Help! Bad paint job

[CoolDisneyCat]

Fellow DISers, I need some help!

We recently hired a contractor to repaint our whole home, including the trim. The trim was dark brown, and in the living room and a few other areas it included dentil molding.

DD thought painting the trim would have to include taking it down, sanding it, priming, painting, and reinstalling, and that was WAY more project than she and I wanted to take on! The painters the contractor hired didn't do any of this. They left the trim in situ, primed it, and painted it.

Oh, dear DISers. It looks AWFUL!! You can see the brown showing through everywhere -- all the trim, the doors, around the windows -- and you can see major, huge brush streaks on every surface. Our mantel looks like death warmed over. In the living room the dentil molding...I have no words. The paint is super globbed on in some places, and in other places there's no paint at all in the indented bits.

In other words, it's pretty much a horror show. My question is this: what's my course of action? I haven't done a "final walkthrough" with the contractor, but when I do and point all of this out to her, will they redo it? It is hideous; I can't stress that enough! Do they consider the work "done" at this point, and that's it? I mean, they've unwrapped our furniture, so obviously in their minds they're done painting.

I'm going to email her and let her know about the issues, but are they honestly going to redo an entire 2200 square foot house worth of trim without charging us for it?!

Thanks for any words of wisdom!

 

[lost*in*cyberspace]

I am wondering what your contract specified. Did it state the trim would be done in the manner you assumed, or did you just ask that it be painted? Didn't anyone check up on the painter during the job? Have you already paid in full?

 

[CoolDisneyCat]

The contract just states "trim will be painted". We assumed the contractor was overseeing them. We have been staying in a hotel 30 miles away.

No, they haven't been paid in full.

Is it as simple as I don't pay them?

 

[4mykidz127]

My sister had something like this happen to her but it was the outside of the house. They had all sorts of problems, one of the painters broke their skylight which then the skylight fell through and broke their shower door. They didn't pay them in full until everything had been fixed. She also found out that instead of hauling away the rotted wood as the contract stated they had thrown it over their fence. (They back up to a wooded park area)

It was a huge headache for them but by holding off payment they were able to get everything fixed. Good luck!

 

[chris31997]

You can refuse to pay in full until it is fixed. I would ask the contractor what exactly painting the trim meant. I would also take pics, close-ups and over all.

 

[Mkaz]

My husband is a contractor. DO NOT make the final payment until you are satisfied. If you give them the final payment before they fix things there is a chance they won't come back. Tell them that they will receive their payment after they fix the bad paint job.

 

[Deb & Bill]

Ask your contractor to check out the work. Point out the areas you think need to be fixed. See what the contractor says. But if your contract didn't specify that the molding be taken down and refinished, it wouldn't happen.

 

[CoolDisneyCat]

Thanks for your advice, folks!

I wrote the contractor a long letter earlier this evening. I'll head over there in the morning to get some good pics in the light.

 

[teacup princess]

I've never ever heard of a painter taking all the trim down in a house to paint it, then reinstalling it. That seems a little extreme for a general paint job.

 

[scrapquitler]

I've never ever heard of a painter taking all the trim down in a house to paint it, then reinstalling it. That seems a little extreme for a general paint job.

I agree with this. I have never heard of removing the trim, and unless the contract specifically stated that the trim would be removed, you shouldn't expect it.


It sounds like the painters may not have properly prepped the trim prior to painting...was this stained wood trim that you had painted white? If so, it should have been primed before painting. Spots of the brown showing thru is unacceptable. Brush marks in places is probably normal, it was painted with a brush (but we did ours ourselves).

Don't finish paying until you get them to come out and discuss it with you.

 

[dancin Disney style]

I've never ever heard of a painter taking all the trim down in a house to paint it, then reinstalling it. That seems a little extreme for a general paint job.

I agree.....I've never heard of anyone removing the trim just to have it painted. Even if you did, a finish carpenter would do that not a painter. You would be involving 2 trades and a very high cost.

 

[Lewisc]

I've never heard of removing the trim. I'm going to disagree with the PP. Your contract might call for one coat of primer and one coat of paint. It's entirely possible 2 coats of paint is required to cover the brown paint. Also possible they used a lower quality paint.

Did you take the lowest bid? A better painter might have told you a second coat would be required and charged more.

You can complain but you might need to pay extra for a second coat. You might have to pay, even though you don't like the job, if the painter did exactly what you paid him to do.

Don't know if it's still true but Sears used to guarantee one coat coverage if the paint was applied as per the directions. The directions call for two coats of primer before painting.

edited to add I first thought the OP was talking about painting the outside of the house. I've had painters remove molding before painting but he then replaced the molding.
I'll stick to my first point. You probably need two coats of paint and only paid for one coat.

 

[mjkacmom]

I've never ever heard of a painter taking all the trim down in a house to paint it, then reinstalling it. That seems a little extreme for a general paint job.

You, of course, could've put that in the contract, but stripping paint from molding is VERY expensive! I think I paid over $500 just to have the tops of some columns stripped before being re-painted. It takes much more time to strip than to do the actual painting.

You could have them come back and re-do it the way you want it, but be prepared to pay a lot extra.

 

[LilyWDW]

Check your contract. This is the only way to really know if you have any real say in how things are done. If you want it done a specific way, get it in the contract!

 

[Mrs. Bradbury]

I am unsure what your options are, but I will tell you my "borrowed" experience.

My dad was a contractor and my former husband was a contractor, so for the most part I have lived my life blissfully ignorant of the details of house repair/maintenance. However, many years ago a coworker wanted to get her deck painted, I believe it was, and hired a contractor. They agreed on a price and the work was done. Boy, was she disappointed. See, she "thought" the contractor would pressure wash the deck first, because it clearly needed it. Nope. She also "thought" the contractor would use 2 coats of paint, because it needed more than one coat to look best. She "thought" a lot of perfectly reasonable things that doing the best job would include, but their agreement was for him to paint her deck, and that's what she got.

So, in other words, specify specify specify, down to the most minute detail, including brands/products and tools/applicators used. It's the only way to ensure that you two are on the same page. My guess is the contract is written vaguely and with a bare minimum of detail unless you added it.

For what it's worth, though, my ex did remove the interior trim prior to painting ours (and his painting subcontractor took it outside and sprayed it, IIRC).

 

[mikehn]

Sounds like just a bad paint job. They will not take down the railing and sand it as you assumed. But they will repaint it and make it look good. Im pretty sure this will get taken care of.

 

[LilyWDW]

Check your contract. This is the only way to really know if you have any real say in how things are done. If you want it done a specific way, get it in the contract!

I should also add that your contract should also have information on what to do if there is an issue.

And yes, I quoted myself.

 

[sweetdana]

I bet you can get 1 more coat of paint.. but I agree with others PP I cannot imagine anyone taking it down without that being specifically in the contract. priming and painting is not the same contract as tear down and sanding and priming and painting.

I would ask for an additional coat of paint and hope that works.

 

[CoolDisneyCat]

Thanks for the replies, everyone.

For many reasons, I was not directly involved with picking the contractor and looking over the details of the contract itself. I wanted to be, but .. well, long ugly story.

The contractor is meeting with me in the morning and she says it will be made right.