When you hire a professional to paint a room in your home, you expect beautiful and long-lasting results. Unfortunately, that’s not always what homeowners get. Less skilled and honest painters can leave you with walls that are smudged or streaky, or that start fading or cracking quickly. Some particularly unscrupulous painters skip steps to maximize their profits at the expense of quality.
A bad paint job isn’t just bad news for your wall. It’s a sign the contracting company might have cut corners elsewhere, so you’ll want to check over the rest of the team’s work. If you’re having your walls painted or you’ve just had them done, you should know the signs of a bad interior paint job just in case you need to make a complaint.
Red Flags During the Painting Process
Red flags can start to manifest themselves when the painting is in progress, and they’re often more important than the ones you might discover after the work is complete. If you see any of these questionable practices, bring up your concerns immediately with the person supervising the work crew.
Lack of Wall Preparation
For a paint job to turn out well, the walls must be clean and largely free from damage. Professional painters will prepare the wall by repairing minor dents and cracks, removing old paint if necessary, or sanding old high-gloss paint so the new coats will stick. After that, they should thoroughly clean, rinse, and dry the wall.
Signs that wall preparation was skipped or botched include these:
- Visible dents, cracks, or other imperfections beneath the new paint
- Old paint showing through the new coat
- New paint failing to adhere properly to a glossy wall
Another sign of inadequate preparation is a lack of tools besides just paint, brushes, and rollers. Painting crews will need caulk, edging tools, a sturdy ladder, and other supplies. If you see a crewmember using masking tape instead of wide blue or green painter’s tape, the job likely isn’t starting off on a good foot.
Insufficient Room Preparation
Professional painters should protect your belongings and the rest of your room from splatters and spills. They might ask you to move your furniture away from the walls, but you shouldn’t have to do much more than that.
Drop cloths should cover furniture during the process, light fixtures should come down, and windows, floors, and power outlets should be covered at least around the edges. If even one of these steps is overlooked, it’s not a good sign.
After the crew is done, if you see streaks of wall paint on the outlet covers and window frames, you may want to follow up with the company.
Signs of a Poor Finished Paint Job
Even if you weren’t there to see how the company did its work, you can still tell when technicians didn’t do the job well. If you see any of these red flags once the job is complete, you’ll probably want to follow up with the company.
The Paint is Wrong for the Wall
Painters should take the time to help their clients choose the best colors and finishes for each specific job. A garish bedroom color or hard-to-wash matte bathroom paint may just be a questionable choice on the homeowner’s part, but it also suggests the painter skipped the color consultation.
A truly professional company will take time to help its clients choose the best colors and finishes—washable semi-glosses for messy rooms and mattes for living and dining rooms. If it doesn’t provide this guidance, homeowners are left to make their best guess on what paint to use, and they may not make the most informed decision.
Stains and Visible Flaws Through the Paint
If you see stains or discoloration bleeding through, an uneven texture or sheen, or visible patches under the paint, it’s typically a sign that the painter botched the primer coat or didn’t apply one at all.
Primer helps to correct minor surface flaws so the paint goes on smoothly, dries with an even finish and vibrant color, and lasts years longer than it would otherwise. If the wall is water-stained, one or two coats of a sealer-primer will stop discoloration from bleeding through the new paint. Unfortunately, a less scrupulous company may skip this step to cut its overhead.
Premature Fading or Damage
If the paint starts to fade or discolor within months, or if it chips or peels when you clean the wall, that’s a sign the painter could have applied more coats.
Some paint covers a wall well with just one coat, but those varieties are usually the exception, not the norm. For most paint, you’ll need two or three coats for a durable, accurate final color and finish.
Blotches, Streaks, and Blisters
Blotches, streaks, and blisters may be a sign the painter worked with a dirty or wet wall. Walls pick up dust and grime over time that can interfere with paint adhesion. Even if a wall is relatively clean, the painter should still clean and dry it first.
Smudges, Cracks, Marks, and Wrinkles
Some paint defects are caused by either improper technique or bad environmental conditions. These include the following:
- Cracking or “alligatoring” of the paint surface
- Wrinkling, especially in oil-based paints
- Smudges or smears in the dried paint
- Visible brush or roller marks
Another cause behind these four defects is when a painter waits too little between coats. While it’s safe to recoat latex paint after four to six hours, an oil-based paint will need to dry for a full 24 hours. If the room is damp or it’s raining outside, the drying time will be longer. Wrinkled paint is usually the result of applying oil-based paint when room temperature is less than 50°F.
Chalking Paint
Chalking occurs when the paint begins to break down, often due to improper application or poor surface preparation. These are some signs it might be happening to your wall:
- A white, powdery film on the paint surface
- Color fading more quickly than expected
- Pigment that wipes off easily with a light touch
Long-term sun exposure can also cause chalking, but when it happens soon after painting, it typically means painter neglect. The crew may have thinned the paint too much or neglected to clean the wall before starting. Painting over a high-gloss paint without sanding it first can also cause chalking.
How to Address a Bad Paint Job
If you find any of the above signs on your recent paint job, take quick action to protect your investment. Here are some tips to handle the situation:
- Document, document, document: Take photos and write a detailed description of what you see before you contact the painter. Review the contract or agreement you signed for any satisfaction guarantees or warranties.
- Get a second opinion: If the painter isn’t responsive or disputes the quality issues, you may want to ask a different painting company for its opinion. Keep its information on hand, just in case you’d rather its crew do the remediation work.
- DIY if necessary: For minor issues, or if professional remediation isn’t feasible, you could address a bad paint job yourself with basic tools and a bit of patience. Remember to carefully clean and prepare the area, then use the same paint as the original job. If you find the work isn’t manageable, contact a professional you trust to complete it.
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