We just bought a house and were pulling some nails left over from what was probably crown moulding. The nails had been painted over and some of the paint came off with the nails.
I peeled off a bit more to see if I could find a good place to sand and fill in with joint compound, but it just kept coming off (rather easily too). After closer inspection it appears that it might be the paper from the gypsum has detached, although I can't tell what's texture/joint compound and whether the layer below that is the actual drywall.
It appears that what's peeling off may actually be paint (left), texture (center) and drywall paper (right).
So several questions:
- What's actually going on here -- is this a common problem and my google-fu is failing me?
- Is there something that can be done to the affected area only?
- And if not, can I just peel all of this off, smooth over rough areas with joint compound, prime, texture and paint? Or is there something else that needs to be done?