# previous bad cutline procedure



## Dunbar Painting (Mar 19, 2010)

Question:

What is the protocol when you are doing a repaint, and the previous paint job has horrible cut lines in the area you are painting, such as:

1. you are doing walls only and the previous wall paint job made a crappy cut line a long the ceiling, and trim. If you do a perfect cut line there will be some previous colour still on the ceiling, if you follow the previous colour it looks like you suck.

2. similar scenario, but the previous painter/home owner has painted over some metal, vinyl, or any object not being painted. Again, if you leave it then it looks silly, if you follow the cut line then it looks sloppy.

Do you guys/girls just ask the home owner what they want?? IF the home owner says go ahead and follow crappy cut line, what happens when someone is in their house and decides not to ask the home owner for your number to paint their place because your paint job looks sloppy...

hopefully this makes sense...


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## DanielMDollaPainting (Feb 24, 2011)

No right answer. I hate painting on these kinds ofjobs. Nothing like a clean pallet of new drywall or repaint over builders first coat to make your talent shine.
I just usually try and follow the bad cutlines some to hide it a little. It looks like crap when the color underneath is totally different and noticable. But I only go sor far with that. It is amazing how many people will try and save some money painting themselves, while making there paint job look less than professional.
I've seen some really good HO jobs though.. Almost better than I could do lol, I hate to say it. an aquaintance of mine did his foyer. He told me it took 3 weeks. He had scaffolding in the foyer stacked and leveled on the kids dictionaries. He said " it was pretty hairy. I got the kids out of the house." He taped everything, even the 17ft ceiling. This guy makes 6 digits at his job. I was impressed. He got some straight lines with that tape. He risked his life when I could have done it in 2 days. Some guys just have to be able to have a party abd tell all thier friends that they did it themselves.


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## Rcon (Nov 19, 2009)

In many cases there isn't much you can do about it. On the other hand it does give you an excellent opportunity for an upsell.


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## LA Painter (Jul 28, 2009)

See if the HO has touch-up paint for ceiling & trim > re-cut the edge of ceiling and trim to overlap onto the wall > paint walls and cut in as normal.


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## BC_Painter (Feb 14, 2010)

Educate the customer, and try to upsell.

I will usually end up doing a small fix, either just spraycan of white on the ceiling, or touch up thr trim first etc. but once in a while will get a ceiling out of the deal, or some extra trim etc.

For example, someone recently hired me to repaint their ceilings, a few walls, trim and cabinets. They had already paid to have half the ceilings done, which stopped at the end of a hallway. They only wanted me to do the unapinted area, but I showed them the problems with the old ceiling job, and let them know how much better it would look if I redid all of it rather than cutting it off, leaving a line, and a subpar ceiling next to it.

They bit, and I'm doing them all 

Plus worst case scenario you can show off how much better "your" lines are over the previous painters, and if you show them how great you are, they are more likely to show these differences to friends that comment on the job, even if you aren't told to fix them.

It's a win/win situation/


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## JNLP (Dec 13, 2007)

I've had a few where I took my little 1.5" brush down the wall/ceiling line in some plain flat white (they had flat white ceilings to begin with) to make my cut look nice. Kept it to the minimun though so you don't see a difference in paints used and didn't take much time at all. Even if your white is a tad bit off, it atleast looks better than seeing some red or blue or something showing between your new ivory and white.


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## BrushJockey (Mar 15, 2009)

JNLP has it. Even if I only have some white primer, run a quick and small as possible cover up line on the old paint. Usually takes no more than a few mins and makes all the difference. A little off white coverup is way better than a way off slop job.


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## ROOMINADAY (Mar 20, 2009)

I USED to cut in a thin line of primer or flat white in the past. 

Now - If it is a terrible cut line, I quote the ceiling with the walls and I will not move on it. It costs very little to paint a ceiling in the scope of a project and my work is my referral. Same with trim. If the painted trim is a mess, it must be painted - if they say no, that's fine we are not a good fit.

Old sloppy paint on wood trim, that is the tough one....


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## jason123 (Jul 2, 2009)

Id love to fix it.. no Ho would prob want to pay$$$$ cha ching...
or maybe wait I think i might work on my upselling. if it is not up then it will be down>

I will kinda meet the the crappy cut in the middle. If its a real contrast youse gotsta get your crap on to the full.. It hard to do yes but somebodys got a do it Nike


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## ltd (Nov 18, 2010)

ill try to straighten out cuts best i can, but that's about it . unless their paying for me to touch up bad paint work i cant see pulling out the bag of tricks when they dont want to go for the whole job . ceilings and walls


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## Dunbar Painting (Mar 19, 2010)

Thanks for replies about ceilings and trim.

What about on vinyl windows, metal door frames, registers, door hinges, other things that have previous paint on it and should not.


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## BC_Painter (Feb 14, 2010)

Dunbar Painting said:


> Thanks for replies about ceilings and trim.
> 
> What about on vinyl windows, metal door frames, registers, door hinges, other things that have previous paint on it and should not.



Point it out during the estimate and ask the customer, if it's soft you can sometimes just remove it ( at an added cost ) with no guarantees of course, and if it won't come off, then go over it. Usually I can manage to get it off though, then I don't need to do a sloppy job to cover the old one


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## JNLP (Dec 13, 2007)

Dunbar Painting said:


> Thanks for replies about ceilings and trim.
> 
> What about on vinyl windows, metal door frames, registers, door hinges, other things that have previous paint on it and should not.


 Well that's up to what they want really. Paint it, touch it up, replace it, etc. I had one on natural wood and the wall color was slopped all up the side of the door/window casings. So I got a quart of some damn good matching paint and painted the edges of casings only with it. Everything looked nice & crisp, and from even just 2ft away you couldn't tell the edges were not natural wood like the faces.


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## TheRogueBristle (Mar 19, 2010)

rcon said:


> upsell.


qft.


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## Rcon (Nov 19, 2009)

Dunbar Painting said:


> Thanks for replies about ceilings and trim.
> 
> What about on vinyl windows, metal door frames, registers, door hinges, other things that have previous paint on it and should not.


Right out of my contract...

G) PROTECTION OF SURFACES/EXISTING DEFECTS
The Painting and Decorating Contractor shall be responsible to provide adequate protection of existing surfaces from misplaced paint being applied, but unless specifically indicated in the project specifications or contract, is not responsible for pre-existing conditions in the surrounding work area. This includes misplaced paint on hardware and other fixtures, surfaces damaged by others (for example, screening), damage to landscape and hardscape, and worn and weathered fixtures, hardware, and other items.


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## NEPS.US (Feb 6, 2008)

We will touch up with ceiling/trim paint before we start walls but very rarely do we ever have a "walls only" job.


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## JoseyWales (Jan 8, 2011)

ROOMINADAY said:


> I USED to cut in a thin line of primer or flat white in the past.
> 
> Now - If it is a terrible cut line, I quote the ceiling with the walls and I will not move on it. It costs very little to paint a ceiling in the scope of a project and my work is my referral. Same with trim. If the painted trim is a mess, it must be painted - if they say no, that's fine we are not a good fit.
> 
> Old sloppy paint on wood trim, that is the tough one....


I always tell the customer that we don't remove old paint from trim/baseboards etc...I suggest that they hire a cleaner with some goof off to do that work..


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## tntpainting (Apr 3, 2008)

I always point it out to customers before I start and its part of contract


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