Farrow&Ball Modern Emulsion finish can't wipe clean, Help please

[morningdove]

We primed & painted w Farrow&Ball 2 wks ago. We used professional painters. We were in the home & we picked up the paint. Prior to painting F&B told me that modern emulsion paint can be wiped clean w/soap & water. I very carefully tried to get off smear to no avail. No paint came off on paper towel. Spoke w/ F&B and they advised to use a magic eraser. It worked but took off some of the paint & u can see where i wiped & it left a water mark This is not estate emulsion. When I called F&B back they said u have to clean the entire wall afterwards for each print or smear, etc. I spoke to an army of people who told me that modern emulsion is easy to wipe up. We used eggshell in the bathrm & that too is having similar problems. I used 4 different colors, so the likelihood of a bad batch or mislabel is very small. My entire 1 flr painted with these paints and the walls can not be wiped down. I asked F&B to come to my home and trouble shoot, but they need to speak w/the General Mgr.who won't be available till Monday. I'm very upset as the painters are coming back on Monday to finish final details.

Has anyone had problems? Any suggestions? I'm very upset and I don't think my kids will keep their mittens on much longer, (just kiddin).

Would anyone have any idea what went wrong?

Would anyone have any idea what went wrong?

I've had the same problem, and come to the conclusion that it isn't wipe clean at all, so I have to occasionally go round with a brush and spot paint grubby areas.

Mumblechum1, thank u so much for responding. I am sick to the core. I spoke to countless F&B personnel about the necessity of an easy wipe clean. Each F&B told me that modern emulsion was easy peasy. My husband & I are disabled. We went into the showrm on several occasions. My husband lost his legs due to a drunk driver. He has a prosthesis. The other leg is severely compromised. The pictures we supplied showed the chairlift and we told them that when he chooses to walk down the stairs he has to touch the wall for balance & that we need easy walls to clean, in addition to 2 highly active kids. I too am disabled and I specified that I am in pain all the time and easy, easy. F&B gave us the name of a painter they recommended and he came over to our home and saw the way my house was set up to accommodate our needs. We asked him too if it was easy to clean and he said, modern emulsion was easy. We didn't use him as his fees were cost prohibitive.

It took me years & years to save for this renovation. I purchased all new window treatments & furniture and refinished my hardwoods; all based on my newly painted F&B walls. This company is horribly dishonest. How hard up can they be to take advantage like this. I am disgusted.

Thank u again for giving me a heads up. At least I'll not be scratching my head, thinking it was some sort of fluke. I can't wait till Monday am. to talk w/general mgr. (The store mgr. also told me it was an easy clean!!).

Please, if anyone knows how to clean these darn walls w/o being a slave to them please write back. Thank you.

One thing you might want to do is seal the area which is likely to get mucky (the stair wall, by the sound of it) with a PVA sealant which is essentially a very very dilute glue and water mixture. Your decorator will be able to advise you on that. I have a woodburner and the ceiling above it gets dirty quickly so I asked my decorator to seal over the emulsion and it's fine now, I can wipe over that area with a damp soapy cloth every now and then

I also forgot to add that I read that the paint was not an easy clean F&B insisted that was estate emulsion and modern emulsion was kid friendly and to stop worrying. We had to stay in a hotel 2 wks to have this darn renovation done as I have respiratory problems and any dust, etc would compromise my weakened immune system. To think that I might have to endure a another paint job, with another paint, moving all the furniture, and removing all the stuff that was put back, risk that my hardwoods would be ruined is tooooooo much for me to conceptualize. Yikes, I am not a sue type person but this one calls for a class action suit.

Mumbchum 1, I guess I pounding away when u were writing. Bless you for your suggestion. I will certainly speak to the painters asap. Do u think 1:36 am is too early to call? (don't know how to do emoticon--insert googly eyes).

