Have You Gotten Stuck With A Bad Paint Job?
When someone hires residential painting services to redo their interior or exterior, they hope -and expect – that their painters will do a good job. Sadly, that’s not always the case. A lot can go wrong while repainting a home, and there are too many painting services out there that just don’t have the skills to back up their claims.
If you’ve had a bad paint job on your home, it’s important to recognize that quickly and move to have it fixed. Bad painting isn’t just ugly; it can open up your home to other problems, such as water making its way through cracks in the paint to damage the structure. In other cases, poor choices in color could actually make colors in adjoining rooms or hallways look worse.
In this article, we’ll talk about the signs of a bad paint job – both inside and out – and how these problems can happen.
Signs of A Bad Interior Paint Job
So how do you know that your residential painting services did a bad job on the interior? If they were truly incompetent, it’ll be obvious. There will be paint streaks, drips, uneven spread, or mismatching hues. However, some other problems can be a bit more subtle.
1 – Underlying flaws visible under the paint
One of the most common mistakes made by inexperienced residential painting services is failing to properly prepare the surface for painting. Unless the underlying layers are properly cleaned and finished before repainting, problems in those layers such as cracks or water damage will still be visible beneath the new paint. Worse, fixing those problems will require stripping the paint to get to them before repainting.
2 – Poor choices in color and finishing
Finishing is another area where poor painters tend to make mistakes. The finish needs to be chosen to fit the usage of the area. For example, semi-gloss finishes are easily cleaned and are best for high-traffic areas, whereas matte finishes are hard to clean and should be reserved for low-traffic rooms. Poor painters may not realize this, and put hard-to-clean paint in areas where it’s most likely to get dirty.
Problems with color can be more subtle. The paint in one room can reflect onto paint in nearby areas, such as a connective hallway. As a simple example: a bright red room next to a blue hallway is going to make the hallway look a bit purple. Great painters will understand these interactions, and will advise you to choose paint so that each room’s colors are distinct.
3 – The paint ages quickly
A paint job might look fine after it dries, but if the painter didn’t use enough coats of paint – or chose a low-quality paint to cut costs – it’s going to age very quickly. It’ll crack or wrinkle within a year, and start showing other signs of wear far too early. This is why hiring the lowest bidder for home painting is a bad idea. They’re probably skimping on the materials.
Signs of Bad Exterior Paint Jobs
Exterior paint can be harder to examine since much of it is elevated off the ground far enough that it’s difficult to see. However, there are still some telltale signs of poor exterior painting services.
1 – Air holes
On the theme of “using too little paint,” when a contractor skimps on exterior paint, the result is air holes that bubble up through the underlying layers. These holes look awful and, worse, everyone is leaving your building unprotected from the elements. That will lead to rapid damage to the paint, as well as potentially allowing water into the interior.
2 – Blistering
The combination of poorly applied paint and sunlight heating it can lead to blistering quickly. This is particularly true if the underlying surface was improperly washed, and moisture ended up trapped underneath the paint. Much like blisters on people, these will crack open quickly – which once again leaves your building vulnerable to damage.
3 – Cracking and peeling
If the exterior paint starts cracking and peeling within a month or two of the job, that means your residential painting contractor failed to mix the paint properly. Typically, it means they used too much water, resulting in paint that was too thin to hold up. This is another hallmark of low-cost outfits, especially since the flaws in their work won’t become evident until long after they’re gone.
For top-quality residential painting services in Westchester County, turn to C.E.T. Painting. Since 2004, we’ve offered exceptional work in repainting and restoration and can maintain even historic homes in the area. Our workforce is highly trained, and we pride ourselves on doing the job right the first time, every time.
Contact us for a free estimate on your interior or exterior paint jobs.