Recently I accepted a quote to paint my exterior veranda and the painter said it is done now. (I am in Sydney)

The quote reads:

Clean down, sand back all loose paint.
Prime and undercoat, Two coats of Solar guard.
etc., etc.

Now I know he did high pressure wash the old timber, did sanding but only very slightly. And one thing that most annoys me is: he only applies two coats of paint.

When I asked him why there is no undercoat/priming, he said the Solar guard he used is self-priming.

Is he ripping me off?

Solar guard is self-priming and does not require an undercoat or primer on most surfaces. No he hasn't ripped you off.

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"I don't practice what I preach because I'm not the kind of person I'm preaching to."

He quoted Prime + Undercoat + 2 coats of solarguard, that's 4 coats of paint. I agree that solarguard is self priming, but 2 coats is not the quoted 4.

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Chris
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Right, I didn't read it properly. No it doesn't require primer/undercoat, yes he may have ripped you off if he charged you for them.

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"I don't practice what I preach because I'm not the kind of person I'm preaching to."

The submitted quotation did not mention about raining in this case.

Suppose I'd already hired him (in Sydney) to do painting (external work) but after the second coats is applied and work finished, the same night it rains heavily !!

What is the normal practice or consumer law for this industry here? Is the customer entitled for a re-paint, at whose expense?

Thank you.

I asked the guys at 2 different paint shops and they both said that it is by far better to prime using oil based primer before 2 coats of solaguard or weathershield, makes the paint last longer and protects the timber for longer.

The can says no primer required but if it is better to prime and he quoted it and didn't do it then I'd tell him to sand it back and do it again. If he won't dont pay him.

Down side is he knows where you live and you never know how pi$$ed he will be.

YOU GOT RIPPED OFF.

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Cheers

Alan M

My Daughter's food blog www.spicyicecream.com.au

If I worked in a paint shop selling paint , including primer and solarguard then i'de recomend you use 3 coats of undercoat or as many as I thought I could get away with
Have a look at the wattyl web site or talk to a wattyl paint rep on how solarguard works and why , get the facts and you will see why it's so expensive.
if the contract said prime and undercoat and then apply 2 coats of solarguard then he has not fulfilled the contract requirements.
What is the exact words in the contract , if its prime and undercoat with 2 coats of solarguard then he has done that

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Ashore




The trouble with life is there's no background music.

Unless he painted it in the rain or if the rain was forecast as a sure thing, it is simply bad luck and certainly not his fault. You don't say if the rain damaged the paint. Did it?

__________________
Cheers,

Bob

--Dr George Macakness (1806)

I surely have learnt a lesson and if I have a friend wanting to hire someone to paint again, I'll know what he has to do. He must discuss this subject prior to starting the work. The painter has to agree to stop work if the weather is unfavorable.

I feel I am in a bad position because I haven't discussed this, and because I failed to check the forecast.

Today he already refused to repaint but said:"Don't worry. You don't know paint like me. This paint (Solar Guard) dries out in 2 hours and although the rain is pouring, it starts only 7 hours after the last coat!!". What could I say?

Solagard is touch dry in about 20 minutes; at this stage it will water spot if it gets wet but this will disappear on drying (if discolouration remains, then yes it needs to be looked at...but really, stuff that is an hour dry is hard to remove from plastic paint trays with a garden hose so rain isn't much of a challenge!).

If it rained seven hours after the paint was applied, you have nothing to worry about. The Solagard recoat time is two hours, so after that all its chemical reactions are pretty much all done. (although if you get really pelting hail, I suspect you may get damage to the still soft paint film, but that would be the only thing I would worry about).

To be on the safe side, if you are specifying a 'no painting in case of rain' clause, you'd better specify it as seven days, which is Wattyl's stated full cure time of Solagard.

If you find a weather forecaster who can provide 100% accurate seven day forecasts, please let the Bureau of Meteorology know!

he has ripped you OFF...self prime is a lot of crap...if the painter wrote the quote with the specs that he was going to do, then he must do what you are paying him for....

i see this a lot within the trade

a little rain here or there is nothing to worry about.Solagard is top shelf..( i used 470 ltrs of it on my last job. i know what it can do ).as for primer its used on ONLY bare timber, thats what its made for