"Norminn" wrote in message
ink.net...
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.

Thanks for the reply. Location is Miami Florida and surface is CBS Concrete
Block Stucco.

The contract called for pressure washing prior to prime/paint. I was not
there to see how long they waited between each stage. However I don't think
they waited three days. I know one guy started priming in the front when
the other guy was still pressure washing the back.

He came back and looked at the spots and said he will fix them by sanding
down the spots and reprime repaint. He will charge me for new material
paint and primer and a discount off labor. Something like $200 all
inclusive to fix all, not a lot of $, but what if more peels next week, next
month, during the summer months when we have down pours in the summer?

The peeled paint has chalk like substance under it. So I think this is old
paint broken down. Is it possible the pressure wash was not sufficiently
done clean, and when primer applied on top of old paint, the reaction breaks
old paint into chalk and loses adhesion?

Decisions...fix then wait and see, or a new paint job?

MC