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

I had read that such a renovation fleece is supposed to prevent mold formation due to its breathable properties.

Gummy bears are also sold that allegedly don’t make you gain weight. Somehow you have to advertise your product. Mold formation can be prevented by a well-insulated wall without thermal bridges and sufficient air exchange. Surfaces with certain properties can only delay this.

No fleece, because Q3 is needed for that

Nope. Without fleece or wallpaper, you will get small settlement cracks in newly built masonry and plastered surfaces. Nothing dramatic, but you should know. In drywall areas, at Q2 you can see the unspackled surfaces of the drywall panels through the paint. You need a continuous filling, like Q3, if you don’t cover it with anything. My opinion and experience (you can do it differently): I would recommend renovation fleece/renewal fleece in drywall areas at least, whatever it’s called. Not the heavy "painter’s fleece" with 130 g/m², but the thin semi-transparent one with about 40 g/m². As a layman, I have processed both and the thin one is much easier. The advantage of all fleeced wallpapers compared to woodchip wallpaper is that you only paste the wall and simply pull the wallpaper up from the roll lying on the floor and then press it onto the wall and cut it off at the bottom. No wallpapering table, no tearing, etc., and much faster. The thin fleece is glued overlapping by 3-5 cm and cut directly on the overlap with a cutter (can also be done in wavy lines – even better) and the excess is pulled off. This way there are no joints or gaps. I have just wallpapered our old building with absolutely non-Q3 surfaces and it worked really well. Only disadvantage: The stuff soaks up paint endlessly. I would recommend first applying a cheap paint to let it soak fully and then painting over it with a high-quality one.

By the way, gluing fleece is not easy either. Long strips are ok, but when it comes to corners and such... you have to know how to handle it, otherwise the transition ends up looking like Q0.

In any case, start in the storage room and work your way through the dressing room and upstairs hallway into the work and children’s rooms and finish by wallpapering the entrance area, kitchen, and living room.

Hm. My ceiling was admittedly puttied by the drywall contractor at Q3. The drywall in the bathroom and the one drywall panel replaced afterwards only Q2. And after two coats of good paint, you can’t see any seams at all.

Don’t you usually use primer against the substrate’s suction?

Paint isn’t unbelievably expensive now. I think we used 7 buckets of 20 liters of white for a 152m² new build, so around 500m² of surface. Ceilings twice, walls only needed one coat. And one bucket is still 3/4 full for touch-ups. Better to put on primer twice and only one coat of paint. Saves time as well.

I once learned, if the foundation of my work is shoddy (bad paint, poor heating and plumbing planning, no cable labeling, gravel under topsoil, etc.), then everything you put on top is shoddy too.

Cracks will come, yes. But you just go over them with fine filler, sand, use the mouse brush, done.

Just to hide those few cracks, glue 500m² of smooth fleece? Whoever has the time and money. But it would be stupid to then skimp on the paint... better not to put on fleece and use good paint instead.

Just to not see those few cracks, glue 500m² of smooth fleece? Whoever has the time and money. But it would be stupid to then have to save on the paint... better not to glue any fleece and use good paint instead.

No, I only meant the drywall and only the walls and possibly slopes. The solid construction can be done if you like and want to.

Unfortunately, no primer helps with the renovation fleece. It's not about the absorbency of a porous hard substrate, but the structure is a bit like cotton wool. There are many cavities. Primer is of course applied to the wall before the paste goes on. The fleece can also be worked directly into the wet base plaster, then it can be painted nicely afterwards. It's a bit like the gauze tape for joints in drywall, just 1m wide.

The problem with Q2 and fleece is that smooth fleece tends to emphasize small unevenness rather than hide it. Every little piece of plaster basically gets a little tent made of paper thrown over it. In our first house we had Q2 and a similar problem to you, namely no longer having a five-figure amount of money left to have it done professionally. We chose a middle ground, but don’t expect optical perfection from it. I just absolutely didn’t want any more textured wallpaper. While it can very well mask unevenness, I just can’t stand to see it anymore. Every student flat had textured wallpaper, and I hate textured wallpaper.

We then selected a so-called fleece fiber wallpaper from Erfurt. These are fleece wallpapers that are also easy to apply like painting fleece. However, these are not smooth like painter’s fleece but come in various textures of different intensity. They look really good when painted. For example, in the hallway we had one that was striped. Not in color, but in texture. It looked really beautiful there, especially in the stairwell where the walls are very high. However, it always had these stripes in between that had little texture (almost smooth), and there you could clearly see unevenness. But only if you looked closely. In everyday life, you rarely stand in front of the wallpaper and look closely. ;) It also fit our rather rural décor style, so overall we were satisfied with the solution. More wasn’t possible with the budget at the time, and we could live with it. I’m attaching a few photos to show what I mean. In the last one you can also see the many small "pimples" in one spot where the surface wasn’t perfectly sanded. Without the wallpaper it looked noticeably less pimpled. The smooth texture visually amplifies that. You have to be aware of that.

Raufaser also makes every color look somewhat gray or dirty, as every bump casts a shadow.

If you still have a few € left, then take a look at the site with the hammer or other craftsman comparison portals. We found a craftsman service there who plastered the whole house with Q4 for us. He starts painting next week, but so far it already looks very good. I'm practically already satisfied, even if his Q4 will probably be more like the Q3 of a master painter, but for us, that's completely sufficient. We only paid a total of €6,000 for it, which is a great deal. There's really nothing to complain about. On the contrary, we're even considering giving him a small Christmas gift in addition, as the price already feels almost unfair... :D

We initially also thought about doing the painting work ourselves, but in hindsight, we're glad we took this route, even if in the end we might have to organize an additional €5,000. Especially when it comes to filling in the ceilings and edges, you can see that someone with experience did it. I would never have managed it that well. And if in 5 years we don't like it anymore or if settlement cracks become excessive, then I'll just fix it bit by bit without time pressure.
Of course, it all depends a bit on the craftsman you find there. Maybe we were just very lucky, but with a bit of intuition about people and the reviews from the portal, you can at least get some idea of who you're dealing with.
Important: Google his VAT ID/company once and only pay invoices afterwards.