Godspeed,
morning dove

Um, I know you're upset but speaking as a lawyer, this isn't a class action type thing. As the marks you're likely to get will be at your husband's waist height or below, and will tend (if my family are anything to go by) to appear in areas of heavy traffic like up the stairs, you can just buy an extra tin of the paint and once every three months or so go along and cover over any mucky bits. It will only take about half an hour to do that and will dry within a couple of hours.

I think possibly you're giving this problem a bit more headspace than it deserves? I don't mean that nastily but it sounds like you have an awful lot on your plate and tbh dabbing a bit of paint on to marks every three months or so is honestly not going to be that big a deal.

I hope the rest of the renovation goes well and that you enjoy the finished result

x post

mumblechum1, I know that your words are meant w/good intention & I sincerely appreciate them, but the problem is more complicated. It's not only my husband--it's my kids. I was sold a paint that was misrepresented. I was told repeatedly that estate emulsion was difficult to clean and that F&B formulated modern emulsion for people that have families. Unfortunately it would not be every 3 months. We have just moved back into our home this week and the dinning room & hallway are mucked up with handprints, albeit a combination of my husband's and chocolate licked fingers. I tried to wipe it down and it left watermarks. My newly painted wall already needs a new paint job and spot painting is not the answer the entire wall has to be done. Trust me, I am not looking for additional work or cost to have a wall re-painted. When you are dealing with constant pain the slightest move is a calculated one. Your life style has to change to accommodate your disabilities. No sob story- Just reality. I went with F&B for the following reasons no VOC's,& the beauty of my walls, but it would have been a deal breaker if I was told the truth. I was told that it is very easy to wipe down clean. It's impossible to wash w/o water marks. Only today I was told by 1 person that if you have a spot on the wall u have to wash the entire wall down. That's crazy for anyone let alone with handicaps, health impaired people. The 2nd person I spoke to agreed that it is crazy to wash entire wall for a spot. She actually laughed & said that there was another customer that had a similar problem & she was going to have the Gen. Mgr. contact me on Monday. Well, I'll be calling first thing Monday am.

I thank you for your suggestions, and your well wishes and I am glad that you are happy with your walls. Retrospectively, if I was told the truth I never would have used their paints. I would have preferred my old wipeable walls. At least you can wash them. I disagree that F&B misrepresented their paints and they should be held accountable for that.

What cleaning products other than soap have you tried? We use disposable floor wipes on ours. And rub. Yes, it does sometimes leave a streak (hence why you get told you have to wash the while wall down with pretty much all paints but some F&b colors show the steaks more than others). I've also used bathroom/kitchen sprays containing bleach on the few marks that didn't come out with a wipe alone and no paint came off.

Good Morning, hi pchip, F&B recommended Mr. Clean's Magic Eraser. It did remove the mark, but also the paint and left a larger mark on the wall. Prior to F&B we painted with Benjamin Moore. It was a super easy wipe clean, no streaks. I would have stuck w/that line but it has a high VOC. My kids were born after my husband's was hit by a drunk driver. We chose F&B because of the no VOC's. BM does make a paint called Natura that has no VOC's but there is major problems with it & recalls. My family needs paint that has no VOC's & won't gas off.

Hallway is Charleston gray, living rm-pavilion gray-dining rm lamp rm gray-cove & base strong white. It does look fab but I need a paint that I can wipe down easily.

Unless there is some product out there that can make it an easy wipe w/o streaks, I will have to re-paint. I am going to ck into mumblechip's suggestion first though. I love how my rooms look but can not maintain it.

Has anyone used any F&B finish w/o the problems I described, ex. high gloss. I'm afraid that w/high gloss it will wipe easier but I would be a slave to all the prints. My kids touch the walls w/their hands. I can tell them till I'm blue in the face, but it would take a lobotomy to change them.

I welcome all & any suggestions. Thank u all for coming to my rescue.

Due to F&B's reputation I think it is worth keeping in touch with them about this issue. OP could have bought very much cheaper paint which would be washable. She didn't because F&B said she could use their paint.

