Youre "painter" is a hack and is trying to take advantage of you, or else just plain stupid. I would bet good money that the SW guy said no such thing. We need to know what primer and paint was used, because normal paint on the floor is not a good idea and you may well alredy have a bad situation on youre hands. A GC was involved? + a "painter" who apparently does not know his trade, sounds like a disaster.

Sure, more coats will make a difference. Eventually, the new color will cover up the primer color completely and you will have the colors you are after.

the crux of the problem is in the word "eventually", paintguy. We need to get the the most economical resolution on the paint on the floor. Is that one or two coats of the same color or would we be able to get to a saturated color if we switched to a paint color that gives better coverage. For example, if the floor that is supposed to be yellow looks green because of the gray/blue primer, would green be a color that we could put on now that would make it be good to go in one more coat? And for the orange over gray/blue, would it be more successful to put red as the next coat and forget about trying to get a nice orange floor.

I found out today that the primer and floor paint were Glidden.

Here is what the architect learned from talking to the SW paint store manager "I discussed the situation with the manager there and told him that the topcoat is SW Tredplex (it actually was a Glidden product). I don't know what the primer is, but other than the question about its color, what it is really isn't important. He confirmed that the deep color bases that are used for oranges, reds and yellows are notorious for their lack of coverage. It is because the ratio of pigment to binder is so much greater than with lighter colors, that many more coats are required.
He also said that the reason white primers aren't used under colors like red and oranges is that the initial finish coats will be pink (as in the case of the filler we noticed). And the amount of red pigment one can "safely" put in white primer will still yield a pink primer that will require multiple coats to achieve red. There was no hesitation when he said that therefore, when dealing with strong hues, the advice is to use a grey-tinted primer. In the case of the yellow, he agreed with me that the primer under the yellow should have been white, but that it was proper for the primer under the red and orange to be gray.
He said the only solution is to continue to add coats to achieve saturation. He did say, however, that his experience is that the result from coat 2 to 3 is usually dramatic.
One thing he said that you need to know is that the full cure time for this paint is 21 days before it reaches its hardness. Until then, one should be careful about anything being dragged over it or slid, as it is still soft, especially with multiple coats."

What are your thoughts about moving into the house when the floors have not cured for 21 days? Should we stay completely out of those rooms? Not move the furniture in? Not walk in shoes? What do we need to do to protect.

We have pretty much decided not to have the painted do the additional coats. We are too angry with the way we have been treated. Instead, we will do the coats at a later date ourselves. At that time, because we will have lived in the rooms for a while, what will we need to do to prep the floors?

I have read on the web that painted floors should also get a couple of coats of polyurethane. What do you think about that?

Thanks!!

No poly. Floor paints are designed to be durable by themselves. Plus, I don't like to switch products when I don't have to because I'm worried about bonding problems....poly bonding to paint, one companys floor paint bonding to another, etc. Just stick with the same product and apply as many coats as needed to obtain full coverage is what I would do. Even if you were to switch, you would still need to apply two coats of the new product, so what does that save you if you are applying two more coats of what is currently there? As for the cure time, I would say let it dry a week, then move in and be careful with shoes and twisting feet and dragging items across the floor for the first month. If it is feasible to stay out of there for 21 days, then you can do that, but when is that realistic?

Thank you paintguy. We will add two more coats ourselves. It is all prepped so it should not be too hard to do. We will follow directions from the forum. tape with frog tape. buy a good brush for cutting in and a good roller. Then stay off it for a week. Then when we move in, I will explain to the 2 1/2 yo and the 9 yo boys how they will have to be gentle with the floor.........as best we can.

Why do so many say to cover the floor paint with a couple of layers of poly?

I suspect it is because floor paints were not as durable by themselves as they are today. Many people still do not believe that acrylic paint is as durable as oil based paints so they figure perhaps a coat of poly will help make the surface more durable.

Why do so many say to cover the floor paint with a couple of layers of poly?

Very bad idea, as already explained

I will explain to the 2 1/2 yo and the 9 yo boys how they will have to be gentle with the floor.........

Yea, right! :)