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What determines a "coat" of paint


Shell820810

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The painter said 3 coats of spray paint.  I assumed that meant spraying the house 3 times.  He has landed and reckons he will be in and out in a day.  We need to move the temporary stairs so he can paint behind them. He said that would be a 10 minute job. I asked how he could get 3 coats on then. He said it would be dry in 2 minutes for recoating again.

I assume he is going to spray a wall from say top to bottom, and then back to the top again, and then a third time.  Just a few minutes between each coat.

Surely this isn't going to give the coverage of 3 coats?  How would we know if it's been given 3 coats?

 

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Its the coverage you are wanted to make sure of.  

Does it look fully covered and consistent.  

With spay paint you can get small areas were the spray was not as fully covered as it goes on in a mist.  Should dry quickly and i'm sure thats why there are multiple coats to allow full and consistent coverage.

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Oh I'm getting dizzy just watching that!! They were still taping at 11.30 and the boss thought today would do the whole house, but may have to come back tomorrow to do the third floor (attic).

I guess I am just going to inspect every single room before we pay.  He didn't sound like he was going to fill in any cracks or anything either.

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Yeah i would say just have a good walk around and check for any patches etc.

If he is coming back tomorrow then you could give him a chance to sort any issues.

Optimistic to get it all sorted in 1 day?  How many guys are with him?

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4 minutes ago, recoveringacademic said:

Ahhh, filling cracks, the sheer delight of that process. I just lurve it.¬¬

I love filling jobs...! Decent clean sharp filling knife, cut up 4pt milk containers as mixing cups and this stuff....

http://www.wickes.co.uk/Polycell-Polyfilla-Alabastine-Powder-Filler-1-8kg-Pack/p/228112

Sooooo much better than any of the other stuff - the premix plaster filler is the work of the devil !

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8 minutes ago, DeeJunFan said:

Yeah i would say just have a good walk around and check for any patches etc.

If he is coming back tomorrow then you could give him a chance to sort any issues.

Optimistic to get it all sorted in 1 day?  How many guys are with him?

He has left 2 fellas at it.  The boss is away to another job.

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New plaster will suck 2 coats up for fun. There should really be at least an hour or two for the first 2 bases to have a chance of skinning over fully before attempting to coat with the third, but this process is quick tbh. 

Paintwork shouldn't even be considered until ALL the prep is done, eg filling / sanding / cleaning down. You'll never match the sprayed finish with a brush, and even a GOOD roller will struggle, so if these areas are prominent then they need doing FIRST. 

Prep, THEN paint. 

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Both painters we priced said that they put the first coat on then prep.

Just had a look, first coat is on half of down stairs.  The fella thats there said that they wouldnt be anywhere near done today.  But they are doing a floor at a time, leaving about 20 mins between each coat to dry.  Looking at it, I don't even know how 3 coats would cover it! I think it will be pretty obvious if its not covered right.  I think we will just hold off payment until next week until the paint has had time to dry and we can take time to check it in different lights.

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The best filler I have used yet is this stuff. And use an old bank card to work it in and level it off.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Everbuild-ONE1-One-Strike-Filler/dp/B001326TJA

This won't be its final coat of paint as in another 18 months after your house has cracked and fully dried out it will all need done again. It will be very obvious if they have missed any bits esp if the sun is shinning on it.

Macpherson's is a good paint to use, I done all my house with it.

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Theres a Lurgan fella and a bad tempered foreign fella.  He kicked off not knowing I was in the house.  The length this house is sitting, it probably is nearly as cracked and dried out as its going to be.  Our curved fireplace is cracking really badly, not looking good for when the stove is lit.

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18 minutes ago, Shell820810 said:

Theres a Lurgan fella and a bad tempered foreign fella.  He kicked off not knowing I was in the house.  The length this house is sitting, it probably is nearly as cracked and dried out as its going to be.  Our curved fireplace is cracking really badly, not looking good for when the stove is lit.

Nothing good from lurgan except me!!! You will get used to the cracks. Just let the house move and shrink and do what it wants to do for the next 18 months or you will be chasing your tail filling in cracks and popped screw holes.

