What do you do about flaking paint?

[plainpainter 217]

I have many homes where decks butt right up to the painted exterior of their home - I tried covering with plastic in the past and nothing stayed put once I broke out the washer. Now a days I do my best not to get any overspray of stripper on the paint - but invariable some does - that's why I have cut back on downstreaming stripper for now. And invaribly some paint comes off when I wash right next to the home.

My attitude thus far has been to not mention anything and do touchups if the homeowner raises the question. What are you guys doing? Are you just including these return trip touch ups in your estimates - or do you put wording that excludes you from being responsible - or do you just never affect the adjacent painted surfaces? I've thought of fabricating some shields made of sheet metal that I could line the exterior wall with - but it just seemed to be too much work.

[John Orr 206]

I insist on my customers having either vinyl siding or brick! Seriously though, any time there is a possible "situation" - especially if you don't find it until after you start the job, use your phone's camera to document.

[extreme 14]

How about a 36" paint shield from home depot?

[plainpainter 217]

How about a 36" paint shield from home depot?

That's a good thought - have you actually tried it? Still wouldn't fix the problems of being able to downstream, unless you had 10 of them already lined up?

[acegot 14]

I have 3 of the 36" aluminum shields from H-Depot, they work well.

[PressurePros 248]

Disclaimers are in my contract. It rarely happens. When I think it may, I let the H.O know.

PS: we do take precautions. Try this. Cut some thin 1 mil plastic into strips. Wet the area down and the plastic will stick right to it. Don't plaster it down or you'll just pull up more paint.. just tack it.

Edited October 13, 2009 by PressurePros

[RPetry 564]

Dan,

We use Shurflo pumps to apply stripper. May provide a bit more spray control than downstreaming.

We use masonite 4' x 4' boards as spray shields. Thin, not too heavy, and lean easily up against a house. Also do double duty as stain shields.

[Rick2 42]

Have you ever seen those little shower kits from Home Depot? It's just four flimsy plastic walls and a shower floor. I saw one being thrown out in the trash and now I use those flimsy walls for doing decks. They are thin enough so it slips right between the deck and siding of the house and they are pretty long, about 86 inches or so. Hope this helps.

[PressurePros 248]

Have you ever seen those little shower kits from Home Depot? It's just four flimsy plastic walls and a shower floor. I saw one being thrown out in the trash and now I use those flimsy walls for doing decks. They are thin enough so it slips right between the deck and siding of the house and they are pretty long, about 86 inches or so. Hope this helps.

The problem with that, in my experience, is that many decks are tacked to the house through the siding. I don't why, but that one nail makes masking a PITA.

[Mathew Johnson 123]

I have many homes where decks butt right up to the painted exterior of their home - I tried covering with plastic in the past and nothing stayed put once I broke out the washer. Now a days I do my best not to get any overspray of stripper on the paint - but invariable some does - that's why I have cut back on downstreaming stripper for now. And invaribly some paint comes off when I wash right next to the home.

My attitude thus far has been to not mention anything and do touchups if the homeowner raises the question. What are you guys doing? Are you just including these return trip touch ups in your estimates - or do you put wording that excludes you from being responsible - or do you just never affect the adjacent painted surfaces? I've thought of fabricating some shields made of sheet metal that I could line the exterior wall with - but it just seemed to be too much work.

We use a 6X2 foot piece of aluminum flashing left over from when we had our house done. It works great during the striping and during the washing of the deck to protect the painted siding.

Matt

[plainpainter 217]

Lots of great suggestions so far, thanks guys.