what to do about missed bits on emulsioned surfaces

I've just had my study decorated. Its upstairs in the roof area so has a ceiling with sloping sides and the flat bit is over an open staircase so admittedly a bit difficult. The ceiling looked OK before apart from being very dirty and a few cracks in the plaster which he has repaired very well. However, it now looks terrible, patchy and stipey. I watched him putting on yet another coat and his roller technique was terrible. I could see he wasn't joining to the wet surface and was leaving dry bits between each strip. The walls are the same - you can see stripes if you stand in the corner and look down and where he has cut in with a brush under the dado and above the radiator the paint is a denser colour than the rollered bit in between (he thins the paint though the tin says don't) and so looks a bit dirty. He prepared well but just doesn't seem to have the hang of rollering.

What I wanted to ask is that if I roller over the obviously missed bits with the same paint, will this achieve an improvement or just make things worse?

He's also painted the loft hatch with the trapdoor in situ; and painted the louvre window frame with the ventilator open. Luckily I noticed the latter before it stuck and opened it, revealing a dirty unpainted bit. Only one coat of satinwood on the skirtings; he says that's all skirtings need which is ridiculous as skirtings get knocked more than the doors, which he has only painted one side though they open from the eaves storage into the room.

He's now doing the room below and has just painted the cornice and done a 2-3 inch brushed cut in above and below and above the skirtings etc. with a different type of matt emulsion from what he is using on the ceiling. He thins the emulsion though the tin says not to unless for a sealing coat for new plaster.

I could do without the aggro as my husband has incurable cancer and Parkinson's and is very frail and a lot of my time is spent taking him to various hospitals and clinics.

Incidentally, he knocks off very early in the afternoon (1.10 pm yesterday), having started at 9 a.m., so it is going on for ever.

If he did some repairs using filler to the ceiling and didn't spot prime the filler it can cause patchiness. Some of these problems could be down to the paint as well as technique, what paint are you using? and is it his brand choice or yours? and did he give any opinion on the paint?

Dado's can be a real pain actually, and your problem is quite common, it looks ok until you look down the wall with direct light on it. However an experianced dec should know this and that the correct thing to do is roll up as tight as you can (even if it means masking the dado) to give a uniform finish.

There's nothing wrong with thinning paint, i always do to give it a bit more flow, but i use trade emulsions which are thicker than off the shelf. You can over thin it though.

If you are going over trim that is in good condition and same paint type it may be acceptable to abrade and give one coat, but its pretty much industry standard to give two coats on the average job.

Its bad form to paint removable items in situ and the louvre shows a lack of common sense, bone idleness or both.

His techniques do sound very amateurish but i wouldn't want to immediately condemn a bloke with out knowing :

Did his price seem like the market average?
How you came to employ him?
Did he give a detailed quote?
Is he a painter or an odd job man?
How many years experience does he have?
Did he discuss with you the best paints and materials for what you wanted to achieve?

Finally sorry to hear about your husband, i have way too much experience of cancer myself, i wish you all the very best in your struggle against this horrible disease.

Roof/loft areas can sometimes be tricky to keep a wet edge with but this is usually only because of heat issues which reduces the drying time dramatically.

I feel that touching up the patches will only worsen the problem and that the whole area needs to be repainted to achieve an acceptable finish. The surface will benefit from a light sanding before doing this too.

As for watering the paint down, then it is often done (slightly) to help application in certain circumstances so I wouldn't be overly concerned by that fact.

All doors should ideally be treated the same on both sides but people often don't bother with the 'hidden' sides of cupboard doors out of laziness or cost issues.

If the skirtings were already painted and in good condition then one coat can often be enough provided they were suitably rubbed down/prepared.

Using different paints for ceiling and cornice is usually only done if that was the case originally or if requested by the client.


Unfortunately, it sounds to me as if you have a 'jobber' who doesn't really know how to paint at all, which is something I'm sure you didn't want to hear at a difficult time.

