Fix drywall painting disaster

jack000 · Post by **jack000** » Sat Aug 31, 2019 12:04 pm

I had a team of "professionals" repaint the drywalls of a newly-purchased house.

A few days after they completed the work, two kinds of defects appeared on the walls, in a large number of different spots.

The first kind (depicted below) is the paint looking either depressed or protruded over fairly large areas (15-20 cm).

: 1.JPG (171.67 KiB) Viewed 1853 times

The second kind (depicted below) is the paint protruding and looking (and feeling) smooth as silk in the affected area.

: 2.JPG (108.11 KiB) Viewed 1853 times

The people who did the work claim there is an unspecified "problem" with the dry wall itself, but cannot recommend any specific course of action to rectify it. Of course they maintain they carried out the work with great care and competence. I myself saw them sanding and priming the wall before applying the new paint.

How can I fix this? I have some limited experience painting dry walls but I am no expert. Is this a case where extra preparation is needed, possibly involving repair of the dry wall itself?

wickedwjc · Post by **wickedwjc** » Sat Aug 31, 2019 1:24 pm

Probably a bodge job of plastering/skimming the plasterboard. To be fair to the decorators they're working with the surface that's already there... some amount of patching / sanding is to be expected but if there are fundamental defects with the walls overall (as would appear to be the case here) it should've been sorted before painting.

With that in mind they should've really let you know of these issues before starting to allow you a chance to sort it, but of course they want to complete and get paid like everyone else

OchAye · Post by **OchAye** » Sat Aug 31, 2019 2:41 pm

A newly purchased house... that is, how old is the property? Not that age matters but it will have had some wear and damage. There are three things I see:

1. on photo #1 there is a mark ... could have been bad filling sometime ago or to get my underpants in a twist, a part may have been absorbing paint and next to it not, so they one that absorbs ends up sticking out a bit (more paint builds on it).

2. photo #2 low down appears to have at least one big patch of filler (badly done) but smoother than the rest of the wall because it does not have orange peel on it.

3. Lots of orange peel some of which maybe from your latest decorators and some from previous decorators.

I am with Wickedwjc. If the problems were already there, it depends on what you agreed with the decorators in terms of your expectations. To sand a bit a blob here and there will fix the blob but will create a flat surface which will then show like that in photo #2. What is needed is a lot more sanding of everything (the good pros have dustless equipment where the whole kit costs over £1000), you would have to pay for extra day(s) work and their day rate maybe higher than you were paying (you don't buy the equipment if you price the work for crates of beer). Beyond sanding there are fillers that - depending on skill - can be used to produce a glass like surface. So, did you have previous damage on photo #2 that the current decorators repaired? Did they discuss with you what the would do (what preparation, 1 or 2 coats of paint and what paint etc)?

jack000 · Post by **jack000** » Sat Aug 31, 2019 3:13 pm

Hi, thanks for your kind replies. :)

The house was built in the late 1990s.

I am calling a plasterer for a survey. It's likely the problems were already there, as you say, but I believe they were not noticeable to an untrained (and tired) eye as the wall was very dirty and full of marks (the reason for re-painting it in the first place). While I understand this is also my fault for not really "agree[ing] with the decorators in terms of [my] expectations", this result is so shite it can't receive a pass mark under anyone's expectations really, and they should've really told me to sort out the plasterwork first. As professionals they must have noticed. I wouldn't have called off the works, on the contrary I would have paid them more money, assuming they do plastering.

Did you have previous damage on photo #2 that the current decorators repaired

Not that I am aware of.

Did they discuss with you what the would do (what preparation, 1 or 2 coats of paint and what paint etc)?

No, I didn't manage their choices to this level as I was under the misapprehension I was also paying for their expertise and advice in recommending the right preparation, number of coats, and paint. I am the kind of person who doesn't even bat an eye if you tell me "if you want this to look good we'll have to do X, Y, and Z and you'll have to pay for it". I generally say yes.

Now the thing is, all the work they made, and the money I paid them, will be flushed down the toilet as I'll re-plaster all over and then prime and paint again. I can't possibly convey how sad and hurt I feel.

OchAye · Post by **OchAye** » Sat Aug 31, 2019 3:21 pm

Go carefully. What you have may not be a job for plasterer but for a competent decorator. A good plasterer followed by a not good decorator and you can end up where you are again. Oh, and don't let the plasterer do the decorating

Removing the rough (orange peel) surface is relatively easy given the right gear. Removing protruding filler (as in photo #2) could be a bit harder going.

jack000 · Post by **jack000** » Sun Sep 01, 2019 10:18 am

I really wish I could hire someone not to replaster or paint the walls, but in general to protect my interests when it comes to building, decorating, and the like. I feel completely defenseless.

OchAye wrote: ↑Sat Aug 31, 2019 3:21 pmOh, and don't let the plasterer do the decorating

Sigh... I called a guy who has a very good reputation and claims he can do both. Also, he is thinking of "skimming" the walls, which I understand to be a technique whereby you plaster over the existing paint. I wonder how "safe" is that, really, especially I worry the finish might look different (say, smoother) than the rest.

I am quite lost and my walls look like shite. :)

OchAye · Post by **OchAye** » Sun Sep 01, 2019 10:38 am

Many walls? Are you talking the whole house? Do you have more patches like that of photo #2?

jack000 · Post by **jack000** » Sun Sep 01, 2019 10:51 am

OchAye wrote: ↑Sun Sep 01, 2019 10:38 amMany walls? Are you talking the whole house? Do you have more patches like that of photo #2?

Defects like photo #1 are pretty much everywhere, defects like photo #2 are much rarer ("only" three instances).

If I had unlimited money and time I would redo the whole house because it has a crappy feel overall, but I am already in the "acceptance" phase with respect to most of these defects. Overall, I'd say 1/3 of the walls fall below the threshold of decency. In the country I come from, where families worship their house as a sacred place and go as far as to have priests come into the house to actually consacrate it, if you can believe it, this whole house would be rated "turd".