Paint problem or drywall problem

[Jen Etten]

I need some advise on how to fix our paint sheen problem. We are building new construction and the paint sheen is not even. We spayed on one coat of primer and 2 coats of eggshell paint, back rolling the whole thing and another coat hand rolling. it still looks uneven. Is this a drywall texture problem? How on earth do we fix it? I'm at my wits end here.

Thanks in advance. 

[William Hiday]

Sounds like you may have two or three things working against you here.

1- Surface prep.  You HAVE to wipe the walls down before you spray your primer.  Ie: take a dust mop and wipe them and then go back over everything with the bristle attachment on your shop vac.  Spray your primer on and then give everything a quick, light sanding.  Repeat the wipe down and shop vac process.  I know its a tedious pain in the butt, but its definitely worth it.

2- I've urged, begged, and fought customers about the sheen of the wall paint.  In fact, it's in every one of my custom home and remodeling contracts that we're using flat paint.  I've heard all of the arguments about being able to wipe the walls down with eggshell and other sheens, but its not worth the touchup nightmares that come with it.  A good quality flat paint (get to Sherwin, Porter, or B. Moore) will let you give it a gentle wipe without removing color from the wall.  If that doesn't work, get your wiz roller and do spot touchups.  You can do touchups anywhere with flat paint and they disappear when they dry.  

3- USE. QUALITY. PAINT.  The $10/gal you save isn't worth anything if you're doing a third and fourth coat and it still looks like garbage, right?