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It's been a frustrating couple of weeks. Ryan the painter was on site and after priming the window frames they looked at the walls and stopped. They called Rob, who called me, and we all met at the house.
Ryan did not feel the finish left by the sheetrock crew was equal to a Level 4 flat finish. It was now my job to look at every wall and mark flaws in the finish that needed to be reworked by the sheetrock crew. This could be blobs in the paint, an uneven or wavy finish in the primer left by the roller, or something else. Jake the sheetrock guy came back and gave the place a good once over and then handed the project back to the painter.
Ryan came in and finished priming the ceilings and walls in all the rooms. The next day they first-coat painted the ceilings, that's when the trouble continued. Ryan called Rob and I and we met to discuss the cracks in the walls.
I realize looking at photos of white walls is like watching paint dry. Sorry. In the photos above you can see where cracks in the walls were repaired by Jake the sheetrock guy. Interestingly, these cracks were on opposite sides of the same wall in the stairwell and the primary bedroom. There was another crack in the ceiling in the first floor den, close to one of the cantilevered steel beams. Rob tried to diagnose why the cracks were occurring. In the case of the wall cracks the general consensus is the addition of 30 solar panels on the roof and the installers traipsing around up there. As for the den ceiling, we'll have to wait for Brian to chime in.
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| Two coats of BM matte finish on the garage walls |
The other problem we're having with the paint is striping in the finish. We spec'd Benjamin Moore Regal Select for the walls and the ceiling in a matte finish. We've never had any issues using it. Ryan uses Miller paints, almost exclusively, and has been having a very hard time getting an even finish even after primer and two coats of paint as in the photo above.
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| Three coats of BM matte finish on the garage walls |
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| Three coats of BM matte finish on the garage ceiling |
The same striping can been seen even after three coats. Ryan wants to use Miller ceiling flat on the ceilings and we agree. It was my mistake, I think, to spec matte finish. I read the construction specification wrong. Yesterday Ryan repainted the garage walls and ceiling with the eggshell finish from Miller to see if he can get a better finish. We'll be looking at that today and make a final decision on the wall paint.
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