You can usually start finishing straight after the key handover if you choose renovation fleece, as long as the walls were handed over ready for wallpapering and do not feel damp. Waiting is mainly sensible with paint-ready plaster or paint straight on the wall, because those show the shrinkage cracks of the first period.
With renovation fleece, our wallpaper hangers finish a complete home in 3 days: hanging, filling and painting.
Keys almost in hand? Plan your finishing before you move
Our own tradespeople carry out the site survey around your handover, so your walls are ready before the furniture arrives.
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Why can renovation fleece go on straight away, but paint not always?
A new-build home is not yet fully settled at the key handover. The concrete and the calcium silicate blocks release construction moisture and the structure beds in. As a result, hairline cracks appear in the first period, often at board joints, in corners and above doors and windows.
Paint or paint-ready plaster applied straight onto such a wall shows those cracks, because a hard layer cracks along with the movement. Renovation fleece is a fibre-based non-woven layer that bridges small cracks. It absorbs the movement, so you see nothing of it in your paint. That is why a wall with renovation fleece does not need to wait until the house has fully settled.
There is a limit to the cracks that renovation fleece bridges: small cracks yes, a real crack no. And those small cracks are exactly the reason why renovation fleece is chosen in new builds.
Do you have to wait a year for the house to settle?
No. The advice to wait a year dates from the time when walls were plastered or painted directly. Anyone who started too early saw the cracks return and had to repaint. With a crack-bridging layer such as renovation fleece, that wait is not necessary.
Waiting does make sense in three situations. If the wall is still genuinely damp, for example after a handover in a cold, wet period. If the wall was not handed over ready for wallpapering and first needs thin plaster, which has to dry. And if you want a plastered wall without wallpaper, on which the cracks of the first period will become visible.
If a wall still feels damp, it is still releasing construction moisture; why new-build walls release moisture has to do with the concrete and the calcium silicate blocks. And if your documents say ready for wallpapering, check what handover ready for wallpapering means for your home.
What needs to happen between getting the keys and moving in?
The period between the keys and the move is the best time to finish, because we work fastest in an empty home and your furnishings stay clean. This is what the schedule usually looks like:
If you also want window frames, doors, skirting boards or the staircase painted, we schedule that straight after the walls. That way everything, wallpapering, plastering and painting, is in one schedule.
Want to know how much time your home needs? Discuss your handover date with a project manager.
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What if the handover is delayed or you want to start later?
If the handover date moves, you give us the new date and we reschedule the finishing. Such a delay often affects your move too, so put together for yourself what happens if the handover is postponed.
If you deliberately want to start later, for example because you want to live in the home first, that is possible too. Bear in mind that finishing in an occupied home takes more time, because we work room by room and furniture has to be moved out of the way. The finish itself does not change: even months later, renovation fleece is the logical choice on a new-build wall.
How many weeks you allow depends on the planning between getting the keys and moving in: whether thin plaster is needed, and whether you already live there or not.
Who does the finishing, and how do you get started?
The finishing is done by our own tradespeople: 40 wallpaper hangers, 32 plasterers and 25 painters on permanent contracts. Every year they finish more than 600 new-build homes. Because plasterer, wallpaper hanger and painter work for the same organisation, the steps dovetail and you do not have to coordinate anything yourself.
We discuss with you which finish suits each room; with the guide to choosing wall finishes in a new build you will already be well on your way beforehand.
In your request, give your handover date and whether the walls will be handed over ready for wallpapering. The free quote you receive within 24 hours then already allows for any thin plaster, and once you agree we schedule the site survey around the key handover.
During the site survey we check whether what the contractor says is correct: are the walls really ready for wallpapering, how are the ceilings finished and what condition are the doors and window frames in. After that, the final price and the schedule are fixed.
This is how it works when you have your new-build home finished, from the first phone call to the handover.
By the Bouwsector België team, 97 in-house tradespeople · reviewed by