Tell us about this guy. Where did you find him? Is he a British tradesman? Or some foreign chancer?

His card was given to us by his father in law who lives in the village to which we moved 3 yrs ago. He says he has had l7 yrs experience and calls himself a professional decorator. To be honest, I didn't have time to get another quote and his price seemed more or less in line with what we had paid a couple of years ago, not out of the way but not dirt cheap either. The stripey walls are also downstairs where there is no dado. He asked us to get Dulux paint for the walls and he uses Dulux for the ceilings and woodwork. The tins all say not to thin unless for sealing and that 2 coats are required. The study ceiling is the worst. You can see an irregular gap betweenwhere he's stopped at the sides and continued in the middle, as well as missed bits generally. There was no filling on the ceiling; it's just missed rollering. I really don't think I can live with it.

Incidentally, he quoted for 2 coats on woodwork and 2 or 3 on walls and I made it clear that I expected a high standard before he quoted. He knocked off early as usual and will be planning to start putting the satinwood on tomorrow (he's finished the walls acc. to his standards and actually the downstairs ones he has done today look OK, possibly because I forbade him to thin the paint, as he had done on the first coat) though there is still spot priming and knotting to do and he won't want to wait for that to dry.

I wasn't talking about a different colour on the ceiling from the cornice. I was talking about a different version of white matt. Surely it's asking for trouble to have a band of one type leading from the cornice till it hits the rollered bits done with a different paint, esp. as he doesn't roller close to the edge.

In case you think I am too hard to please, I have employed decorators on various occasions without any problems and my own work was always spot on. Unfortunately, having moved house to a different area I don't know who the good people are. As he left the house today, he asked if I could unscrew the door handles in the 2 downstairs rooms he's painting. I thought that was his job. He's also using my steps and wanted to use my hoover. Not what I call professional.

He does seem to have an odd way of doing things and his methods are asking for trouble.
The thinning thing comes down to whether he's using off the shelf or trade, like i said before slight thinning of trade paints (only a bit mind) does help the paint flow out, cant think why he's using different white matts.
Thoroughly unprofessional to use a clients items and i get the feeling he's a little to keen to get to the pub.

Add up the hours he's done, give him £5 ph and get rid.

Get him back to put it right or pay him off as posted; use a decent Dec next time around

Difficult. He's already had £1,000. Never said anything about stage payments when he quoted but asked for £500 as he was leaving on the first Friday, having started Wed. and wanted £600 the next Friday but I only gave him £500. So there's still £640 due in theory. I don't think I can decide his hourly rate and haven't kept a precise check on leaving times but I suppose I could withhold some till I have had quotes for getting repainting done as necessary.

I may not have made it clear that he also used the ordinary retail walls and ceilings matt emulsion for the first coat and then bought Trade vinyl matt for the next coat or two or three or four (claimed). Looking it, it just looks as though only the sloping side bits have had more than one coat, though they are still stripey. Have just looked at the side walls of the short open staircase he's done today, now supposedly finished. Surprise, surprise - also stripey and patchy. I need a drink!

So he quoted you 1640 quid for decorating what sounds like loft conversion a landing area & some access stairs, did that include materials? I think I’ll ditch renovation/plastering/tiling & start up in decorating!

If you’ve already paid him £1000, how much has he spent on materials & how many hours work has he actually done?

No, it's rather more than that. The office is quite a large room and at the bottom of the staircase is a snug/TV room with an archway to a good sized dining room. No windows to paint (aluminium double glazing) but a pair of French doors and another half glazed door and an ordinary door. plus the 3 eaves cup. doors upstairs. I paid for the wall paint; no idea what he paid for the white stuff (about l5 litres) but whereas I got mine 3 for 2 at Homebase, he buys from the local village hardware store where prices are more than twice as much.

What do others think is the best paint to use for ceilings?

Each decorator will favour different brands. I personally use Gliddens vinyl matt and if its a bathroom or kitchen ceiling i recommend dulux diamond eggshell.
Avoid the diy store own brands.