ᐅ Recommendations for Wall Surfaces in New Construction

Hello everyone,

Although this question comes up frequently, the circumstances are always different. That’s why I’m writing here again. Our new build (semi-detached house with basement/ground floor/first floor/attic) is progressing, and we are currently planning with the drywall contractor/painter.
Our exterior walls and load-bearing interior walls consist of sand-lime brick panels. The non-load-bearing walls are made of gypsum wallboards, and the ceilings are concrete.

According to the building specifications, all rooms except the basement will be prepared at Q2 level for textured wallpaper. We recently received a quote from a painter and were quite surprised at the price for Q3 finishing and painting.

So my question is, what would you have done in a new build, or possibly do yourself?
The current plan is to have all “public” rooms (living room, kitchen, hallway, bathroom, WC) professionally finished, and to handle everything else ourselves.

Would you have everything sanded to Q3, or is Q2 sufficient with the option to do touch-ups yourself? Or is it not worth it in terms of cost/benefit? I am not inexperienced, but I’ve never done this before.

If the ceilings are done at Q3 level, would a fleece wallpaper still be necessary?

Certainly, Q3 and fleece wallpaper is the best option (also for settlement cracks), but I would like to save a bit at some points and try doing it myself.

I would really appreciate some tips.

Thanks in advance!

The question is how high your standards are. In the basement, you can do it yourself, for example by spraying. But not Q3 level as a non-professional. I wouldn’t trust myself to apply and sand Q3 finishing. Ideally, it would be Q4 finish. Good materials alone cost money. You can save some money on painting, but preparing the surface to Q3 level is unlikely to save you money. Better to save on textured wallpaper and just paint the wall…

I would always wallpaper rooms that are large and sparsely furnished. Wallpaper also absorbs sound, so the rooms don’t feel so echoey.

I'm not very demanding myself; personally, Q2 finish plus wallpaper would be enough for me. (Is textured wallpaper not considered outdated?)

Whether Q3 or Q4, there is no perfect wall. If you look closely, you’ll always see something.

You can always do the painting yourself, right?

I recently saw some family members wallpapering with that type of painting wallpaper (non-woven). It wasn’t difficult at all. The key is to work carefully, and in the end, it’s just hard work. For non-woven wallpaper or a well-smoothed wall, I would also "just" paint, as @rick2018 suggested.

Q2 to Q3 already takes several hours. If two coats are supposed to be enough, you need to apply a slightly textured finish on the inside to mask small dents. A filled primer is suitable for this purpose. Sto offers such a product. The method is as follows: one person applies the primer with a roller, while a second person uses a ceiling brush to create a pattern by wiping it in with specific movements. After drying, possibly apply another coat of paint. This technique is somewhat similar to so-called brush plaster. It is currently popular among architects.

I have often used a brush-on plaster with 1mm (0.04 inches) quartz sand from the company Haering, great stuff and very economical.
First, apply a basic primer with white paint as usual, then apply the brush-on plaster directly with a large brush, for example using a crisscross motion, in white or tinted as desired. I once tried 2mm (0.08 inches) on the ceiling, but I would not recommend it because the sand grains were harder to distribute evenly; 1mm (0.04 inches) looks great in my opinion.
Thanks to the 1mm (0.04 inches) grain size, it tolerates minor imperfections in the wall plaster.