Don't use spray-on masking film for painting window & door trim!

last year

My "professional painter" (as well as several other "professional painters" who bid on my job) said that the new and better way of painting window and door trim was to spray on a masking film, spray- paint the area, then remove the film from the glass. I've seen other homes in my area done this way, so I went ahead with it. We have leaded-glass inserts in the front door, which clouded up badly after the first strong rainstorm we had after the painting was completed -- as shown in the first photo (taken from the inside). I thought they had broken a seal on the windows, allowing buildup of moisture inside. When I took a closer look from the outside, these are only single-pane glass inserts, and the painters had failed to remove the spray-on masking film on several areas of glass. I peeled off one or two of the areas, and the result is what's shown on the second photo (taken from the outside). It appears to me that they basically sprayed a film around all doors and windows, spray-painted the film, and then carefully removed the film from only the glass. I think that I spent $$$ to have the job done this way, which really is not protecting the wood frames at all. (That bubble near the center bottom of the window insert is probably also the film?) Question for our professional painters: am I correct in my conclusion? I'll be calling my painter to come and properly paint at least the front door, and I'd like some confirmation of my conclusion. Thank you so much for any input!

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Comments (4)

PRO
PPF.
last year
I'll be calling my painter to come and properly paint at least the front door

I see lots of problems, and the door needs to be stripped prior to repainting.

What did it look like before painting?

The spray on masking has been around for many years, but never seems to have caught on.
1maps thanked PPF.
cat_ky
last year
Please dont let them use that again. They can be masked off carefully with masking tape. Also make sure they strip all the top finish off, and clean and sand the door after that, and put on a coat of best quality sealing bonding primer, before painting 2-3 coats of paint. Painting a door is very easy. It is something you could have done yourself, and not had this mess.
1maps thanked cat_ky
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1maps
Original Author
last year
PPF, thanks for taking the time to mark the problem areas that you saw. cat_ky, I definitely won't agree to this method again, now or in the future. Do you mean they should just sand it down to remove all of this coat of paint? Under this coat is the darker color you see in the picture, and it was fine. This was the smallest part of a project to repaint all the trim and half the back of the house that has siding (the rest being brick). I never would have guessed that they couldn't handle this correctly. I just visited our Sherwin Williams store, and they said that all of their professional painters are using this method; our local ACE Hardware also said that they sell this product, almost entirely to professional painters. Neither of them has resulted in complaints like this.
cat_ky
last year
last modified: last year
No, you need to strip off all that top layer of paint with paint stripper. It is lifting off places already, so it didnt have the proper prep to begin with. Nor the proper primer. Then clean the door good, and it will need to be sanded good, and wiped down good, and then the best quality exterior sealing bonding primer, and finally 2-3 coats of paint. They are saying professional painters are using it. I suspect, the ones you have are not really professional. If they were, you wouldnt be having this problem now. The door would have been done correctly in the first place.
1maps thanked cat_ky