unevenness in exterior beam after prep
I'm having the exterior of my house painted. Today the painter told me that he has finished the preperation and asked for the next payment to buy paints so he can start painting. But when I looked at the beams, I found the unevenness shown in the following pictures. If the finished job would look like this, I will not be satisfied. The whole point of repainting the house is to repair the chirping and cracking on the beams. The painter said he has done all he can to scrape off the peeling paint to wood and prime the wood, and the old paints that won't come off by scraping should remain, thus the unevenness. He seems to think that there's nothing he can do. He dismissed my inquire about stripping the old paints. So what gives?
What can be done to make these beam nearly smooth if not entirely smooth? Any patch material/method?
Should the painter be expected to do a better job on the beams on a standard paint job (he claims he has done everything outlined in the contract - powerwash/sand/fill/scrape/prime)? Should I be expected to pay premium to get the beam look better than this? (For reference, the painter is not the highest bidder on the job. His bid was the mid range, not the lowest, nor the highest).
Thanks for any help/info you can provide!
http://pic20.picturetrail.com/VOL1214/4148729/8663664/117946869.jpg
http://pic20.picturetrail.com/VOL1214/4148729/8663664/117946875.jpg
http://pic20.picturetrail.com/VOL1214/4148729/8663664/117946879.jpg
Jiong
Jiong,
There is something that can be done but it takes work.
Your painter could sand the wood to lessen the uneveness and then primer and sand the primer coat. Labor intensive to be sure but well worth the extra time and money.
Those beams could be better. The painter could feather (sand) the edges were he scraped off paint which would help the over all look. Or completely strip down the beams to the wood, fill the cracks then prime and paint. All it takes is more time which equals more money.
Good luck
It may be better to apply a narrow bit of filler along she sharp edges to hide them....then sand smooth. It takes a lot of work to completely strip paint. Then the wood is not very smooth. It's a shame that you may ultimately be dissatisfied with your painter over this. Compared to a well maintained house, he will probably have to do five times the work. Applying the paint is the easiest part of the job. Some Eichlers have never had peeling paint because they were repainted before the old paint started to come apart. When water gets into the wood, the expansion can wreck havoc with old brittle paint.
You save a lot of money and get a much better looking and more durable job if painting is done BEFORE the old paint loses its physical properties and begins to fail. This holds true for re-coating our foam roofs. Our happiest customers are the ones that take our advice and do the work early, when there are large savings on labor.
