House is getting with elastomeric and acrylic paint. Should be finished in a couple more days. On the final day, contractor wants to do a final inspection with them on site.

First time I’ve ever had a house painted. What do I look for to make sure the job was done well?

I’d watch the process making sure all the prep work has been done properly. That’s most important

Mil thickness is what’s inspected on commercial projects often to ensure the correct amount of paint has been applied for maximum protection

Unless he plans on bringing a 60' ladder, he's going to walk you around the house to show you all 4 sides are painted. You're going to say "yep, looks great". You'll shake hands, exchange a check for a bill, and he'll be on his way.

If you're worried about it, get up on your ladder and make sure they caulked EVERYTHING. If you have hardiplank siding, make sure they caulked the overlapping areas. Caulked all around the windows, chimeny (if it's not brick). etc... If you paid to have the chimney top painted, make sure it is. Make sure the backsides of a free standing chimney are painted. Go up on your roof if you have to.

If you have dormer windows, make sure they got up there and caulked/painted those as well.

Check under the eves.

If they had to do prep work (scraping/sanding etc..) make sure it was done right. You'll be able to tell if you can see the unevenness of the exterior.

They should have also make sure your gutters aren't in disrepair and should either tell you if there are any problems or they may just hammer 'em back in place.

That's all I got.

quote:

Originally posted by snwghst:

Mil thickness is what’s inspected on commercial projects often to ensure the correct amount of paint has been applied for maximum protection

How's he going to do that unless he has the standard set before painting unless he was checking it wet as they went along. That would be impossible at this point.

I do think the final punch-off is going to be looking more along the lines of visual inspection, especially for missed areas and overspray and drips and general mess.

Thanks guys.

They did do a lot of caulking in the stucco and along the wall / eave intersection. In the eave eave area, some places were caulked, others were not. I'm guessing there is some judgement on when it's necessary. Otherwise, they seem to be very detailed and comprehensive. They are using elastomeric on the primary walls and the wood under the eaves. They will use A100 acrylic for the window popouts (stucco), door frames and garage door.

They are only putting on one coat of paint but it's a very thick coat. Almost to the point where, in some areas, the stucco texturing is almost flat. They are supposed to do the chimney so I'll check for that later.

So basically, all I can do as an amateur for final check off is just look for missed areas and 'messy' painting? My vision isn't all that great but I'll do my best.

I wonder how they will paint the garage doors (in particular the areas between panels).

quote:

Originally posted by Shaql:
Unless he plans on bringing a 60' ladder, he's going to walk you around the house to show you all 4 sides are painted. You're going to say "yep, looks great". You'll shake hands, exchange a check for a bill, and he'll be on his way.

If you're worried about it, get up on your ladder and make sure they caulked EVERYTHING. If you have hardiplank siding, make sure they caulked the overlapping areas. Caulked all around the windows, chimeny (if it's not brick). etc... If you paid to have the chimney top painted, make sure it is. Make sure the backsides of a free standing chimney are painted. Go up on your roof if you have to.

If you have dormer windows, make sure they got up there and caulked/painted those as well.

Check under the eves.

If they had to do prep work (scraping/sanding etc..) make sure it was done right. You'll be able to tell if you can see the unevenness of the exterior.

They should have also make sure your gutters aren't in disrepair and should either tell you if there are any problems or they may just hammer 'em back in place.

That's all I got.

Hardie Plank doesn’t require caulking. They changed their process years ago. My 2011 house doesn’t have it. I questioned then and was told no longer recommended by Hardie. Just info, do as you please.

I have noticed houses in area that have been caulked need regular caulk maintenance and look worse over the years then the ones that didn’t caulk.

https://www.jameshardie.com/Ja...9-joint-flashing.pdf

quote:

Originally posted by rocket72:

quote:

Originally posted by snwghst:

Mil thickness is what’s inspected on commercial projects often to ensure the correct amount of paint has been applied for maximum protection

How's he going to do that unless he has the standard set before painting unless he was checking it wet as they went along. That would be impossible at this point.

I do think the final punch-off is going to be looking more along the lines of visual inspection, especially for missed areas and overspray and drips and general mess.

https://www.elcometer.com/en/c...thickness-gauge.html. Architects I worked with in the past had 'took dry film guage' specified in painting. Never seen it used in residential, though some of the upper end housing, $5million +, I was associated with did have field painted areas, but never saw one used there.

quote:

Originally posted by konata88:
(in particular the areas between panels).

Are you sure you have that included in your contract?

Painting contracts I've seen only indicate exterior surfaces. We've had a couple repainted in our neighborhood and I don't remember them disassembling the garage door panels to paint between...of course, they weren't changing color either

Curious as to why you went with an elastomeric system.
Was it to hide hairline cracks and imperfections or for
a promise of longevity?

Caulking the hell out of everything, isn't a one size fits all situation. It could do more harm than good, depending on the home.

In general:

Go with your gut. Look for anything out of place, or anything that looks old. These are "holidays."

Ask the contractor to show you what they did. Seriously.

Check any area that motivated you to have it painted in the first place.

Ask about warranty.

In general, politely give the guy a ball breaking, and if you aren't satisfied with his answers, make him satisfy you.

Thanks. The house was mostly okay - the trigger was the garage door frames - bare wood, peeling, etc. But the cost just to do the doors was about 40% of doing the whole house. Since there were parts of the house where the paint was still good but faded and since there were some cracks in the stucco that needed some attention (and would be patched by them for painting) we decided to do the whole house.

Did a walk this evening after they left and most of it looks very good. There are a couple spots (ie - gas fireplace vent) where there is some paint cracking - needed to be caulked better? I'll raise them tomorrow.

And the didn't do a trench at the foundation, paint and then backfill. It's in the contract. And actually, prefer that they didn't do that. I'll ask about it but as long as there is not risk to early failure, I'm fine. It looks painted all the way to the ground.

There is one spot that has a bump on a window pop out. I think it might be a wasp mud house (about the size of a big marble). Looks like they just painted over it. I'll raise that too.

Supposed to be a 4 year warranty against peeling.

Garage doors: I assumed that they would paint between panels by opening and stopping the door at appropriate points. They painted the door already and looks good. I'll open the door tomorrow and check between the panels. Not a big deal cosmetically as long as it doesn't lead to failure < 10 years.

Elastomeric - It seemed recommended online. It was used by a co-working (hired the same company 3 years ago and happy). Seemed well received here. And was the paint of choice by the contractor. The pop outs and accents are Sherwin Williams A100. But the primary walls are elastomeric (Conflex Sherlastic).

Other than looking newer and cleaner in some places, I can't really tell it was painted. Color matching was spot on. I have to look close to see the different elastomeric texture.

Hire another painter to look it over for you