External house painting

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JamesN

108 posts

Master Geek

#225858 8-Dec-2017 09:02

Hey All,

Roughly how long should it take to strip and paint the outside of a house.

The house in general is 100m2, 3 bedroom place.

Asking as I just moved in to a rental property, When we checked out the place 3 weeks prior to moving in, the place just started getting stripped.

From my understanding from the rental company, this was all to be completed by the time me and my partner moves in.

We moved in and there still stripping the place and the painter said the place might be done by Xmas but said 'he wants to do a really good job' and so might be longer as the owner could be flexible on the time frame.

I work from home so the noise they painter is making is distracting and the rental agency new I will be working from home so am not happy at all about this so want to hit the rental agency up about this.

Its not even a professional painter they have, just some guy wanted to started up his own painting business.

Cheers
James

BTR

1527 posts

Uber Geek

#1915031 8-Dec-2017 09:23

Depends on how many layers of paint they have to strip, the kind of building material and if any damage has to be repaired. Once you have stepped the paint you need to fill any holes, sand then undercoat, sand some more and then apply usually 3 coats of paint.

If the house has never been sanded back since it was last painted there could be a few layers to remove.

Either way talk to your rental agency about it, if you were told they would be finished before you moved in thats not on. You might be able to negotiate reduce rent until they have finish if its severely impacting you.

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timmmay

20429 posts

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#1915036 8-Dec-2017 09:33

I guess the bulk stripping should be fairly quick. Mask windows and such, throw on chemicals, strip it off, do another go to get any leftovers, then scrape / sand any extra bits. A week? Two at most?

Then there's the filling, the sanding, the priming, the three layers of paint.

One guy stripping and painting a house could take a couple of months, I guess.

Bung

6359 posts

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Subscriber

#1915074 8-Dec-2017 10:11

How is he stripping it? There are implications is the paint is old enough to contain lead. It is unacceptable to cover the neighbourhood in toxic waste.

JamesN

108 posts

Master Geek

#1915142 8-Dec-2017 11:11

From what I can see of the paint still left on, it wasnt in bad shape so I dont think it needed to be stripped right down to the wood like the painter is currently doing.

He is stripping it all with a heat gun and scrapper.

Does anyone know if this work should have been done with no tenants around or does it come under maintenance and the landlord can do it whenever they want?

kobiak

1615 posts

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#1915147 8-Dec-2017 11:22

JamesN:

He is stripping it all with a heat gun and scrapper.

If there're 3-4 layers of paint, in my experience while at uni, 2-3 square meters a day at most per person.

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timmmay

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#1915196 8-Dec-2017 11:57

I'd take a piece of paint to a store like Resene to test if it's lead paint.

Heat gun and scraper is absolutely nuts, it'll take ages. Must be costing a fortune or being done at a low rate. Painters can cost $60 an hour or more.

JamesN

108 posts

Master Geek

#1915198 8-Dec-2017 12:03

The way the painter is, the owner has gone the cheapest and the person is not a professional painter.

He got his brother and a friend in to help 1 day and he spent all day telling them how to do certain things so that slowed himself down.

Can see a lot of paint chips on the ground so was going to get a lead paint test kit from Mitre 10 and do a check of it.

jaymz

1133 posts

Uber Geek

#1915249 8-Dec-2017 12:08

If he is using a heat gun, who's power is he using? It will be drawing a large load. You could end up with a larger than normal power bill if it is your power that is being used!

WyleECoyoteNZ

1048 posts

Uber Geek

#1915255 8-Dec-2017 12:28

IMO, from what I've read, it sounds like making a mountain out of a molehill.

You don't know the personal circumstance's of the painter as to why\reasoning behind the delay, or if the rental agent was telling the truth or just selling you a line to get someone in the place.

As for who the landlord has chosen to do the work, that's there decision. Had a professional painter been used, then I'd expect the landlord to recoup those costs sooner rather than later.

You probably could ask that the painter leave the grounds of the property as he found them before he started, or ask that a drop sheet be put down before further paint stripping is done.

Aredwood

3885 posts

Uber Geek

#1915445 8-Dec-2017 21:27

Are any of the surfaces being sanded made of fibrolite? If so then they might be spreading asbestos dust everywhere as well. Approx when was the house built?

If you don't have any joy with getting the property manager to sort out the noise issues. Consider claiming in the tenancy tribunal for loss of quiet enjoyment. Ask the property manager to at least put more workers onto the job to get it done quicker.

Also has full scaffolding been installed on the house? As Work safe (what used to be called OSH) would be interested to know if they are trying to do a full exterior repaint using only ladders. Maybe the reason this painter is cheapest, is solely due to cutting corners on safety.

JamesN

108 posts

Master Geek

#1915484 8-Dec-2017 22:46

Aredwood: Are any of the surfaces being sanded made of fibrolite? If so then they might be spreading asbestos dust everywhere as well. Approx when was the house built?

If you don't have any joy with getting the property manager to sort out the noise issues. Consider claiming in the tenancy tribunal for loss of quiet enjoyment. Ask the property manager to at least put more workers onto the job to get it done quicker.

Also has full scaffolding been installed on the house? As Work safe (what used to be called OSH) would be interested to know if they are trying to do a full exterior repaint using only ladders. Maybe the reason this painter is cheapest, is solely due to cutting corners on safety.

Its a 1970's house going by Trademe Property Insights

Pretty sure there is no asbestos, it looks like weather boards and paint.

Going to run a Lead paint test tomorrow to make sure there is no lead paint in there.

Didnt really think about the scaffolding, there is none on this place even though its only a 1 story.

Did remember today there was a ladder setup with another ladder I think and a 2x4 single piece wood across both so if I am thinking he is using that as scaffolding then that is dodgy AF.

Will see what he uses tomorrow to complete the stripping from above the window frames then hit up the landlord about it.

Cheers

esawers

550 posts

Ultimate Geek

#1915488 8-Dec-2017 22:56

Our 120m2 weatherboard house took 4 weeks to prep and paint
That wasn’t stripping it right back either

JamesN

108 posts

Master Geek

#1917206 12-Dec-2017 10:21

This makes it more fun.

The painter didn't show up yesterday, then his mate shows up in the afternoon wanting his tools back that he lent his painter mate.

His mate also said the painter never finishes a job, WTF!!

This is just going to be more interruptions when the rental agency and owner decide to stop being cheap and pay for a professional painter when they can find one over xmas.

larknz

1612 posts

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#1917211 12-Dec-2017 10:29

I think you need to talk to the rental agent about a reduction in the rent to cover the inconvenience you are having to put up with. If they don't come to the party I would be lodging a claim with the Tenancy Tribunal.

JamesN

108 posts

Master Geek

#1917212 12-Dec-2017 10:32

Yeah, going to be doing that.