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mtp7878

New home paint issues

mtp7878
13 years ago

Hello,

Just purchased a new home in the Philly area, The home was painted very poorly. They sprayed and back rolled the whole house with Duron flat white eggshell on the walls and the same eggshell semi gloss on the trim. I have a ton of dry spray area thru out the home. The trim is actually sticky and somewhat rough (dry spray i guess)

I am afraid to let the same painters back in the house to try and fix these issues. I cannot see them spending the time to really make it right. I would like to repaint most of the whole home.

Can any one recommend a good interior paint? Should i use a eggshell sheen on the walls? And can anything be done about the sticky trim Thank You

Comments (13)

  • paintguy22
    13 years ago

    Eggshell is a sheen, not a color. So, you can't have flat white eggshell or semi-gloss eggshell. A lot of people get this confused. It's either flat or eggshell. Flat is non-washable and has no sheen. Eggshell is washable and has a low sheen compared to semi gloss. I don't what 'dry spray' is....so, I assume you mean overspray, which is certainly one thing that can make the trim rough. When they spray, the overspray from the sprayer lands on trim that is already too dry and makes it rough. Another thing is not sanding well and then spraying over rough, poorly sanded trim. I bet that is the main reason your trim is rough. Many new constuction type painters are just that...blow and go, and the quality is low. I would also worry that inviting these same painters back could just mean more of the same. I don't know what the sticky trim could mean, but I would just try sanding it with sanding blocks and see if that fixes both the rough problem and the sticky problem. You could use an eggshell paint on the walls, but because eggshell has a sheen, this could highlight the bad drywall....I'm only assuming that there is bad drywall because your builder uses bad painters, but I could be wrong! It is your choice to use flat on the walls so that the flaws will not show as much or the eggshell if you are really looking for durability/washability on the walls. There are many high end paint choices out there....what you want is something 100 percent acrylic which will likely cost between $30-$60 per gallon.

  • PRO
    Lori A. Sawaya
    13 years ago

    I could have misinterpreted, but I think mtp7878 meant that the color of white used is similar to the color of an actual eggshell. They were using "eggshell" as a descriptor for the color of white, not the sheen of the finish.

  • PRO
    Christopher Nelson Wallcovering and Painting
    13 years ago

    All builders ( at least around here) that use Duron, use the cheapest crap they can get to go through their sprayers and ALWAYS use the color SHELL WHITE. They spray EVERYTHING the same. I have seen it countless times. To fix it, it all needs to be sanded( as when it was sprayed,all the dust and crap in the house, that was never cleaned, gets blown up in the paint job) and re painted. Duron has some good products that I use all the time, just not the contractors grade.I would hire a different paint crew that would have some respect for a quality job, not a " blow and go" operation.

  • mtp7878
    Original Author
    13 years ago

    Thank you for your responses, Sorry if i did not explain it correctly. The Color in the whole house is Eggshell. And the dry spray I was talking about maybe IS dust and dirt in the paint. I would explain it as tiny pimples on the trim and walls in some areas.The trim is more tacky. For example I laid a book on a flat piece of painted wood. A day later the print stuck onto the paint when I lifted the book.

    I settled on the house three weeks ago and bought the home from a builder I thought had a good name.The paint does make me upset. I talked to the painters and all they said was the builder does not pay us much to paint the house,We only get three days to paint a 3,100 sq ft home ,We will make it right. I can not honestly see them taking the time to sand everywhere and repaint correctly B/C it would take days.

    I really did want to use something on the walls more durable than flat. I have been looking at BM Aura and Behr's prem plus. Any recommendations on sheen selection? The drywall does not look that bad. I did notice some nail pops already.

    I also been looking for a good painter in my Area of Bucks County P.A and seem to can't find one. Any recommendations how to locate one?

  • paintguy22
    13 years ago

    A color called Eggshell? Oh, what a silly idea that was. I understand that the painters are not paid well I guess, but still some of the blame has to be attached to them I think. I would go with eggshell (the sheen) for walls. It's the lowest level sheen of the washables

  • graywings123
    13 years ago

    The only mistake here is the overspray, and I would be inclined to let the painters back in to fix the problem on the trim.

    The builder will tell you to leave the walls this color for a year so that when they come in and fix the nail pops a year from now, it will be easy to touch up the wall color. The flat white paint also helps hide any drywall imperfections that will be more apparent in a higher sheen.

    My suggestion would be that if you can't live with the current paint color, choose a matte finish and make sure you have some leftover for touchups.

  • PRO
    Christopher Nelson Wallcovering and Painting
    13 years ago

    really did want to use something on the walls more durable than flat. I have been looking at BM Aura and Behr's prem plus.

    Do a search, these 2 paints are not even on the same planet.
    Google Behr and see

  • mtp7878
    Original Author
    13 years ago

    I have decided to use the BM Aura in the house, In the last week I have noticed some settlement cracks and nail pops in the drywall. I will give the builder a chance to repair all these issues in the next month including all the dirt mostly on the trim and doors.

    I know for a fact its now dirt in the paint because I removed all the carpeting on the first floor and found a ton of dirt,sawdust and debris. So when they were spraying more than likely this became airborn. I emailed the builder and asked why they at least don't sweep the house before paint. They could care less!

    Thanks for all your help.

  • paintguy22
    13 years ago

    Yes, yes....I remember back in the day when I was doing new construction. Nobody swept, ever. What we would do as painters is push all the crap in the center of the each room to spray the trim. We used leaf blowers to blow all the crap out from underneath the baseboards instead of vacuums because it was faster.....waited for the dust to settle and then sprayed. It was an effective system as the trim always came out smooth...spraying over all that dust and debris is hackwork and I don't care if you are not being payed well enough to do it. It's still hackwork.

  • PRO
    Christopher Nelson Wallcovering and Painting
    13 years ago

    It's still hackwork.
    It still amazes me how much of this goes on, unbelievable.

  • mtp7878
    Original Author
    13 years ago

    Wonder if using aura paint,what sheen is recommended for new construction walls. The bm rep is pushing matte finish. I really don't like much sheen. Is eggshell very shiny with the aura? I would like something with very low sheen but a little durable.

  • paintguy22
    13 years ago

    Yes, eggshell is shiny. Matte has a very low sheen, almost flat. If you are not too worried about super scrubbable durability, then go with the matte. BM claims that the matte is every bit as durable as the eggshell, but I'm not totally sold on that claim yet.

  • Faron79
    12 years ago

    Sorry about your "NEW HOME" paint issues Mtp!!

    Lotsa good advice from the Painters on this thread.

    Yes, every paint-line out there has "Top-shelf" choices, all the way down to "crap". Sadly, your homes' paint and application is close to the latter level.

    If it were MY house, I'd repaint the "Most used" areas first.
    * You could start with the Kitchen. Then bathrooms.
    * I say this because they're the most "Moisture-prone", and therefore easily damaged from water. The sooner a good paint is on those kinda walls...the better!!
    * For these spaces, I would choose AT LEAST an Eggshell SHEEN in the Kitchen, and AT LEAST a Satin in the Baths.
    * Lightly sponge-off your existing walls first though!! You will probably have some of the builders'-paint coming off, so go lightly!
    * The MOST IMPORTANT THING NOW....RE-PRIME over the builders'-crap-paint!!! I'd choose Zinsser's 123, or their GARDZ primer. If you're near a C2 dealer, get their "C2-One" primer. Avoid "PVA-Class" Drywall primers. There are MUCH better choices.
    * Now your new paints will have a perfect base!
    * For real "high-vis" areas, consider FPE!

    Faron