Hi paintguy, Yes, it could have been too much primer and it sagged. I am a newbie at all of this. Is there a way that I can tell when I've put on too much paint and it would sag? Other than years of experience? :-) Or rather, is there a way that once I've applied a coat of paint, to monitor it and take some step to address the sagging if I see that it's happening? (I'm imagining something like running a toothpick down the groove to get any excess to the bottom, but then my imagination runs out and I don't know what I'd do then.) I was telling a friend of mine about it on the phone and she suggested to simply sand out the grooves to get rid of the 'holes'. Any reason not to do that? Thanks in advance!

I actually agree with the painters on #'s 1,2 and 4....well, sort of. There is no reason to prime when changing colors. This is a very common misconception that homeowners have. The only time you may want to prime is if the new color is a deep red or some poor covering color. For something like that you may want to use a grey primer. Or, since Aura has arrived, you can just use that. Two coats of Aura will cover anything 95 percent of the time. The rule is primer doesn't cover and that's not its job. It's job is to seal and provide a good base for your topcoat. Primer actually can be more expensive than paint. I use primer sometimes that retails for $45 a gallon. There are plenty of paints out there that cost less than that. But, if you are using a high quality primer, it is likely that you are also using a high quality paint as well so most times the primer is cheaper. I never prime over patchwork. The reason is that it is a complete waste of time. If I am using a washable paint, then I can just use that washable paint as a primer. I see no reason to actually get out a seperate bucket, roller, grid, brush, etc because I can accomplish the same thing with my finish paint. The key is to put enough coats of paint over the porous patching compound so that it 'catches up' with the rest of the wall. If your paint is soaking into the patch and not soaking into the wall around it, then it will flash. I'm sure this is what your painters are missing. Most paints these days look fine with two full coats over everything to avoid flashing. Now, if you are using a flat paint as your finish, spot priming patches is the absolute last thing you want to do. Again, primer seals so if you spot prime a patch, the wall will be sealed there so that when you come along with your topcoat, the paint will not soak in over that sealed spot like it does on the rest of the wall so you will get a flash. As for your painters, I believe that you should go to great lengths as any type of contractor to please your customer so they are certainly failing there. I also believe it is our job to educate the customer so that they know what we are doing is the correct procedure. We should supply our own tape and we should know that good paint cannot be bought at Home Depot or Lowes. I honestly think that ANY washable coating usually looks splotchy after one coat so that is normal and patches are usually still flashy after one coat. That second coat should even everything out. This is really why most real pro painters bid everything for two coats...it's pretty much an industry standard.

The spa in the corner of our new pool leaks. We're pretty sure it is the foot bubbles. The pb ran PVC in the gunite for foot bubbles. After the gunite and before the plaster they drilled holes in the PVC. They placed smaller PVC over the hole during plastering and removed it afterwards. Now one hole seems to leak (which really means they all leak). The pb thinks they drilled into the side of the PVC pipe instead of hitting it head on. Supposedly they do foot bubbles like this elsewhere. Any ideas on how to fix the leak. There are four air holes with two each off a "T". The pb's idea is to fill up the suspicious hole and drill next too it. Has anyone else had this problem or have a solution?

It's been my expereince that it's diffcult to restore the pull out strength at the same location once it's been damaged like that. If you installation can tolerate it, it's best to set new anchors in an undamaged part of the wall (at least a couple of inches away from these holes). That being said, you can try to use oversize wall anchors and grip the existing holes or you can fill them and put new anchors in. If you're holding up heavy drapes it could prove frustrating. If you opt for new anchors, and the old holes re covered by the drapes, then IMHO you only have tor repair the old holes if knowing they exist bothers you as they won't be seen under normal circumstances.