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They most certainly can be "out of that color" or the base.
The painters are at 100% fault. Chiroptera is correct. I, too, am a life-long pro. They ran out of paint (amazing since they had 5 gallons provided for the one room of walls) and they didn't apply the second coating fully. They likely either skipped the second cut in or they went for a dry roll, believing that it would be sufficient.
I'm suspicious at them running out of paint. Did they run completely out or did they just note that there isn't enough to do a complete second coat and told you that they will need more - in which case it is still their fault for not boxing/intermixing the two batches thoroughly, in clean buckets, using clean brushes and rollers.
Oh, I'm sure some of this is the painters' fault. I just wanted to know if it was possible for the paint to NOT match.
I'm not sure if they reserved some from the first batch. I'll assume they did because they told me that they will not have enough (sounds like they hadn't run out yet). When I was there, they were doing touch ups with a roller... they rolled the walls. They did not spray.
This painter was a recommendation (from someone on City-Data actually). I wouldn't say that they are refusing to fix the issue. They are willing to come back out after our floors are put down to do touch ups, but from what I saw, it looks like the entire walls need to be redone.
And to clarify, the paint in question was for the living room, hallways, master bedroom and second bedroom.
Quote:
Originally Posted by chiroptera
The painters' fault in that they should have been aware that there can be differences in batches...they should have reserved some of the first batch for touch up on those walls painted with it, and used the additional paint for a separate wall or walls. Boxing (mixing the paint together, or doing what I just said) is painting 101. Ninety-nine percent of the time, colors will match up perfectly from batch to batch but best to take precautions in case the one percent scenario!
Also, how did they do the touch ups - I'm assuming you mean they had to go back and re-do missed spots? If the rolled the first coat or coats, did they touch up with a brush, or with a roller? Because swiping a loaded brush over a rolled wall will usually look different; it should be rolled or at least dabbed with a brush, even for little spots.
Also I wonder how professional these painters were having the homeowner get the paint. I pay about 60 percent of retail at SW or Benjamin Moore here, figure out how much paint I need for the job, and get it myself. I don't like for the client to provide paint, generally.
I've been a painting contractor since 1979 and if this happened with me (and it or similar things have) I would do a full repaint on the affected walls if they couldn't be fixed, on my dime. No way do I want to leave a client unhappy with a job I did! Are these painters refusing to fix this issue?
I know I'm going against popular opinion here, but I'm putting all the blame on the painters, if they claim to be professionals.
Also as a side note, over five gallons for a living room (walls only?) is really a lot. I do lots of McMansion - type big vaulted spaces and always do two coats and 4-5 gallons suffices for a very big space. Unless maybe they sprayed it, which seems unlikely?
Vansgirl, the issue isn't with either the painter or SWP but the fact that you got paint batches from different colorant machines. These colorant machines use highly concentrated colors and even as little as one drop can make a huge difference in the reflected color you see, even in a 5 gallon can. If you ever buy paint at one of the box stores, the colorant machine they shot the formula from is on their tag that is on the paint can you receive. This is so they can go back to the same colorant machine so it matches. Two colorant machines in the same store will not yield the same color. Anybody that has even a slight clue about paint would know this but a retail customer like yourself would not. That's why they have trained folks using these machines. Most often these machines are recalibrated with a spectrometer every month. But that has a +/- 3% maximum variation which is why you can have color differences between machines. Most machines will only need a slight adjustment but no two machines will throw colorant exactly the same. Although you didn't know, you should have picked up the base at the store that had it and taken it to the SWP store where you originally bought it and had them shoot the colorant. Had you discussed this with one of the SWP people they should have told you this.
Superpaint, while not a cheap date, will never be used on any of my jobs. I've had far too many issues with it including what is called "photographing". You will see what is under the paint as if the paint were a translucent film rather than a solid color. If you are getting this, I'd have an SWP rep take a look at it. If you used one of the low sheens like satin or eggshell, you'll probably see the paint burnish. That means the sheen will be different where it's been touched up. That's pretty much consistent with any vinyl acrylic paints of the lower sheens. Super Paint is only a 41% solids paint and that's how much ended up on the wall. The rest evaporated. SWP does warrant this paint to be a one coat coverage so the issue may be resolved via SWP but they'll have to send a rep out for an inspection. Might give them a call.
Agree that SW needs to come and see what happened and mix you touchup to match the original batch. And your painter should do the work at no addl cost IMHO. I had this happen to me with Lowes Duramax and learned the hard way to always use my Lowes card to register my paint so they can track back to the original batch.
Another question for you guys/gals: the painter got some color on the ceiling in a few spots. He went to touch up the spots with some ceiling paint, but the color didn't match up. (The touch up paint is white and the ceiling is more of an off-white) How do I go about fixing this? Do I pick a ceiling paint and have him paint the entire ceiling? It will be very hard to pick a white to match the existing ceiling color.
Another question for you guys/gals: the painter got some color on the ceiling in a few spots. He went to touch up the spots with some ceiling paint, but the color didn't match up. (The touch up paint is white and the ceiling is more of an off-white) How do I go about fixing this? Do I pick a ceiling paint and have him paint the entire ceiling? It will be very hard to pick a white to match the existing ceiling color.
He should have removed the spots (they have products for this) instead of touching up! Now see if he can slice off a sample, at least a 4" x 4" piece from inside a closet (in a place that won't catch your eye when you open it ) that's painted the same color and have him get a color match mixed in a quart size. Then he can also repair the section in the closet with spackle & paint.
It's a common practice to touch up paint spots. If you used "ceiling paint", it's a dry hide paint and is a cheap formulation. I would have suggested 2 coats of a premium quality paint rather than the cheapy. If the ceiling only received 1 coat, that won't work regardless of the quality of the paint. Any ceiling, to come out correctly, is going to require 2 coats and if he's rolling it, it needs to be cross rolled. Otherwise, because of the perspective of your eyes, it's going to look patchy and it's not going to touch up.
Who speced the paint- you or the painter? Not to bash the job but there's a lot of wrong going on here and it sounds like you hired a labor only job with you supplying the materials. When it comes to paint, you cannot cut any corners and always figure at least 2 coats even if going over the same color. Usually the labor is more expensive than the paint so never try to cheap your way out in buying paint. When buying paint of any color, ask a lot of questions like is this color stable or will it fade. Anything with red in the formulation WILL fade as red is the only color that will evaporate. Yeah, I know that sounds odd but red really does evaporate. Ask about different sheens being more washable, staying cleaner, reflects more light, etc.
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They most certainly can be "out of that color" or the base.
