I am not a painter and don't know about your particular situation. At this point, just make sure you have all your documents in order and tabbed or in a tabbed notebook. You want your evidence to be as easy to understand as possible.

I do know some paints have primer in them. Is there any chance the paint used was that type? Do you have an empty can of what they used? A receipt? Do you know where their paint account is so you can get the record of the purchase?

good luck!

I do not use primer most of the times, when I do I use tinted primer [to save on paint]. What is the issue? Are you trying to get money back or are you trying to get it fixed.

If you are trying to get it fixed, I 'll talk to contractor: hey I paid you for the job, paint is peeling off: you are either - user some cheap paint or did not shop vac drywall dust prior to painting, or diluted the paint too much before spraying. It is not right -> fix it.

Thank you, nightowl. Great suggestions. We have a binder of all the supporting documents and a copy was given to the state. When they approved our complaint they provided the contractor with a copy as well. We have one of his empty five gallon buckets, so I'll make sure to have that at hand case it's needed.

Deep breath.

ETA -- I think Brian S is spot on. Instead of you determining primer (or lack of) is the problem - take lots of pictures of the problem spots. Someone recently posted pictures of lots and lots of blue tape on each imperfection. I found the visual quite compelling. Perhaps just present all the problems. I don't know, but if your allegation is no primer and the person can prove he used primer - your case may be sunk. But, if your allegation is peeling and whatever substandard result and you have photographic evidence - the cause may be irrelevant.

I guess the question is how to fix it.

There is no adhesion between the drywall and the paint layer. We first discovered the problem when my husband used painters tape to mark where to install a TP dispenser and the paint peeled off with the painters tape. In most places, you scratch the wall with your fingernail and pinch the paint it'll peel off in pieces some an inch square, some a square foot. In areas with mud there's better adhesion.

contractors are so slammed right now it's been difficult to get pro opinions. A respected drywaller took pity on me last week and assessed that we have a really good drywall job. My husband got a hold of a highly recommended painter today and painter said he wouldn't touch it without consulting a paint rep first. Sounds like it would be easy to make a bad mess even worse.

Casual inquiries have led us to believe we have to scrape, sand and skim coat the entire house as if it's totally covered in wallpaper. It's a nauseating thought. I was anxious to get our kitchen installed so I actually scraped, sanded and skim coated the kitchen myself and it was a true nightmare.

I have no advice, but I hope this gets handled with the least amount of stress for you, and has a good outcome. I hope there is sunshine in your day tomorrow.

Our meeting with the contractor and the state mediator was this morning and it went very well.

The mediator did a nice job and the contractor did not dispute our complaint. Our proposed settlement was fair and reasonable and he agreed to it.

As usual, I did a lot of unnecessary worrying. Now, onward to getting this house fixed...

Thanks for letting us know it went well. I think it's better to plan ahead and have a situation exceed your expectations than to not be prepared. You obviously did the right thing and took the right approach!

I'm so glad to hear it worked out well for you benjesbride. I can only imagine how stressful it was for you but honestly, I'd have been stressing if it was me.

Good news benjesbride. I have never heard of paint so fickle like that and we did our own painting. I hope the solution is swift so you can move on.

i wish I could go back in time and do the painting myself like I normally do. I was just anxious to get out of our terrible apartment and into the new house ASAP.

Upthread it's mentioned that painting bare drywall without primer works for some, but after this nightmare I wouldn't recommend it.

Oh my gosh no, I can't imagine skipping primer. Our last house we lived in they only sprayed a really thin coat of I don't know what paint or primer. When we painted (the entire house was white) the walls sucked up so much paint I couldn't believe it. Major $$ in paint. It was ridiculous.

This house was a new build so we sprayed primer and then I rolled paint. I could tell the first couple rooms we did the primer was thin as we were getting used to the sprayer. They used much more paint than the rest.

The only odd thing I have had painting where the paint would not adhere to the wall, (in fact ran right down it) was in our last home a corner in my sons room that must not have been insulated. It was January and bitter cold and that wall was cold to the touch. It made my jaw drop it was so strange to see the paint do that. I resolved no painting in winter even though this house is well insulated. I don't need to take the chance.