I have an art studio built in the back half of my garage that has been unusable ever since we painted. We built new, with drywall, the building is roughly 6 years new. We finally installed the drywall about 3 years ago. The walls were primed first since it was new drywall.
When the walls were finally painted we used a matte ceiling paint so there would be no reflections etc on the walls. The paint ended up being rancid but we did not know at the time as we were wearing masks. It smells so bad I get a headache after being in there for only ten minutes or so. I painted 4 coats of an oil based shellac primer from the many recommendations on sites as these. Still smells.
It sat for a year hoping the smell would just dissipate with the windows open. Twice,I room shocked the room with biocide room shockers, still smelled bad. I ended up writing the paint company and they recommended two different products to try, I did... room still smells awful. I let it sit all winter with 9# of activated charcoal in there while it was too cold to paint and opened the windows and had fans running all winter long. Still smells awful. The company wants me to try one more primer of theirs but I wrote them asking whats next if this doesn't work? And they have stopped responding.
Is there a way I can remove the paint down to the drywall and see if that cures the stench? I'm afraid to rip out the drywall as there is 16" of blown insulation in the ceiling, which by the way does not smell, I stuck my head up there to check. This room has sat unused for almost 3 years now because of the smell. I'm so mad at this point. What would happen if I stripped the paint and the drywall paper off with it? Can you have sheetrock without paper?
