question for the pros- Do you roll or brush exterior trim?

9 years ago

So I've done a LOT of painting in my time, interior and some exterior trim. I painted all the trim on my 2 story house on a ladder in the August sun a few years ago. And I admit I'm picky. But when I do trim I always use a good angled brush. If it's a big surface area I roll it and back brush it. So here's the deal; I hired pro painters to paint our 1.5 story craftsman. We had recently had about half the trim replaced on the front porch (runs the width of the house), along with the stairs, etc. At the end of day after the painters left I went out to look at the trim. The 3 columns in the front had been rolled, with what looked like a heavily loaded roller and no back brushing. There were drag marks and swirls all through the trim around the windows, drips, nail holes that needed to be filled better, etc. It just looked slopped on. Also there was no cutting in around where the window trim returns back and meets the shingled siding. They just left it the same color as the body of the house. So when I mentioned all of this to the owner of the company she was very polite and said she'd do her best to make it smoother (which will be hard with water based paint), but I got the feeling that she thought I was being overly picky. And she told me that they always roll trim. Now this isn't a cheap paint job. We did NOT take the cheapest bid. This job came in at the highest end of our bids and we were expecting a really nice pro job, especially on all the new trim on the porch. So what do the pros think? Am I being ridiculous?

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Comments (5)

paintguy22
9 years ago
I don't think you are being ridiculous. It sounds like a low quality job. Painting companies like this are all over the place though, mainly because not enough people complain or even notice the difference between a good quality job and a bad one. This is why the woman though you were being picky....she's not used to being called out like that. As for the rolling and backbrushing issue, I will not roll and backbrush columns anymore. The paint just dries too fast outside and there is no time so what I do now is roll them and leave them. But, there is a way to do this with minimal roller stipple showing when you are done. The painter needs to pick the correct exterior paint that will flatten out and not use huge nap roller covers. Your painters did it wrong. Also, not painting the edges of the windows because it is easier to just 'face them off' is just laziness and of course it is quicker to just do it that way. It's not unreasonable at all to request that the company do it properly.
darcyjo1210
Original Author
9 years ago
Thanks for the confirmation paintguy. I wouldn't have minded the columns being rolled as long as the finished product didn't look heavily stippled, smeared, dragged, and over painted. As for the window trim, the owner of the company said that painting the edges of the window trim made it look "busy" and that if I looked around the neighborhood I'd see that none of the houses had their trim painted that way. I pointed out to her that my neighbors' houses on either side of me actually did have the return painted and weren't "faced off". She seemed disinterested. Anyway I guess it's too late to do anything about the porch trim, there's so much texture on it I don't think there's anything she can do to really fix it. Thanks for your two cents though, it's appreciated.
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cat_ky
9 years ago
It can be fixed, by a good sanding. I would certainly want it done, when I paid good money to have it done properly in the first place. Have you already paid them in full? I would make them come back, sand properly, and paint properly.
sombreuil_mongrel
9 years ago
The last big columns we did (20ft x 16"dia) was two of us, one rolling, the other (me) brushing like mad! Where was the floetrol???
Casey
darcyjo1210
Original Author
9 years ago
Just an update. Came home today and the painters had sanded down the columns and the window trim. Hadn't done anything to fix the crown trim around the columns. Unfortunately they'd also sanded down the 102 year old porch floor which I'm pretty sure had to have been painted with lead at some point. It was pretty lightly done in most places, but I know there had to be some lead dust kicked up since there were places that were taken back down to wood. Anyway I'm glad the owner of the company actually cared enough about the job to try and fix most of the trim. The backyard unfortunately was pretty trashed, open paint cans skimming over in the sun, sanders and rags everywhere; but by the time they left for the evening it looked pretty good. As it stands now I'm hesitantly optimistic that everything will turn out ok. Thanks everyone for all the input. It must be infuriating to be a painter who really takes pride in his/her work and have people who just paint fast and furious. As an aside to Casey I almost asked the owner about floetrol after seeing how badly dragged and slumped the window trim was... maybe I still should before they do the next coat..