I can ask someone in city or school facilities maintenance for advice. It seems that they may have come across this issue, or something similar?

This may not be from a simple glow stick. The material inside a glow stick wears down and evaporates eventually. This may be from a paint that when applied is activated by a light source. Therefore, when the sun shines on it and lamps are turned on, it activates the material and makes it glow once the light source is removed. It is kind of light those glow-in-the-dark stick on stars you put on ceilings of children's rooms. I suggest removing the drywall and installing new, since I do not know if this can be simply painted over or primed.

I agree, it's probably glow paint. I would suggest sanding as much as it off as possible first, and then a couple of layers of kilz or problock.

I think that your next step would be to sand the surface until there is no evidence of the stain, retexture it, prime it and paint it. It is an opportunity to give your residents the choice of a new color.

Let us know what happens.

This is a unique situation that I have not run across. Using an alkyd primer or even a shellac primer MAY work. I would do a test with both products to insure that the primer will hide the chemical in the glow sticks.

So what happened?

I would try the magic stain eraser first, but since it's already been painted over I don't think it will help. There is a primer I use for really tough stains called BIN that works very well! See if your paint supplier carries it.

www.rustoleum.com/CBGProduct.asp?pid=216

Please let us know what works for you! :)

I want to thank everyone for all the helpful and useful information. The maintenance team tried basically everything that was mentioned except replacing the dry wall. What finally worked was sanding...primer…. retexturing the wall….more primer and finally re-paint.

Mindy, you were correct. This was paint not the liquid from a glow stick that we first thought it was. The paint is clear and activated by light so it’s invisible to the eye until the room is made dark.

Johnny thank you for all the information you provided, I didn’t even think about contacting a school who may have had this sort of problem before. Every single person who responded has had a part in this resolution.

I don't know if I mentioned before but this unit had just been moved into and wasn't noticed until they spent the first night there. Needless to say it looked like the inside of a laser tag game. With no other vacant units in which to move them into our staff has been working around furniture and lots of unpacked boxes to get this completed. We have a fantastic team who has worked hard to get this taken care of.
I sincerely hope no one has to deal with this again but if they do they have this forum in which to find help.

Sincerly, Teresa Bruno

I am glad to have been able to help; although not a great source of information in this case.....

Soap and water will not remove it. Our daughter did the same thing when she was younger. We tried everything.
The only thing that worked was Kilz brand primer to permanently cover the sticky residue, and once that dried, then he painted over the Kilz primer.