MiamiCuse wrote:
I hired someone to paint the exterior of my house.

The contract called for repairing cracks/chips and cleaning exterior
walls, cleaning exterior walls with TSP, pressure washing exterior
walls, prime with one coat of "One coat of Benjamin Moore Exterior 100%
acrylic primer FRESH START" then two coats of "Two coats of Benjamin
Moore Flat Exterior 100% acrylic paint".

I was not home to inspect the progress of the job but I did check it
every day at the end of the day.

The work was done in November 2006 (less than two months ago) and now I
see paint peeling on the exterior walls near where there are corners.
Not everywhere but may be about fifteen spots are peeling, also had a
couple places I see shallow "bubbles" and when I press I feel it being
spongy.

I am not sure what happened. When I inspected the peeled paint, I only
see one coat of paint, but I am not so familiar with painting that it
would be obvious if there were two coats, I just sort of expected two
layers of peeled paint. I did ask the contractor and he assured me two
coats were applied. So is it possible the surface preparations were not
done properly?

Any advise?

MC

What kind of surface ... wood, cb stucco? How many days to complete
job? How long after pressure wash was primer applied? Did he rinse
with bleach at any point? Are the trouble spots mainly in sunny or in
shady areas? Did the painter give any kind of written warranty?
Written bid? Did you see the product he used?

I would call him first. If he is any good, he will be out to repair
soon. If he doesn't take responsibility for it, put his name on Angie's
list or some such.

The surface would have to be wet for that to be a cause, but is most
likely. Should be at least three days dry weather from p/w to prime.
He may have primed too soon after caulk/crack repair. May have applied
paint in hot sun, which traps vehicle under the paint film and doesn't
allow it to escape.

Could contact BM for warranty. They probably would come and take a
look. We had our condo painted by a contractor, different paint mfg.,
and as part of the warranty process, the paint co. inspected prep before
primer was appl. If BM has some kind of cert. for contractors,
perhaps contacting them will help if he is going slow on making it right.

Small blisters can be "repaired", sometimes, by just using a pin to
prick them; they flatten out and don't expand any more.