# Painter Basics



## ThreeSistersPainting (Jan 7, 2017)

I am working on an exterior this week, it was done previously this year but as you can see by the picture they missed the bar on stuff. The windows were definitely the most time consuming to remove the bad and replace with the good. 

Boggles my mind to think this kind of work is still out there. I learned this stuff in my first year of painting, its like someone woke up one morning and said I am going to paint houses today.

Fortunately these folks were able to go to court and hire a new painter (me) at no cost to them. I ended up going through about a case of caulking and it took me 2 days to get the windows and siding done. Seeing if anyone else is dealing with sub-standard work??..


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## getrex (Feb 13, 2017)

All the time.


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## Brushman4 (Oct 18, 2014)

What was the previous PC name? Was it Braille Decorating?:surprise:


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## PACman (Oct 24, 2014)

yup. I see stuff like this all the time. Usually it was cousin Eddie that did it. People need to stop giving him the twelve pack before he paints!


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## Gymschu (Mar 11, 2011)

I know I did a huge 3 story building full of multi-paned windows 2 years ago. It had previously been done by a well-know local professional. I was amazed to find that he only painted about half of each window unit. It was as if he (or his employees) got bored about 5 minutes into each window repaint. True, it was a pain (pun intended) painting around 9 separate window units that were a part of each big unit, but to miss that much on each was inexcusable IMO.

Just finished a kitchen repaint today that had green paint absolutely smeared all over the nice oak cabinets. I removed what I could, but, it would have taken days to clean it all off.


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## PACman (Oct 24, 2014)

someone should start a thread on the worst hack jobs you had to fix or have seen.


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## Woodco (Nov 19, 2016)

You should see how bad ALL the trades here in Austin are. No license requirements whatsoever, so not only can any Tom, Dick or Harry start a painting company knowing nothing, but anyone can be a straight up BUILDER knowing nothing. Trades are jaw droppingly bad here.... It makes it easy for me to stand out and build a reputation though. Im not the best in the world, by any means, but I always give a quality product.


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## Brushman4 (Oct 18, 2014)

Woodco said:


> You should see how bad ALL the trades here in Austin are. No license requirements whatsoever, so not only can any Tom, Dick or Harry start a painting company knowing nothing, but anyone can be a straight up BUILDER knowing nothing. Trades are jaw droppingly bad here.... It makes it easy for me to stand out and build a reputation though. Im not the best in the world, by any means, but I always give a quality product.


So the shows that This Old House did for 1 season on a 1920's Craftsman bungalow, may have been a bunch of bs? Or do you think the trades that worked on this project, were the proverbial "cream of the crop".
https://www.thisoldhouse.com/watch/austin-house


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## Woodco (Nov 19, 2016)

oops double post.


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## Woodco (Nov 19, 2016)

Brushman4 said:


> So the shows that This Old House did for 1 season on a 1920's Craftsman bungalow, may have been a bunch of bs? Or do you think the trades that worked on this project, were the proverbial "cream of the crop".
> https://www.thisoldhouse.com/watch/austin-house


Im thinking they were probably the cream of the crop. Or maybe that show isnt showing the bad stuff. Its TV, after all, you cant believe anything about it. Obviously, there are good tradesman around, they are just rare, and we're flooded with crappy ones.

This custom Im working on right now for example: The framing is horrible. The windows are crooked, and at uneven heights, The drywall is horrible. The plumber put his valves in totally out of whack spots. The guy they hired to paint the cabinets did an awful job. They feel like sandpaper. The electricians, and tile guy did a good job. The hardwood floor is drooping and uneven (Not totally their fault, cuz of what they had to work with.) The trim carpentry is awful, partly cuz of the framer, partly cuz of of the trim guy. Im backcharging for having to nail the casing miters and window sills in and not be loose. And this is a custom home! 

Hell, I did trac homes in Reno, where the trades were MUCH better. Almost every house I've done any work on here has been butchered from the get go.

The things people get away with when theres no license on the line, I'll tell you what.... 

