Painter's fleece / renovation fleece vs. textured wallpaper in new construction

Hello dear forum,

we are building a new house in solid construction, whereby our walls in the attic are drywall walls. About a year ago, when signing the contract, we were convinced by our house building company that "walls and floors" are really easy and can be done by ourselves.

But it apparently isn’t as easy as they wanted us to believe. Our financial plan also doesn’t allow us to suddenly have everything done by a professional company. So we have to get through it ourselves now. Currently, it fails due to the following fundamental questions:

Our walls will be handed over to us according to the construction contract in quality Q2. Now I have heard various statements: Our site manager believed that we should cover the walls with a painter’s fleece/sanitary fleece and then paint them in order to prevent cracks and possibly mold. However, my online research showed that such a fleece is only used with Q3 and that for Q2, usually a medium to coarsely textured woodchip wallpaper is applied. What is correct now? And: assuming no ultra-high demands on the walls, would it be sufficient to cover the Q2 substrate with a woodchip wallpaper and then paint it, or do you think that more would have to happen beforehand? How is it with the risk of mold? Many thanks.

Best regards Marcus

It is a considerable effort to first wallpaper and then paint nearly 400-500m². Especially since for a decent result with smooth fleece you actually should sand at least to Q2 and fill any coarse unevenness and streaks. But that is only the emergency solution; ideally, smooth fleece belongs on a Q3 wall and then produces a Q4 surface. A colleague paid just under 17,000 EUR for this two years ago.

What speaks against painting the walls directly after sanding? That easily saves you 2 or 3 weeks of wallpapering work. Sure, it won't be perfect; you will always see streaks and blemishes in raking light. But the advantage is that you can fill and repaint those little by little.

Once you stick the smooth fleece or the woodchip wallpaper, you can’t fill anymore. That’s how we did it, admittedly with sanding guidance from a professional. Now in the dark season, when there’s nothing to do outside anyway, I will be carrying around a bucket of fine filler, gradually filling the spots that bother me, and painting over again.

Woodchip wallpaper should really only be a last resort. It’s no longer state of the art and you will bitterly regret it. Even a Q2 wall still looks better when painted than woodchip wallpaper. As the door dealer said: "You don’t lie with your ear against the wall all day."

And a colleague always says, "Don’t make a Mona Lisa out of it."

In everyday life, it will hardly bother you.

In principle, I am open to all suggestions that produce a reasonably good result. However, I have never sanded a wall before and do not have the appropriate sanding machine. Suppose I were to do it anyway, then I have not taken any precautions against possible cracks (and mold?), right?

Why exactly is woodchip wallpaper no longer "state of the art"? We have it in our current apartment in the living room. My parents have it throughout their entire house. What would be the specific disadvantages?

For what reason do you think a smooth fleece or a textured wallpaper prevents mold growth? And what is supposed to mold on a purely mineral plaster, such as gypsum or lime?

To prevent mold, you have to ventilate; even a purely inorganic wall structure does not exempt you from keeping your indoor humidity at a maximum of 60% RH. The backs of furniture or upholstered furniture can always mold and do so, no matter what the wall looks like.

I had read that a renovation fleece is supposed to prevent mold formation due to its breathable properties. To what extent this applies or is relevant to our specific case, I am unable to assess. That is exactly why I am here. If you say it practically has no influence on mold formation, that suits me very well, because then I at least don’t have to worry about it when making the final choice of my method.

So, to summarize: your advice would be: sand the walls, paint them, and gradually even out any imperfections. No fleece, because that requires Q3, and no woodchip wallpaper because it is no longer "state of the art" and also difficult to impossible to remove again due to the adhesive.

It confused me immensely that my construction manager with more than 30 years of construction experience gives us the tip to use fleece, even though the wall, as we received it in Q2 quality, is not suitable for it at all.

Wouldn't a textured plaster also be an option?