Wood putty popping under latex paint

[®smpr_fi_mac®]

Of course I'll need to sand this down and repaint, but will it happen again? The putty had a few weeks to cure before I painted it.

Can I deal it with dewaxed shellac? Will latex paint adhere to shellac?

[Phil Thien]

It looks like construction lumber that had a higher moisture content, that is now shrinking relative to the putty.

[®smpr_fi_mac®]

No, that piece is 3/4" paint grade ply. The rest of the face is poplar.

[Phil Thien]

Still has to be shrinkage though, right?

The putty isn’t expanding, the wood is shrinking. Quite a bit.

I could be wrong.

[®smpr_fi_mac®]

Oops.

It's poplar, not ply.

The putty is expanding, but because of the water in the paint, I assume. So I'm wondering if sealing with shellac will work.

[Phil Thien]

So seeing as nobody else is responding, I'll just keep bumping.

What kind of putty did you use?

And how long after you painted did the problem exhibit itself?

[®smpr_fi_mac®]

I forget the brand. Something I bought from HD. The next day after painting I noticed it.

[jteneyck]

I would have thought it happened like Phil said but it would have taken longer, so it must be from the filler expanding.  If that's the case you have two choices.  Change filler to one that is not water soluble after drying, or coat over it with shellac as you proposed.  Shellac sticks to most everything and most everything sticks to shellac, so I don't think you'll have any problems if that's what you choose to do.  

But before you do any of that, why not just wait a couple of days and see if it magically shrinks back flush again.  If it swelled from absorbing water from the paint it may shrink back down when it dries again.  

John

[®smpr_fi_mac®]

It's been like that fit a few weeks now; I don't expect it to shrink back. I'll shellac it and move on. Thanks!

[Stwood_]

That looks more like a wood plug than putty on my end. Course sometimes my end can get distorted if my ozone depletion coptoviro system is malfunctioning......