word meaning

Doesn't work at all for several reasons, one of which: With "when" you'd have to say "fumes are swirling," an entirely different meaning

Si

The various rooms are painted by teams. The blue team is shouting to the yellow one

Each team thinks its job is more nearly perfect

Dunno Ahmed; might involve a ladder; maybe Lay or Con or S. can further help you

Beth stays in the kitchen. "I don't paint," she says to those who haven't already heard. And you can feel the resentment rise like paint fumes swirling around the house.

Team Spirit inevitably splinters Group Consciousness as we work in our separate rooms. Yellow (bathroom) vs. Blue (nursery) vs. Eggshell A (office) and Eggshell B (stairwell). Soon Blue is yelling to Yellow about having the most perfect ceiling, while Egg A challenges Egg B to a skirting- board race."

1) If I use 'when' instead of 'like' (in "And you can feel the resentment like paint...), what differences will arise?
No - "like" is needed. This phrase is a simile and describes the resentment.

2) I think, here, 'splinters' means 'break'. Am I right?
Splinter here would mean breaks up into different parts or scattered.

3) Blue is shouting to Yellow? What does it mean? Colors can compliment or contrast each other. This is a personification of what the colors are saying to each other.

4) What is meant with "about having the most
perfect ceiling"? Having the best ceiling.

5 - Skirting boards are the baseboards or wood mouldings around the bottom of the room. Again, this is a personification of the colors.

Look up the underlined words to get a better idea of this kind of writing style.