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Picture this scenario: you just paid big money to have the exterior of your house painted and within a year or less; you are already noticing the paint chipping away. You properly maintained your paint just the way the contractor told you. You paid top dollar for the highest quality exterior paint. There haven’t even been any crazy storms!

So what is causing your paint to peel off your house? Unfortunately there are many reasons why your paint can start to peel. But experts agree that the most common reason for peeling paint is cutting corners.

You can pay for the most expensive exterior paint on the market but it won’t matter if your contractor or previous painting contractors cut corners. All paint consists of a binder that is responsible for adhering the pigment to a surface.

But the binder can’t do its job if the surface is contaminated. When contractors fail to sand, scrub and properly prime a surface for painting, the quality of the paint won’t matter. It will start to peel very quickly because the paint cannot properly bind to the surface.

Some contractors do their due diligence when it comes to prep work but mistime the paint job. Weather conditions can also be the reason why your paint is peeling. You should never have your house painted when temperatures are very low. Exterior surfaces – even thoroughly prepped ones – are affected by the cold in such a way that the paint cannot properly bind to it.

Water is another problem when it comes to peeling paint. Even if the surfaces have been meticulously prepped and you have timed your paint job perfectly, water vapor can seep underneath the paint and primer and start to separate the coat from the surface.

And what causes water vapor to accumulate under paint? Typically, insufficient caulking.

Paint Problems

We have talked about some of the external factors that could lead to peeling paint. But there are also inherent paint problems that will doom your project from the gate.

There are 2 main types of house paint: latex and oil-based paints. Oil based paints provide a more rigid bond with exterior surfaces while latex paints are more flexible and pliable. In fact, rubber is a component of most latex paints.

Latex is generally regarded as the superior choice because it will move with the contractions of siding that are brought on by temperature changes. But that doesn’t necessarily mean that your latex paint will never peel.

An inexperienced or lazy contractor will simply slap up a coat of latex paint over a surface that has oil-based paint on it. Again, this will create a weak bond that will peel off in short order. The oil-based paint has to either be completely scraped off or a special primer needs to be put in between it and the new latex coat.

We hope you have found this post insightful and if you have any questions about your paint job, please give us a call! (704) 245-9409!