Paint-Related Tests

As we reported last week, we're hemming and hawing about how to repaint the house. Should we do it ourselves, or pay someone to do it? Part of the issue is not knowing how long we'll be here. Another issue is that we aren't sure how long ago the house was painted, with what quality of paint, with what tactics, which is pertinent to understanding why the house is peeling so badly.

We invited Drew over to help us evaluate the situation, since he used to scrape and paint houses, and we did four paint-related tests this weekend. We wanted to see what scraping would do to our paint job. Could we get easily down to the wood? We tested two heating tactics - heat gun (basically, a souped-up hair-dryer) and infra-red heat box, and we did a lead paint test.

We tested scraping in a place where no paint was peeling. Scraping was the least effective effort. Some paint came off, but it was hard-going, and without some heating device or a ridiculous amount of sanding we'd never get down to the wood. "Getting down to the wood" is ideal for the adhesion of the primer, and thus, the expected longevity of any paint job.



So we tested Julie's heat gun. It's raises a bubble or two beneath the surface of the paint after about 30 seconds, then you scrape and it's much more effective at removing paint. Also, the heating melts the paint some, so the resulting scraped surface is smoother, and we expect will look better once painted.



Next we borrowed Jonathan's infra-red heat box. It's basically a much bigger heat gun. This thing was much more effective than the heat gun. Holding the box in place for about 15 seconds made bubbles in a shoebox-sized area.



Pretty good, but still, this is a big job. Infra-red heat boxes cost $400, and we'd need two or three of those things to move quickly. Our house is in a need of a thorough scraping and painting job, as you can see.



Next we did a lead test. Check out that friggin' picture! And the results were...





...positive for lead. As expected, but arg.

Yesterday evening two companies' representatives came at the same time to develop estimates. We couldn't communicate so easily with one representative. His company came through a marketing company called Service Master. He provided a one-coat quote for $4,600 ($4,200 if we agree to terms before March 30) and said they would use Sherwin Williams latex paint. One-coat means they only prime where the paint has peeled down to the wood. For paint that is still adhering, they'll just scrape some, then sand, and paint over the scraped/sanded surface without primer. I'm pretty sure this is what we would be doing if we did it ourself. We asked how long the paint job would last. He chuckled as he said it was supposed to last five years.

The other company came recommended from a colleague at work. They didn't provide their estimate on the spot, but they said they are a certified lead removal expert for the state, recommended an oil-based paint from Benjamin Moore, and guessed 1) that the paint job was done when it was too cold out, and 2) that the orange-colored poor-quality paint was chosen because whoever painted it could get five gallons for the price of one. They're coming back with their estimate.

Another company is coming on Wednesday, and we'll try to see a few more, since we have some time. No one will start painting until it stops dropping below freezing at night.

PS
Interesting article. Fascinating comments (below the article).

Lost in Transition: R.I.'s economy has failed to keep with the times