Can't see a problem with raising the grain with a quality primer/undercoat as a good sand over when fully dry soon flattens this and then would take a second coat being the undercoat part of the primer/undercoat without raising the grain.....jobs a goodan!
still whenever needing to paint "naked" esp soft timber or veneered or varnished products usual (new water based stuff) priming etc works, but job is doubled up and does require alot of efforts to get decent finish.
Thank you all for your responses. Do any of you think the decorator should be responsible for the grey lining that is visible all around the boxing? I have questioned this to the decorator that did the job and he has stated the reason for this was because there was a big gap between the wall and boxing... This was the first time I heard this from him and if he told me at the time, we could have had a say in the outcome... Taken some close up pics, what do you all think?
There's just a general lack of communication going on here. Either you didn't tell the kitchen fitter or decorator what you wanted or expected, or else your k-f/decorator simply assumed what they'd do would be ok. What was the 'plan' here? Was it to have a housing for the extractor that blended in with the ceiling - flowed seamlessly? Became 'as one'? If so, did you tell anyone this? If not, did anyone ask you what you were looking for? A fitter/decorator of repute would discuss such issues with their customer - surely? Anyhoo, to answer your last Q - that 'caulking' should have been painted over if it was a noticeable colour difference. Which it is.
On your initial post and the first set of pictures, this grey line looked like the caulk showing through the paint. This does happen with some caulk brands, even more so when finishing with water based paints But looking at this new set of pics, the finish looks even worse and your totally right to not be happy with the finish, construction, or any aspect of it - it’s all 100% c rap From these pics, looks like the caulk has been applied over the painted finish, badly, very badly actually and it’s alreasy cracking away from the corners - or is it grey silicone ? However badly the boxing was done, the end result could have been a whole lot better after painting but this would have taken more time, more materials and obviously more money for the decorator. All of this is ok in theory, as long as this is explained to you when the decorator 1st visited and a couple of options given to you, with appropriate pricing, ie, cheaper job, slap of filler and paint, won’t be perfect. More expensive, will take 2 visits, more labour, materials, time, money but finish will be a whole lot better Then as the customer, you can decide what option to take You did say in fairness to the painter that he pointed out the construction wasn’t brilliant and would have been better in MDF You was probably eager to get the kitchen finished but ideally the kitchen company should have been brought back in prior to the boxing being painted, as there were some doubts about its quality. Would suggest you show pictures to kitchen company and although they may well just blame the painter, tell them that the general construction is very poor and material choice used wasn’t the best option, really needs ripping out and replacing You will have lost the money paid to the painter, not his fault as he did warn you. Although I do wonder if 3 hours allowed for this job was enough and did he give you maybe 2 options/ prices for the work