That and most people here are handymen. They are jack of all trades, masters of none. Theres not much specialization. And anyone who builds a doghouse, thinks they can start their own building company. I heard a rumor that a lot of contractors here stopped hiring any subs or employees that grew up in Texas cuz noone has been taught anything properly here.

Bottom line: I've lived and worked in several states/cities, and I've never seen the level of hackness/stupidity as here.


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## lilpaintchic (Jul 9, 2014)

That's called job security in this neck of the woods....


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## ThreeSistersPainting (Jan 7, 2017)

There has been so many complaints about unlicensed work this year in Bend and Salem Oregon that they actually did a sting and handed out fines (think there was a total of 80 tickets) Most repeat offenders to the CCB. 

But I think there will always be homeowners looking for cheap work and these painting basics will continue to become an issue. If you have pics of hacks that have been fixed feel free to post them, I was seeing what else people are dealing with.


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## RH (Sep 7, 2010)

PACman said:


> someone should start a thread on the worst hack jobs you had to fix or have seen.


Go ahead.


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## Brushman4 (Oct 18, 2014)

PACman said:


> someone should start a thread on the worst hack jobs you had to fix or have seen.


It would probably take me at least a year straight to do this, I'm not sure I want to waste that much time, seeing as I don't know how many day's on God's green earth I have left!


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## PACman (Oct 24, 2014)

Oh, are you waiting on me?


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## Woodco (Nov 19, 2016)

lilpaintchic said:


> That's called job security in this neck of the woods....


You aint kidding... The first job I did for this company Im working with now, was to not only repaint EVERY wall and ceiling in a custom home they built, but fix a TON of bad spots in the smooth wall. They had to pay me out of their own pocket cuz they had a garbage painting crew. I did it T+M, and ended up charging them $3800 for labor alone. This is an occupied house, too, and the homeowners werent happy, understandably. They ended up really liking me though, thank God. Two weeks with homeowners that were pissed at me would have sucked... The lady bought me lunch several times though. This paint job was HORRIBLE. the ceilings had both holidays, AND tip fingering all over, the walls were sprayed and not backrolled, so they were rough, and totally flashing. Its mind boggling how bad this was....


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## getrex (Feb 13, 2017)

On the one hand.. it sounds perfect.. but then being surrounded by that would drive me insane. There are a lot of bad contractors out here as well and I wish I could shoot some of the builders.


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## PACman (Oct 24, 2014)

Could illicit drugs be playing a part in this?


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## getrex (Feb 13, 2017)

Just a lot of people with no heart. Greedy people should be drawn and quartered. IMO anyway.


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## WestCoast99 (May 8, 2012)

The biggest problem that I run into on the monthly basis only doing interiors is waterborne paint over old oil based paint. It's a constant problem and I can rarely ever charge enough to strip it. In older homes I can't always sand it off, sometimes I can't legally sand it due to lead based paint, and it can't be removed in every little groove and angel. I always figure the hacks are making more money per man hour that me because it might take me half a day to mask and another half a day to spray trim in a small home, but it can take me several days to properly prep it if we're going from oil to waterborne. The hacks just mask and spray so they're saving two or three days of work for the same looking result. It doesn't last and it peels over time due to no adhesion, but oh well. Stripping door casings is the absolute worst, then cabinets is next in line.


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## PNW Painter (Sep 5, 2013)

Have you tried using a bonding primer instead of sanding the paint off?

What are you using as a top coat?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


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## WestCoast99 (May 8, 2012)

PNW Painter said:


> Have you tried using a bonding primer instead of sanding the paint off?
> 
> What are you using as a top coat?
> 
> ...



If there's already a poorly adhered coat on the trim it's got to come off first. But then yes, I sand whenever I can than always apply a bond coat (coverstain is the best for adhesion, but also stix, or a very well bonding paint, etc.). Then top coat with anything I happen to like that year like BM Advance, and a multitude of kelley moore, ppg, and sherwin williams products for topcoat.


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