House needs repainting after less than 3 years

rosemaryt

I own a flat in a large Georgian building in Pimlico. The paint is flaking off in many places and it now needs repainting - less than 3 years after it was last done (Sept 2008). The painters say that is is due to the harsh winters in 2009 and 2010. The secretary of our management company (which we all own) wants to employ the same painters again. I'm very worried that it was due to poor workmanship. Has anyone else encountered this problem? Presumably it must be very common as everyone in London experienced the same weather. Should we employ the same people again, or should we get a second opinion?
Thanks in advance for advice.

anotherbaldrick

Probably the wood has become "De-natured" this is because it has been neglected in the past which has caused the wood to be exposed to sun and rain and loose its texture and become very absorbent. The result of this is that fresh paint, the body of the paint and the bonding agents are just absorbed into the wood and you are left with a flaky film sitting on the surface.
The solution is to prime the wood before painting using a watered down solution of PVA adhesive. Two coats, the first watered down 20% PVA 80% water ,allow a day to dry then second coat diluted 50-50. when dry undercoat and top coat and you will find the paint will bond now to the wood.

Any good decorator would know all this.

rosemaryt

I have just found out that it is the rendering that needs repairing - its not the wood.
But should that not have been repaired the last time - or do these things just happen

phill99

I think you should get someone else in to quote. In fact 3 other people. Plus you need a decent specification for them to price against. Sounds a bit too cosy to me - brown envelopes with cash in them spring to mind!!

rosemaryt

Many thanks for all your replies.
Apologies, it seems it is the rendering that is the problem. She did get one other quote and she said that it was twice as much, but I'm still concerned that the rendering went so soon (two years) after the front of the house had been repainted. This included my balcony where chunks have fallen off. Should the builders not have spotted that might happen? I am very ignorant about these things, but it does seem a bit dodgy to me

aboard_epsilon

if the paint is coming off and the rendering damaged..it may be guttering...the rain may be pouring the rain down the wall.

also they could have painted it ..and then it rained within a few hours

there are lots of cheap good for nothing masonry paints out there too

make sure they use a well known name.

as regards it flaking off wood .dark paints do this a lot .they get hot in the summer and blister .the uv light is not reflected..so they get damaged/dry-up ..become inflexible instead crack and peel.

my walls are painted with 2 coats of macphersons white spirit and pliolite based masonry paint , never comes off ..but is £28 a gallon

Your paint layer is compromised now ..painting over this unstable layer may lead to more flaking ......it may be that its over another week layer .

needs pressure washing to get it back to a stable layer when that happens

there are stabilizing solutions that you can apply to bad masonry paint.

my choice would be the pressure washing though




all the best.markj

nickj_2

anotherbaldrick wrote: »

The solution is to prime the wood before painting using a watered down solution of PVA adhesive. Two coats, the first watered down 20% PVA 80% water ,allow a day to dry then second coat diluted 50-50. when dry undercoat and top coat and you will find the paint will bond now to the wood.

Any good decorator would know all this.

i've been a painter for thirty years and have worked with loads of other painters in my time and none has ever used pva glue on wood as a primer , i always use the reccommended primers as per manufacturers instructions , unless of course you are suggesting that you know better than them
obviously wood does get to the stage where it is beyond painting ,

Doozergirl

It is the workmanship and I wouldn't be happy simply employing the same people to come and do the same. You might want a surveyor to assess it and suggest what needs to be done - whether it is the render that is a problem, an underlying damp issue or simply how it was painted.

We've been in our house for three years. We fixed a lot of cracks in the render and repainted. The render is fine and the paint is sticking! It looks great, tbh. It isn't normal for paint to flake of rendering at all really. Suggests dampness causing it not to key, or a genuinely older issue that has just been covered over with paint.

ormus

if the render is falling off in chunks, it may not be a painting problem. more like a render problem.
no amount of good painting (or paint) is going to cover up a serious render problem.

its a bit like painting a rusty car. very stupid and a waste of money.

rosemaryt

Yes, the problem is with the render and the builders who originally painted the house are going to repair the render. But shouldn't they have spotted it in 2008 when they painted the building- problems started to appear only 2 years later. They said it was because of the bad winters. Or do these problems crop up suddenly?

ormus

theres a few reasons why it can happen.
if water gets in behind the the render and the brickwork, then come freezing winter time, it can force the render off.
just like freezing ice can make potholes in the road.

also a bad render mix or bad workmanship can give a similar problem.