And if the bad tempered foreign fella doesn't pull his ears back then phone his boss and tell him to get off site asap and not to come back. It's your house so you are able to come and go as you please. 

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The other fella tried to grab his attention to let him know I was there.  I just said he can shout all he wants as long as he doesn't cause any damage lol.  We will have to give it a good check over this evening. 

 

Just now, Declan52 said:

Nothing good from lurgan except me!!! You will get used to the cracks. Just let the house move and shrink and do what it wants to do for the next 18 months or you will be chasing your tail filling in cracks and popped screw holes.

And if the bad tempered foreign fella doesn't pull his ears back then phone his boss and tell him to get off site asap and not to come back. It's your house so you are able to come and go as you please. 

 

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24 minutes ago, Declan52 said:

Nothing good from lurgan except me!!! You will get used to the cracks. Just let the house move and shrink and do what it wants to do for the next 18 months or you will be chasing your tail filling in cracks and popped screw holes.

Tell me about it................

I went around filling cracks and a handful of plasterboard screw pops and re-painting about 6 months after the house was painted.  I probably have a dozen or so cracks that have opened up again, plus another handful of plasterboard screw pops.  I've just put light pencil marks by them for now, so I can tell when new ones have stopped appearing.  I'm pretty sure the vast majority of cracks stopped showing after around 18 months, but have wondered if we'd have been better off leaving off doing the painting until a lot later, even though that would have meant more masking up and cutting in.

BTW, amongst all this talk of fillers (and I've been using that Screwfix stuff Nick linked to, on the recommendation of our decorator) does anyone know of a really good flexible filler?  We have a very fine crack, just a hairline one, that is very noticeable because of where it is (the hall vaulted ceiling) and I've repaired it twice now.  The second time I sanded down through the plaster skim to check there was scrim tape in place (there was) and to add additional screws, then I filled and sanded the whole area back flat again and painted it with three coats, with a big overlap to hide the repaired area.  The very fine hairline crack's appeared again, presumably because there's very slight natural movement with expansion and contraction in that area.  I've been wondering if a flexible filler might stop this hairline crack from coming back.

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Best way ( possibly the only way ) to stop that one will be to sand back through the plaster, around 2" each side, lay a paper ( non perforated ) tape in, such as the dry liners tape, bonding it on with neat pva and allow to fully cure. Prime the area first, generously, with 50/50 pva / water solution to remove the porosity and provide a stable surface  

When that's all fully cured, apply a 50/50 pva / water solution to the whole area, including the tape, and fill with the Toupret. Allow to dry and sand back. 

Not an enviable task but I'd be quite sure that would stop the crack. If it doesn't, please come back and delete this :ph34r:

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Same method as Nick but I use a strip of scrim cloth. Widen the crack out with a screwdriver and sand it down. Fill the crack, lay scrim and fill over it again. Sand down level when it's set. 

You can buy hairline filler but I didn't like it.

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Shell... Is Macphersons (Crown) Vinyl matt washable? One of my regrets was not getting our painter to use washable paint. I forget what we did use but trying to remove any kind of mark with a damp cloth takes the paint off. Kids finger prints, squashed bugs are a pain. I'm now gradually repainting using Dulux Endurance. Fortunately there is an exact colour match with what we used originally.

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28 minutes ago, Nickfromwales said:

Only thing that would stop me agreeing with Declan is that the repair may then be too proud in one place. I also don't like the risk of catching the scrim tape and lifting the fibres as if / when you do that your screwed. 

You have to take enough skim off to let the scrim sit in, a bit of sanding does it easy enough. Use  cloth  scrim not the plastic crap that they sell now.

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The builder AKA dad checked before the painters left for the day and he was happy with the coverage. They have two coats in the kitchen and sunroom, and 1 coat everywhere else.  They are through 9 tubs of paint.  He reckons they will be lucky to finish it in 2 days but it is getting done properly and they aren't cutting corners.  £830 we were quoted for the 3 floors.  I don't know how the painter is making money at it. But will throw the fellas £20 each in the morning as a sweetener to keep them doing a good job. Phew!

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