We are currently also in discussions with our general contractor about this topic...
Standard for pretty much all GCs: Q2 (so only the joints on the ceiling are filled) and then a textured wallpaper or painter’s fleece is applied. After that, it is painted.
Q2 for us also included filling all ceilings by the GC, including the concrete ceiling. Wallpaper was not included in our standard. That counts as painter’s work.
Is this method any good? Colleagues immediately said: Oh, you definitely have to fill the entire ceiling and then preferably plaster it, and then paint over it. Of course, that would be the best option, but the costs would skyrocket.
Not in every case. What drives up the costs is filling/sanding from Q2 to Q3. What would usually be done to your ceilings by the GC? Check the construction service description to see in what condition the GC would hand over the ceilings. For the rest, you have to pay a painter. We are having it done right now. We have paid about €6,000 for the additional painting work beyond the GC’s scope. Including painting in our desired colors.
Can you really see a difference? Is Q2 + painter’s fleece or textured wallpaper with subsequent painting really that "bad"? Can I as a layman even see a difference?
Yes! I would definitely not do Q2 + painter’s fleece. The Q2 plaster (and according to our painter it was well done) looks smooth to the eye at first, but wallpapering a painter’s fleece intensifies unevenness. You see every flaw through the wallpaper, I really don’t think it would look good. Textured wallpaper on the other hand would work if you like the look.
But you will definitely see a difference there, yes.
I think that doing it yourself, if you’re not very skilled, is probably difficult if the ceiling isn’t filled completely, because you have unevenness, or how should I imagine that? Q2 + painter’s fleece or textured wallpaper is common nowadays...
What is really common today is polishing Q2 up to Q3, and then applying painter’s fleece. Q2 alone is rather uncommon. So either Q2+textured wallpaper or Q3+painter’s fleece (not very thin) or Q4+thin painter’s fleece (or none).
The options get more expensive the higher the Q-level because it involves a lot of work.
We chose a strange hybrid approach.
We received Q2 from the GC. Ceilings were filled by the GC as well (as stated in the construction service description).
Then we hired a painter ourselves who made the whole house “livable” for a fixed price.
He also pretreated the Q2 plaster. Using a professional sander, he sanded everything a bit smoother and painted a white primer. But the wall is still not smooth enough for a smooth painter’s fleece. I can see this in our house right now.
We then chose wallpaper from a well-known brand named after a German city, a so-called “fleece fiber.” These are fleece wallpapers, but not smooth painter’s fleece, instead wallpaper with a texture. Because it is a bit thicker, the texture can mask small unevenness. After wallpapering, the painter will paint the whole house in our desired colors.
But for example, today while hanging around in the house (I wait daily a few hours on the construction site for my child’s daycare transition), I saw that for our chosen wallpaper in the hallway, in the thinner spots (where there is less texture), small granules of the Q2 plaster are still visible. Personally, that doesn’t bother me. But there are people very perfectionistic about walls for whom that would be unacceptable.
Other wallpapers (like the one we have in the living room) are more strongly textured; they have less “thin” area and more “structured” area, so you cannot see anything through them, and they appear as if the wall is completely smooth. It depends strongly on which wallpaper you choose specifically.
Wallpaper sometimes even enhances the effect. You can imagine it like a kind of “tent” around the crumb.
Recommendation: Go to a hardware store or specialty store and feel the wallpaper with your hands. That will give you a much better idea of the matter, and you will better understand what painter’s fleece is and why it is not suitable for Q2 plaster.