Interior wall paint turned soft and gooey

Question

A patch of paint next to the head of my bed has been slowly turning soft and gooey over the past several years and I don't understand why. There seem to be several coats involved, with a top layer of green latex sliding around on a gooey layer of white paint beneath.

I can easily scratch chunks off with my fingernails, or even just push it around until holes open up.

I assume this has something to do with the paint absorbing the oils from my hair or pillows, since it is pretty limited to that area.

It's also worth noting that the previous tenants did a really bad job of painting the interior, and may have layered oil and latex improperly.

So my question is, why is my wall paint turning gooey, and can I fix it or do I need to strip the paint and redo the whole room?

Answer 1

I am not a painter but I have come in contact with this when I painted using oil base paint over latex base paint, or is it the other way around, any ways they do not like each other. If you can, sand the walls that are giving you the problem and repaint them.