Paint Peeling Everywhere!

I recently responded to an email from a homeowner in Massachusetts (not a customer or ours) who was inquiring about “what causes paint to peel on his house?”

I thought this would be an excellent topic to address in a blog post:
My response was the following:
Mr. Homeowner,
It’s likely that you have 1 of 3 conditions:

1. A really old paint job:  Even an excellent paint job will eventually peel in the moist New England climate.  In this case, my recommendation would be to not wait so long next time.  People often try to “stretch” the life of their paint job an extra year or 4, only to pay twice as much the next go-around.
2. A moisture problem: moisture escaping from the wood and causing loss of paint adhesion.  Sometimes there are ways to correct or minimize this. The question is, what’s the source of the moisture?  Is it condensation from winter heat escaping through the walls? is it a leak? is it a moist climate?
3. Mill-glaze: When wood clapboard is installed smooth-side out, the glazed surface of the wood will often reject adhesion from paint.  This problem will never be solved with paint and usually requires replacement of the affected areas.  Some painters will try to sand down the surface and re-paint, but our experience has been, this might help but the problem will persist.

In some cases these problems can be remedied, but there’s no way of telling without analyzing the specific situation. What many homeowners in this situation like about working with United is “one-stop-shopping”. If they need spot carpentry – we can do it.  If they need painting – we can do it.  If they need heavy prep work done – we can do it.  If they need sectional or full siding replacement – we can do it.
If you’d like an evaluation on your peeling paint issue visit our house painting page.  Or if your interested in knowing how much does it cost to paint a house, you may request a free quote below.