ᐅ Have the transition from the second to the third coat smoothed out or use painter’s fleece (paint scrim).

Hello everyone,

We have finally fulfilled our dream of owning a home. We built an end-of-terrace house with a developer, and according to the contract, the walls will be handed over at Q2 finish.

Now we are wondering how to proceed with the walls. We have already consulted several painters and heard different opinions.

One advises against using painting fleece altogether. It would be better to smooth everything to a Q3 finish, as smooth as a baby’s bottom, and then later repair any likely settlement cracks (the walls need to breathe).
The other recommends using painting fleece entirely, especially to mask settlement cracks in a new build (since we’ve already paid so much for the house, it would be a shame to see all the cracks later).

You can already see some cracks appearing.

So here we are, uncertain about the next step. Personally, I tend to lean towards having the walls smoothed to a higher finish, mainly for the breathability of the walls.
I find that somehow more natural.
I would really like to hear your opinions on this.

Thank you very much

Oh, the breathable walls... just make sure they don’t steal your air.

Seriously. If the plasterer does a good job, the painter has very little work and only needs to do minimal sanding. Just paint over it, done. Cracks will appear, quite a few actually; we wanted to see exactly where they form and will have them repaired during the next repainting in 2+ years.
You just have to decide if you want to pay for the fleece – we didn’t want to, not even on the ceiling.

Didn’t use any fleece anywhere and just had the painters do a standard Q2 finish, everyone here does it that way….

However, the plasterer has already incorporated something in some places, for example at the inspection shaft of the controlled residential ventilation system..

Fenomen schrieb:

I personally tend to prefer skim coating, mainly because of the ventilation of the walls.
I find it somehow more natural.
I'm very interested in your opinions on this?

It’s all a matter of personal preference, except for the “breathing” part – walls don’t breathe and never have. Without a mesh = settlement cracks, possibly for several years. With a mesh = settlement cracks, which usually aren’t noticeable because of the mesh covering them. Whether it’s Q2/Q3 or whatever else also doesn’t matter – just a matter of taste. Some prefer a perfectly smooth finish regardless of the lighting, others prefer a somewhat more rustic look.

Next time, I would use painter’s fleece. Not only because of the settlement cracks but also due to the extremely delicate walls.

Why is your wall so sensitive? We use lime-cement plaster in the bathrooms and lime-gypsum plaster elsewhere, and simply paint over it. That’s how 99% of homebuilders do it in Bavaria, and there’s nothing sensitive about it.