Conflict about repainting the walls

VanyaHargreeves

Housemate 1 and housemate 2 were messing around in the living room a few weeks ago. Housemate 1 had a stupid toy that stuck to things, so they threw it on the ceiling and walls and it's left grease marks.

Housemate 1 is moving out in a week but myself, housemate 2 and housemate 3 are staying for the summer. I'd like to repaint the grease patches on the wall before she moves out so we can pay for it together and paint it together. However, housemate 1 and 2 both think it's a bad idea and are refusing to pay. Their reasoning is that we might get it on the carpet, it might not match the paint colour so there'll just be a patch, we should wait until our letting agency tells us to do it before we do it. I know housemate 1 is just saying this so she can get out of painting.

Personally I think it's very kind of housemate 3 and I to offer to pay for part of the paint, when the staining is nothing to do with us.

We've asked our letting agency what colour they painted our walls and they've told us it's Dulux Magnolia, so we already know what shade it is. I know there might be a slight mismatch if the walls are dirty, it's been painted a long time, etc, but I think it's better than leaving a great big grease mark on the wall. We also have a formal inspection on Thursday so I wanted to do it before the inspection, as our letting agency are very sly and will do anything to tell us off and get money out of our deposits. I think it's a better idea to pay a fiver each to paint it ourselves than to pay 50 quid each for them to pretend to get a painter in (when in reality we know they'll just leave it, but that's another story).

Does anyone have any advice? Am I being unreasonable? Should I just leave it?

Thanks everyone.

V_Chic_Chick

No, you're not being unreasonable. I would suggest you tell HM1 that if they leave without painting then all the money that is taken from the deposit will be taken from their deposit. It will be more than £50.

You should put down an old sheet / newspaper to protect the carpet. Be prepared, however, that you might have to repaid the whole wall / room if the paint doesn't match (and often different batches are subtly different).

Errata

a) the paint won't match
b) the paint won't adhere properly to grease
c) painting walls and ceilings needs a degree of skill and experience
d) it may need two coats

I could go on, but I'm sure you get the idea.

zzzLazyDaisy

Have you tried wiping the grease stains with a very mild solution of household cleaning liquid and warm water (it needs to be very weak as it will wash the emulsion off as well otherwise). It might do the trick, but if not you've lost nothing - as others have pointed out, you can't just paint over grease marks anyway.

Oh, just another thought - wilko's used to sell a white cleaning block (like a sponge but firmer) which was great for getting marks of emulsioned walls.

VanyaHargreeves

zzzLazyDaisy wrote: »

Have you tried wiping the grease stains with a very mild solution of household cleaning liquid and warm water (it needs to be very weak as it will wash the emulsion off as well otherwise). It might do the trick, but if not you've lost nothing - as others have pointed out, you can't just paint over grease marks anyway.

Oh, just another thought - wilko's used to sell a white cleaning block (like a sponge but firmer) which was great for getting marks of emulsioned walls.

I've already tried both of the things, and it didn't work Do you have any ideas of what the best thing to do is? All my housemates are saying that they refuse to repaint the entire room. I don't really know what they expect to happen....

amiehall

Honestly, I think the most likely outcome if you paint it is that you'll have to do the whole room to match it, you'll make a mess round the door frame, windows etc and the greasy mark will just come through the new coat of paint. I really would leave it be. If the mark is greasy, it will come through the new paint. I think you're more likely to make more of a mess.... Student houses get all sorts of marks on the walls, they probably have no idea what was there to start with...

devildog

The other product that may be worth trying is sugar soap (in a bottle, places like Wilcos do it for less than £2) it is a product that is recc before you paint anything. It will (should) remove the grease mark BUT(!) if the ceiling is dirty/greasy overall you may have to wash the whole ceiling otherwise you could be left with a 'clean' patch which will stand out as much as a greasy mark

Errata

VanyaHargreeves wrote: »

I've already tried both of the things, and it didn't work Do you have any ideas of what the best thing to do is? All my housemates are saying that they refuse to repaint the entire room. I don't really know what they expect to happen....

I hope it's not too much of a shock to you all when the LL charges for cleaning unusual dirt and redecorating.

Lokolo

Although I agree with your assessment and you are tyring to put things right, but I think you may end up coming off worse by trying to fix it.

Personally, if it was Housemate 1s fault, she should be the one paying for it out of her deposit.

Fluff15

What about buying the paint in small testers? I think it's three for £1 in Wilkinsons at the moment, and that way you won't be spending loads on paint even if it doesn't work. In my student house, where marks were on the walls previously the patches had just been painted over. I think patches will look better than marks, and it shows you've made the effort.

If the landlord still kicks up a stink about the marks/patches, and insists on taking x amount away from your deposit, just make sure it comes out of the perpetrators deposit.

agrinnall

VanyaHargreeves wrote: »

I think it's a better idea to pay a fiver each to paint it ourselves than to pay 50 quid each for them to pretend to get a painter in (when in reality we know they'll just leave it, but that's another story).

Unless you can get rid of the marks, and get a good match of the paint, and do a very good job of the painting, you'll end up paying the fiver and the 50 quid. I don't see how they could get away with not doing it, given that you will be staying there for the summer: just insist that they do it before you leave or you won't pay. And make sure that the bulk of the cost comes from the people who actually caused the damage.