# Question about smooth coating walls - pinholes



## a12733861 (Nov 29, 2011)

Hi everyone.. I've mentioned before that we're going through a home remodel. It's a older home from '79 and we've asked our contractor to smooth coat the walls to remove the older texture. This is my first experience with the whole process so I'm not sure what to be expect and we are seeing pinholes/fisheyes throughout the house. The drywall crew has been out a few times to address the issue but they are still present. The contractor insists that it's normal. His argument has always been that (1) it's an old house, (2) we're too picky, and (3) we won't find smooth coat walls that don't have pinholes in them. So on to my question. Are pinholes a common and acceptable occurrence if smooth coating textured walls?

Thanks!

Here's a sample of what it looked like originally:
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*Larger images:
*1. http://i.imgur.com/oTxdZ.jpg
2. http://i.imgur.com/gKmyF.jpg
3. http://i.imgur.com/ABnKj.jpg


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## joecaption (Nov 30, 2011)

Looks like moisture in the walls if forsing the paint and mud off the walls.
And no it's not normal to have that many bubbles.
It would be faster to remove that drywall completly, see if there's a moisture barrier behind the sheetrock, kraft paper on the sheetrock counts as a vaper barrer. Also check to make sure there's not two forms of vaper barrier. If there's two, one againt the outside wall and one inside moisture can get trapped inside the wall.


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## Stanchek (May 1, 2011)

The pin holes you speak of are the result of air bubbles in the mud. From time to time I'll see that when we smooth walls. Usually i find its a result of floating it to thick. However, I'm always able to fix the affected areas. If you're paying a premium price for smooth walls, then that's what you should get. This is my opinion, and opinions vary.


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## joecaption (Nov 30, 2011)

Here's some other ideas to try.
http://www.drywalltalk.com/f7/air-bubbles-when-mud-over-paint-62/


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## bjbatlanta (Jul 16, 2008)

If you're paying for slick finish, that's what you should get. That many "pinholes" (or craters) is not acceptable. Your contractor should skim and sand again. It's a result of air in the mud....


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## chrisn (Dec 23, 2007)

bjbatlanta said:


> If you're paying for slick finish, that's what you should get. That many "pinholes" (or craters) is not acceptable. Your contractor should skim and sand again. It's a result of air in the mud....


 
I agree:thumbsup:


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## Doubleg71 (Mar 7, 2012)

I can tell you that I just finished doing this in one of the bedrooms in my house and I have not seen any bubbles in my finish. I probably did 2-3 coats and sanded all the walls until they were completely smooth. I would not be happy if he left it like that! If he told me that I was too picky...I would tell him that is exactly right because I expect to get what I pay for and nothing less.


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## chrisBC (Dec 28, 2010)

Yep, skimming and sanding should fix it..


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## princelake (Feb 19, 2012)

i've found this problem if there is old paint and the mud doesnt want to full stick it to causing air bubbles. i've found applying my mud then scrapping it right off and then reapplying the mud. i find scrapping it off gets the mud in all the pores of the drywall to remove air pockets. the point hes at now he should do a light skim of the bubbled sections and it sound turn out fine. i've also found that different muds are worse then others for bubbling. tell him to fill the air bubbles its not the end of the world and hes not gonna go bankrupt for a hour of extra work.


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## fixrite (Mar 1, 2009)

I have to agree, that is not acceptable. Whenever I have had that happen to be it is when I have used a drill and paddle to mix the mud and ran my drill at too high a speed. My solution is after it has been mixed well,I put the lid back on the bucket and pick it up by the handle and drop it on the floor. Just like mom use to do to get the air bubbles out of the cake mix. I do this till I can see the bubbles float to the top of my mud. Hope it helps as it seem to work wonders for me.


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## jburchill (Oct 3, 2010)

I ran into this problem when I was doing a corner. Once side was painted and the other side was the drywall I was putting up. It would bubble up on the paint side. What worked for me was putting a thin layer of mud on there and that would bubble, then I would sand that down, then put another layer of mud on until the bubbles were gone. This worked for me, but it was on a small scale, so the extra work wasn't an issue. 


For pin holes, thats the air in the mud. Just re-mud the area with a thin coat and it will go away. If your contractor doesn't know this, their are an idiot and are in the wrong business.


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## bjbatlanta (Jul 16, 2008)

You are correct. The painted surface is less "porous" than the raw drywall paper. ESPECIALLY with "gloss" type paint. That can be a factor in the problem or add to it. A professional should be able to take that into consideration and allow for that. In any case, if I had done the job and there was an issue such as this, I would take care of it even if I lost money to make things right for the customer. I have made less on a job or two than I pay my help, but that's what customer service is about. You win a few, you lose a few, but you don't want to lose customers (for your error) when referral is your only source of new customers.....


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