Wait and see if you can get a representative out to the house. Talk to your husband to discuss what you want the company to actually do about it - don't get into discussion without having a workable solution. Remember though, that it may be that the paint was the wrong choice. Any solution may mean more painting or accepting marks.

I have F&B's modern emulsion in my kitchen including behind the range cooker. I wipe it down several times a day, sometimes with a damp cloth sometimes with a product and it always cleans. I have never had a problem in a the three years it has been there and it doesn't need any touch-ups. So I think something has gone badly wrong for you. Did you or the decorator buy the F&B paint? Did you see the cans? Could the decorator have used another company's paint and had it colour matched to the F&B shades?

Sincerely thank u passmethecrips for summarizing my plight. Fayrazzled, we picked up the paints & primers from showrm ourselves. Everyday was on site to make sure there were no issues w/prep & application. Have many pictures of this entire renovation, depicting prep wk, priming, F&B paint cans, etc. Returned un-used paint to F&B. Used only F&b primers & paint. I purchased paint based exclusively on F&B's reputation & customer svc. advice that modern emulsion is an easy wipe.

How is it that some people need to wipe the walls down w/o problems, while others need to spot paint? Hmmm

I have F&B modern emulsion in our nursery & it isn't wipe down at all. I was v when I realised butwaac too late. I went with a dulux diamond matt for the rest of the house. it's exactly the same colour, cheaper & does what us says on the tin. I would keep complaining OP, hope you get a good result.

I am very anxious about putting PVA on a wall, because it will prevent future paint from adhering properly.

there are still a few plasterers who go around telling people to do it, but most have been murdered by angry painters.

Suckeddry, congratulations on the birth of your baby, and thank u so much for taking the time to write me back. Thanks for the suggestion about the dulux but it's not avail here, I live in NYC. I don't know how F&B is getting away w this. All the F&B folks are so nice, are they all just lying through their teeth? How is this not blasted all over the net?

PigletJohn, bless u, bless u. Thank u from sparing me yet another nightmare. People think it's no big deal it's just paint. To some of us, it's huge. Giving birth was easie. I originally said that I painted the 1 flr. downstairs only. I also painted the bthrm & 2nd flr. hallway.

I have had the same problem. I have white tie in the kitchen (13ft ceiling) and I have come to the conclusion that I will have to repaint the whole room soon. Would not mind but it was only painted (professionally) last November.

Marks do not come off at all and tbh you are better leaving them as all it does it leave "lighter streaks".

Oh dear, sorry OP. It sounds a nightmare! We just painted our kitchen and bathroom with F&B modern emulsion. I did a test after reading your post, and you are right, it doesn't wipe off cleanly.

Have to say that F&B suck at their customer service. We had oodles of trouble getting the paint sent across. The walls look lovely, but not practical at all.

Piglet, thanks for the heads-up in acrylic. We did use it once to get the 'tadelakt' effect. It was what the paint store recommended for the bathroom. Didn't see what our decorator did to prep the walls before we repainted this time around. But he didn't swear a lot, so I assume it was not too much work

Best of luck, OP. Do let us know how it goes. Totally understand how frustrating this must be for you. Hope you manage to kick some F&B ass. IMO they really need a wake-up call.

kaumana & Flatbread-So sorry to hear that this wasn't a fluke exclusively on my end. Did F&B give you the same story that modern emulsion was an easy clean? There has to be numerous complaints. The paint is beautiful but what are u supposed to do? Take a picture and sing a song --The Way It Was. I'll keep all posted & let u know the outcome. I'd appreciate it if anyone else has similar outcomes as this should not continue.

flatbreadI just re-read your postthank u so much for your support--thank you all. Sweet dreams.

Morning, yes, they told us it is washable. It says so on their product sheet as well www.farrow-ball.com/pws/client/images/content/advicesheets/UK_Modern_Emulsion.pdf

But they also say they bear no responsibility if it doesn't work the way it should!