Painters--is this reasonable? Please help.

[strider]

We had the trim on our house painted last week. For background, we have a 100+yo fixer-upper. It used to be a painted lady, but at some point someone had the house stuccoed, so it is a large stucco Victorian.

We told them NOT to paint the stucco. They did paint the window trim and the brick foundation. It looks very nice, and the crew was wonderful. Actually they were the best work crew I have ever had--they cleaned up after themselves every day and were very unobtrusive. (I have had work crews to do major projects in this house for nine years! This really was a good crew.)

This morning on the final inspection my dh threw both me and the crew foreman for a loop. I need to know if my dh's concern is realistic. He knows I am posting here and also genuinely wants to know.

Our wood trim around the windows is set mostly into the stucco. In other words, part of the wood trim is buried. If you were to place your face against the wall of the house and look sideways at a window you would see only just a little wood sticking out. If you look AT the window standing in front, though, you see a full wood frame. Can you picture this? It looks like a normal trimmed window, but the stucco is almost (not quite) flush with the wood in terms of depth. Also, if you put your face against the wall of the house and looked at that narrow side of the wood trim, you would see that the stucco is bumpy and partially covers the wood.

Dh thinks they should have painted that narrow strip on the side of the woodwork around all the windows because the wood is unsealed.

The painter thinks not because it would be virtually impossible to do this without getting paint all over the stucco. He claims that IF we had had the stucco painted in addition to trim, then it would have been done. But to expect them to get in their with a tiny brush (like an artist's watercolor brush) and edge that half-buried edge of the woodwork is not reasonable.

FWIW the new paint job looks gorgeous, and we are happy on the whole with everything else. There are a couple other touch-ups, but they are no big deal, and they are very willing to send a guy to do these other small touch-ups.

So--reasonable or not? Please help. Thanks.

[laughing lioness]

How easy will it be to re-paint when you need to- way down the line- if you did the touch ups your dh wants? We have an older home, too and some of the "renovations" make the next job almost unbearable.

[nukeswife]

I would have to say, not reasonable. It seems like it would be very time consuming and could end up a big mess since you don't want the stucco painted. I used to live in a stucco house so I know just what your talking about as far as how the wood is imbedded in the stucco and it would be virtually impossible for the painters to tape off the stucco or anything to keep from getting some paint on it. Thus they would have to carefully paint by hand with very tiny brushes, which I'm sure would take a huge amount of time.

Just my .02

[JFS in IL]

Hubby should have inspected the FIRST window and asked THEN about getting that obscure bit of wood - and then come to an agreement on a higher price to compensate for the aggravation of trying to paint that bit of wood w/o painting the stucco. The painters could then of maybe done one window to show how much stucco could get painted to see if hubby could live with it - maybe the painters should have pointed this out, too, at the BEGINNING of the job ("Hey, Mr. Homeowner - this bit may pose a problem since you do not want paint on the stucco").

I'd say unreasonable at this time.

[Saille]

It seems like it would be more realistic to stucco over that small area so it's not exposed anymore...but I admit I know little about stucco.

[Mom2GirlsTX]

I would have to agree with the painter on this. Your home is a special situation and to find a very detail oriented paint crew is difficult,, so you were very fortunate with that. This side piece of wood, I would say either dh need to pay extra for or forget it. I think there is to mjuch risk of paint on the stucco. (tell dh that I really wanted to agree with him, and I'm sorry, but I really see the painters side of this)

[strider]

I appreciate your thoughts. Thanks.

[Sharon in SC]

Hi, strider. I will go with the majority on this one. At first blush, I did find myself thinking, "Certainly, the side of the wood should have also been painted." However, after reading through the description of the situation, I agree that it would have been nigh unto impossible to honor your request to not paint the stucco *and* paint that small measure of wood without much ado that, in my opinion, would warrant an extra charge. :-} For me it would boil down to these options - leave things as they are (in which case I would be concerned about the exposed wood), have the painter price out trimming out those areas or, depending upon whether or not that is cost prohibitive, do the work ourselves.

Hope you find a good resolution to your dilemma and I'm glad you're overall pleased with the job. My experience ahs been that it is rare indeed to be able to hire a job out and be generally satisfied! :-P

[Sunny]

Well, dh is a paint contractor. When I pointed out that our trim wasn't always painted on those exposed edges, he shrugged and wasn't surprised. (this is a new house and he didn't paint it).
Therefore, you can assume that because of the extreme of the situation, there would have been a 99% chance that you would not have had a painter that would have dealt with the edges of your barely exposed edges.
If it were my dh, he would have probably pointed it out and asked how you wanted to deal with it.
The edges do need to be covered, or they will wick moisture and you will need to eventually replace the wood trim. So, unless you are willing to pay the painters extra to go back and brush those edges, get out the brush yourself,and get to it. You can either paint it the same color as the stucco, or the color of the trim. My dh would probably suggest the stucco color because of the way that you don't necessarily see the trim from looking from the sideview and probably don't want to accent that tiny little edge from sideview.

It's always a good thing to like your painters and feel like they pick up after themselves and are pleasant to have around. We've seen plenty that are not acceptable around family at home!

[Sharon in SC]

My dh would probably suggest the stucco color because of the way that you don't necessarily see the trim from looking from the sideview and probably don't want to accent that tiny little edge from sideview.




:iagree:

[threetreasurs]

My thought is that painting the tiny edge the color of the trim would look sort of odd.

[Michelle in AL]

I'm having a hard time picturing this, but would a thin stream of caulking fit in the crack to keep it sealed? I believe caulking comes in clear and other colors.

[threetreasurs]

Caulk sounds like a good option and would be much easier to apply.