Can anyone tell me what has happened to my newly (professionally) painted walls?

[Sandcaaarstle]

Just had my lounge painted. It was silk emulsion and I didn’t fancy panting it myself with Matt emulsion. I’ve come home from work today (it was finished yesterday afternoon) and looks like this. What do I do now?
I’ve attached photos but might not upload for a while.

Something very similar happened on a smaller scale to me.

I painted a wooden caddy with spray paint that had a lacquer finish and was 2 in 1 with primer. It had like a shiny sort of cast, like plasticky and slippery. I did not like it, I sanded it back to remove the shine but not all the paint and applied chalk paint in a different colour. Well, now I have a crackleled effect that I wasn’t looking for.

However, i would be inclined to think that either the paint that they used was old or they didn’t mix it properly.

Oh dear, I'm so sorry this has happened, that's really bad workmanship and should definitely not be happening if done by professionals. I would be absolutely raging if I'd paid for that.
It's called crazing and it's been caused by paint going on too thick and not being left to dry before further coats. I reckon your painter/s have been in too much of a hurry to get the job done.
I paint my own walls/ceilings (not that hard if you are able and have the right tools) and have made this mistake when I started the first few times.
I've been doing my own walls for years and I'd never pay anyone to do it for this very reason.
They'll need to come back, sand it all down and prime it before it can be painted over otherwise it'll just do the same thing again.
Really hope they put it right for you.

I didn’t have an issue painting over our horrid plastic sheen silk emulsion with a nicer natural matt emulsion. I didn’t even bother sanding the walls!

But I did apply the whole thing with a paint brush rather than roller and applied in thin coats rather than thick coats with a roller.

I’ve honestly never seen anything like it and I’ve been painting my various houses for over 25 years (I’m not a professional but I knew this would be a nightmare- hence paying someone else to do it!).

Do you mean you painted Matt over silk? This can cause the cracking. You might need Zinsser Peel Stopper to prevent it happening again but that does mean sanding, applying the peel stopper and painting again. Don't ask me how I know.

It can also happen if you paint over glue. Forgers used to do this to get a crackle effect on paintings designed to look old .

This happened to me when I painted matt over silk without prepping it properly. So frustrating! Professionals should know better though, get them back to fix it.

Looks like what happened me with acrylic matt emulsion. Turned out the walls were damp and the paint dried from the outside in instead of from the wall out and that caused the cracking. The whole lot had t come off and repainted after a long dry spell and the walls had dried out

This happened to us one time as well, it was due to the oil and adhesive in the previous coat of paint and wallpaper. We had to have the walls reskimmed to stop it.

Christ 🙄

I really hope she can sort it out. It didn’t happen to begin with, after the first coat, but after the second.

@FOJN you sound like you have experience that you wish you didn’t! 🙈

Cripes! I hope that they come and do a thorough re-do of it for you OP. I'd not be happy paying for that to happen.

We had this in our house from remains of wallpaper paste. Sand it smooth, paint Zinnser Guardz on and then paint on top once dry

I had this ages ago in our house. I rhink it was painting over ancient paint ( distemper?). I had to sand back and put on a diluted undercoat, after which is was fine. Go to a proper paint merchant and ask their advice.

looks to me as if the plaster wasn't dry- I would talk to your painter.

They should have sanded the walls slightly before painting Matt on top of silk!
it’s not adhering to the other paint. Get the painters back to sort it xx

Just showed DH. It has been painted on a greasy wall or on a chalky paint underneath. The wall should have been cleaned and any breaks in plaster filled and sanded, special tape over joins, if on plasterboard. In worst case good quality lining paper should have been used. You need to get decorators back to remedy this ASAP.

I had a similar thing happen with using silk in my son's bedroom. It turned out that the problem was to do with the humidity in the room. Somehow the damp was settling on the paint and then being absorbed which then caused ripples and cracks in it.

It’s happened to me too. I wallpapered the bathroom then decided I didn’t like it. I obviously didn’t get all the paste off before I painted it. 🙄😱

They have to have to have the opportunity to rectify their mistake, but take advice from Citizens Advice or Martin Lewis on what to do beyond that, e.g. if they won't come back or if they are unable to produce a good standard of work for you. If you haven't already, do not pay them yet.

Your plaster isn't dried out. When paint cracks like that, there is damp coming from the new plaster. As another op mentioned, you need lining paper and paint on top of that. Feel sorry for you, a reasonable job has now turned into a problem. Good luck

It's a reaction against the previous paint. Needed a barrier to stop the reaction, so a product to stop the cracking

The reason people use silk it's it's much easier to clean. If you have kids having silk walls is much better than matt. Any grubby marks can be wiped off easily.

Was it painted onto artex or anaglypta- ie a textured wall wallpaper?

DH is a painter and decorator and he says they've put too much paint on too quickly and because it's cold it hasn't dried between coats. He suggests you get them back, they rub it down thoroughly and start again.

Yes, they have to come back and fix it. That's NOT a professional job and I'd not be paying a penny for it!