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Decorator stinks of booze.

158 replies

HelpMeOhMyWhat · 07/08/2023 10:29

Put an advert up on Facebook as I needed a bedroom painting.

For content I'm on disability benefits so cannot do it myself and cannot afford the kind of decorator that you book through a website.

A guy messaged me on fb and showed me photos of his work, with him in photos so I knew it was him, he seemed nice and the photos were of a good standard work.

Because of my anxiety I asked a friend to be here so I didn't have to deal with a stranger.

She let him in showed him to the room etc.
I put him a brew on.

She got a call saying her kid needed picking up from school so she had to leave.

I took his brew up for him and he absolutely reeks of alcohol.

Reeks. My friend has zero sense of smell but I have no idea how she didn't clock it.

He came and knocked on the living room to to ask something and a few mins later the smell was still in the room.

He seems nice enough but I'm sat down here with my kids and my anxiety is through the roof.

I'm worried that it's gonna be a shit show and I'll be too scared to say anything.

Friend can't come back as her kid is vomitting and I don't have anyone else to call.

Please don't say I'm stupid. I've had lots of people do jobs off Facebook and this is the first time I've had an issue.

OP posts:
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Wendysfriend · 08/08/2023 11:27

OMG the radiator 😲😲😲that's absolutely shocking.. Jeeze op you've had it rough all round.

Growlybear83 · 08/08/2023 11:29

Surely the photo of the radiator is just the undercoat? I wouldn't expect anything other than emulsion to have more than one coat in a day.

HelpMeOhMyWhat · 08/08/2023 11:31

Growlybear83 · 08/08/2023 11:29

Surely the photo of the radiator is just the undercoat? I wouldn't expect anything other than emulsion to have more than one coat in a day.

No it's Wilkos paint. And I won't be getting it again.

I'll buy a dulux and try and find someone to do a coat.

OP posts:
DuplicateUserName · 08/08/2023 11:34

Growlybear83 · 08/08/2023 11:29

Surely the photo of the radiator is just the undercoat? I wouldn't expect anything other than emulsion to have more than one coat in a day.

It is an undercoat and I'm struggling to see what the problem with it is?

Stressedafff · 08/08/2023 11:38

Is it emulsion that’s been used on the radiator?

Growlybear83 · 08/08/2023 11:49

If you've got the painter to use emulsion on the radiator, it doesn't matter what make it is - it's not the right paint for a radiator. But has he said that is the finished job, rather than just the undercoat? If he's rubbed it down and done the first coat, then that's exactly how I would expect it to look. Nothing is going to look finished after one coat.

HelpMeOhMyWhat · 08/08/2023 11:57

Growlybear83 · 08/08/2023 11:49

If you've got the painter to use emulsion on the radiator, it doesn't matter what make it is - it's not the right paint for a radiator. But has he said that is the finished job, rather than just the undercoat? If he's rubbed it down and done the first coat, then that's exactly how I would expect it to look. Nothing is going to look finished after one coat.

I haven't!

I bought white for interior metal.

He said that he painted a layer of emulsion on the woodwork to make the satinwood stick?

He didn't do that to the radiator.

That is the radiator painted with interior metal paint from wilko

OP posts:
HelpMeOhMyWhat · 08/08/2023 11:58

He's finished the job. He left yesterday, it's not a furts coat of anything.

Well I mean it is because I'll have to get someone else to do it.

But that's his completed radiator work.

OP posts:
HelpMeOhMyWhat · 08/08/2023 11:59

He didn't say I'll come back to complete the radiator.

The woodwork looks similar but not as bad.

Decorator stinks of booze.
OP posts:
Growlybear83 · 08/08/2023 12:03

Well if he has finished, the work clearly isn't acceptable, so I wouldn't pay him until he's been back to complete it to a reasonable standard. How long did he originally say the work would take when he gave you a quote?

Monster80 · 08/08/2023 15:22

HelpMeOhMyWhat · 08/08/2023 10:33

radiator

That looks like a primer coat…

Monster80 · 08/08/2023 15:23

HelpMeOhMyWhat · 08/08/2023 11:59

He didn't say I'll come back to complete the radiator.

The woodwork looks similar but not as bad.

That also looks like a primer coat…

DuplicateUserName · 08/08/2023 15:48

Monster80 · 08/08/2023 15:23

That also looks like a primer coat…

Yeah they're definitely both primer coats.

HelpMeOhMyWhat · 08/08/2023 15:49

Monster80 · 08/08/2023 15:23

That also looks like a primer coat…

Well I didn't pay him to just prime it, did I.

OP posts:
cornflower21 · 08/08/2023 16:03

But you cannot use just random interior paint for metal for radiator?
It should be a special radiator paint, resistant to heat?

LovingLalo · 08/08/2023 16:41

@HelpMeOhMyWhat you said you provided him with the paint 😂

WeAreTheHeroes · 08/08/2023 17:03

cornflower21 · 08/08/2023 16:03

But you cannot use just random interior paint for metal for radiator?
It should be a special radiator paint, resistant to heat?

You can - emulsion works just fine.

HelpMeOhMyWhat · 08/08/2023 17:03

I bought interior metal paint.

I assume thats what he used as half the tin is gone?

People saying he's just primed it, if he did that's half a job and he's obviously not finished it. He left. I paid him. Yes it's my fault I guess

Because I didn't want to tell a man, in my home, who smelled of booze that I thought he did a bad job.

OP posts:
HelpMeOhMyWhat · 08/08/2023 17:04

cornflower21 · 08/08/2023 16:03

But you cannot use just random interior paint for metal for radiator?
It should be a special radiator paint, resistant to heat?

It's interior metal paint?

OP posts:
HelpMeOhMyWhat · 08/08/2023 17:22

It's this. It literally has a radiator on it?

Decorator stinks of booze.
OP posts:
teaandtoastwithmarmite · 08/08/2023 17:25

I have anxiety and hate making a fuss but I would have asked him when he's coming back to finish it. He's taking the piss OP

WheresTheRemoteControl · 08/08/2023 17:34

Does the paint state in the wording for radiators as there's actual special radiator paint for radiators because of the heat they give off. Im sure mine was hammerite.?

HelpMeOhMyWhat · 08/08/2023 17:35

teaandtoastwithmarmite · 08/08/2023 17:25

I have anxiety and hate making a fuss but I would have asked him when he's coming back to finish it. He's taking the piss OP

Then yours obviously isn't as severeas mine which is wonderful for you.

But as someone with anxiety yourself I would have thought you would have understood that what's easy for someone else isn't always easy for us.

However your anxiety presents is it ever helpful for someone to say to you 'well I would have just done xyz' when you've been unable to do something?

OP posts:
WheresTheRemoteControl · 08/08/2023 17:36

This

Decorator stinks of booze.
HelpMeOhMyWhat · 08/08/2023 17:36

WheresTheRemoteControl · 08/08/2023 17:34

Does the paint state in the wording for radiators as there's actual special radiator paint for radiators because of the heat they give off. Im sure mine was hammerite.?

Yes

Decorator stinks of booze.
OP posts: