Putty, primer and painting checks in Kerala
Paint failures are preparation failures. Board joints, putty coats and primer are what this stage hides - so the record is one dated photo per layer, not one photo of a finished wall.
The checks at this stage (2)
- Photograph before this is covered
What disappears at this stage: board joint taping, putty coats and primer, once the finish coats cover them. It cannot be inspected again without breaking something, so the photos taken now are the only record that will ever exist. Skipping this stays on your handover record permanently.
- Interior paint and putty follow the maker's system, on a dry wall
Inside a finished house, a blistering wall means moving furniture, masking floors and living with the smell again. Getting it right the first time is entirely about surface condition and sequence.
What good work looks like
Board joints taped before anything else
Gypsum boards move at their joints; the taping and jointing pass is what keeps that movement out of your paint. Every joint taped and filled per the board maker's system, sanded flat, photographed - before putty, which is not a substitute for it, goes anywhere near the ceiling.
- Every joint taped and jointed per the board system
- Joints sanded flat before the first putty coat
- The taping pass photographed across the ceiling
- Putty pressed straight into untaped joints
- Cracks telegraphing every board line by year one
- Joint compound and putty treated as the same thing
Putty and primer, coat by dated coat
Putty goes on in thin coats, each sanded; the primer is the bonding coat the paint system stands on. The record is one dated photo per layer - because the difference between one coat and two is invisible on day one and very visible at billing, and on the wall a year later.
- Thin putty coats, sanded between, dated photos each
- Primer visibly distinct, product in frame
- Coats counted from the photo series at billing
- Thick single-coat putty hiding a rough substrate
- Primer skipped as an economy
- Coats claimed from memory at billing
Fresh patches wait; old paint gets checked
Where alterations created fresh plaster patches, those patches wait out their curing before paint - painted green, they peel from behind. Where old painted walls remain, sound paint can be painted over; failing paint gets scraped back first. The quote must say which system it priced.
- Patch dates checked against the alteration record
- Failing old paint scraped back, not painted over
- The priced system - fresh or repaint - stated in writing
- A fresh patch painted to hold the handover date
- Flaking layers buried under new coats
- One rate silently covering two different systems
IS 2395
Emulsion lines: same brand, different products
Every paint brand sells a ladder of interior emulsions - economy to premium to luxury - and they differ in washability, coverage and life, not just price. The quote names the product line, not just the brand; the containers on site prove the line; and a line swap between quote and wall is the painting trade's version of core substitution.
- The product line named in the quote, not just the brand
- Containers matching that line, batch numbers logged
- Washable grades where hands actually touch walls
- Brand-name paint with the line left unwritten
- Premium billed while economy containers pile up
- The line downgraded between quote and delivery
Red flags and money traps
One coat and two look identical on day one and very different at billing - and on the wall a year later. A dated photo per layer, and the empty containers kept with their batch numbers, settle the count without an argument.
Keep: Dated per-layer photos and the empty cans, until the billing closes.
Alteration patches are new plaster - painted before they cure, they peel from behind, and no warranty covers it. The patch dates sit in the alteration record; the paint schedule bends to them, not the other way.
Check: Patch dates from the record before the painter starts - not from how dry it looks.