The walls were plastered

Are you talking about drywall (sheetrock) or a true plaster, typically done over blue board?

Whatever it is, the finish work is poor. Texture looks different in several of the pictures.

Hi PPF - Thanks for your response. I'm talking about true plaster. This was a splurge for me and I'm so disappointed. I'm curious on who is responsible. Typically, is it up to the people that plaster to ensure the walls are smooth or should the painter have sanded prior to beginning? Not that I'm letting my GC off the hook - I think he should have been inspecting this all along the way. Thanks again.

Poorly done

For comparison, I just swiveled my chair around and took these pics of the true plaster wall in our 1964 home repainted many times.

Taken from 10" away.

No seams or irregularities anywhere. Almost a shame it's coming down soon!

Textured roller. Photo: The Spruce

I expect the gc or plasterer will blame the finish on the painter. It almost looks like the painter used a textured roller.

Plaster done correctly is glass smooth and featureless if you spec'd a smooth finish. Yours looks like they forgot to put anything over the brown coat. Or it is an intentionally textured surface. Or it was done by the novice apprentice without supervision. Not even remotely OK.

The GC is the only person responsible to you for this work. Just tell the GC you're not happy.

Thank you everyone! I never had a conversation with the GC on a textured surface or not. I just expected a smooth finish. Do you think it should have been explained to me or should I have known? It doesn't specify what type of finish it is in my contract. I'm meeting with the GC tomorrow so I'll report back with his response.

Depends - did you specify level 3, 4, or 5 plaster finish?

Hi sprinkles - I wasn't even aware that there were different levels of plaster finish. What I can tell you is that the room where this is most visible is the living room where there are cathedral ceilings and dormers along the entire front that flood the walls with light. From the little I read after seeing your response, for this type of room, Level 5 should be used.

Do you think it was up to me to ask the contractor? I'm just not sure how I was supposed to know to ask.

Thanks,

Laura

I agree it looks sloppy in spots, but not horrible. You'll almost always get some variability in inside corners and around rough openings. In a perfect world you want some texture to mask inevitable imperfections, if you wanted a smooth finish you'd stop at a lesser finish and not waste the $ on more plaster

I've never hear of "levels" of plaster finish like one would use for drywall. It's not a matter of "stopping" at some point, it's not like drywall where multiple coats are applied, at least when using blueboard; it's once and done (no sanding) and your plasterer either knows how to do it or doesn't.

In New England the default is a smooth, flat finish; if you want texture you specify it and pay extra. In having three houses done in blueboard and plaster in the last decade I think there was only one spot with a visible defect; if I hadn't done the painting myself I would never have noticed it. No, there was no variability at inside corners or around openings on any of the projects done by three different teams. From my sampling it's a trade with an extremely high average skill level.

It looks more like an "imperfect smooth" hand applied drywall finish that has been backrolled by the painter. The photos are pretty close to the wall to show that and the brush marks in the corner. The nail pops in #3 are troubling but can be repaired. #5 is typical imperfect smooth.

Hello - I wanted to provide an update. The painters are back and are sanding the walls. Fingers crossed that there's a satisfactory outcome. Thank you again for all your advice. I'm not sure I would have pushed this if it wasn't for your expertise.

Laura