Exterior Trim Paint Peeling Off

I hope you can give me some advice on our paint issues. We had our house painted last November. We used a painter from our area that had come highly recommened. The trim paint is painted with a high-quality dark…

I hope you can give me some advice on our paint issues.

We had our house painted last November. We used a painter from our area that had come highly recommened. The trim paint is painted with a high-quality dark brown paint.

The problem we are having is this trim paint is not adhering or curing. You can easily scape it off with your nail. Some places have bubbles and some places on the railing just come off with mild pressure. The painter had a sales rep from the paint company come out and take samples of the paint, and they sent us a report saying the paint was put on too thick and could take a year to harden. The painter is saying he will take care of the problem, but he wants to ONLY take care of areas where paint has come off and just wait for other areas to show signs of peeling before taking care of these areas.

My concern is, if this paint is not ahearing or curing, will all the trim paint need to be removed? The problem is with all trim paint. It is my understanding, through reseach, that if your bottom coat is not curing and adhearing, anything you try to put on top will not bond properly. We have talked with a lawyer. We are willing to wait to see what this paint will do, but we are losing hope, and don't want to have major problems down the road. Any advice would be so helpful.This painter did not prime or lighly sand the trim before painting, even though we told him we thought he should. He said it didn't need it. He did pressure wash about a week before painting.

Thanks so much,

Jacki Jett

Our Answer

Paint adhesive is a serious issue. If paint applied only last year is already curling and peeling off, I don’t see it getting better – or stopping.
Remove all of the trim paint, sand the trim, and apply a high-quality primer and topcoat. By skipping the priming step you virtually guarantee paint won’t last as long as it should.
I can appreciate the wait-and-see advice given by your painter, but I agree that this is such a poor result that you shouldn’t be expected to put up with this for a year. You paid for it; they should get it done.