Quality Home Painting Services
Maintenance Painting
At Green Mountain Painters we have done an extensive amount of research to determine the causes of premature paint failure, so that we may become better prepared to prevent it. Unfortunately, we have found that even exceptional paintjobs can sometimes peel sooner than they should if given the right conditions. Therefore, the best way to keep a paintjob looking great for many years is to keep an eye out for any failing areas, and maintain them as necessary.
PREMATURE FAILURE EXPLAINED:
Failure in the first few years can be caused by a couple of things, one of which is moisture. There could be residual internal moisture trying to force its way out, or excess external moisture that quickly degrades and permeates the paint film. When it is internal moisture, the problem will show as blisters or bubbles in the paint film, that when popped or scraped go down to bare wood. When external moisture is the cause, it is usually more obvious as it will take place in naturally moist areas or where water collects (such as near the ground, under a broken gutter, on horizontal surfaces, etc), and the paint film will clearly be degrading or delaminating because of that collecting moisture.
If paint is peeling down to bare wood soon after a repaint with no obvious cause, the culprit is more likely to be what we call Surface Tension. Surface Tension is the stress that a new coat of paint puts on the substrate as it dries and shrinks, and also as it expands and contracts once it has dried. On a sound, stable surface like bare wood or well-adhered existing paint, this tension is actually a very good thing, as it helps the film to “clamp down” on the surface tightly. However on an unsound substrate, such as poorly adhering old paint, the result can be damaging.
While conducting our research on this matter, we discovered a This Old House article that explains these forces quite well. The following is an excerpt from that article:
“When a new, flexible layer of latex paint bonds to a more brittle layer of old paint underneath, the old paint can become a thin rope in a tug-of-war. As sunshine hits the wall, the wood and the new latex will expand. But the old paint in the middle won’t because it is brittle. Now pulled with double force, it can either crack or loosen its grip on the wood underneath…
Gary Barrett, director of technical services for the Painting & Decorating Contractors of America, says the stress on the old paint is greatest during the few weeks it takes the new latex paint to cure, although the results may take months or years to become fully evident. “It’s the shrink factor of latex,” Barrett says. “It has to coalesce, or it can't cure…”
When a new paintjob peels in this way due to surface tension, we call it “Substrate Failure”. This type of failure will be characterized by blisters, peeling or cracking all the way down to bare wood. It will also only take place where a new coat of paint has been applied over one or more old layers of paint. The good news is that this type of failure occurs only on very few paintjobs, and even when it does happen it is usually minor and easy to correct with a bit of maintenance painting.
OUR MAINTENANCE PLAN
We always strongly advocate keeping any paintjob well-maintained in the event of premature failure. This is because when an area peels or cracks, it allows moisture and the elements to penetrate down to the wood, which weathers the wood and can further accelerate paint loss in the entire surrounding area. Patching up any areas that experience substrate failure or moisture damage can keep a paintjob looking its very best for many years longer than it would have without maintenance.
To assist our customers with this task, every full-home repaint job we do includes our maintenance plan, which provides the following benefits:
-Free 1-year-out home inspection upon request
-Notification of trouble areas, maintenance recommendations or warranty-covered failure after inspection, if applicable
-Guaranteed scheduling of maintenance painting as needed for the life of the paintjob**
**We reserve the right to determine when a paintjob has deteriorated beyond the scope of maintenance painting, at which point the terms of the maintenance plan will be void and we will recommend a full repaint. This usually will be anywhere from 3-8 years after completion of the original paintjob.