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| - We decided to paint our house just short of 3 years ago, and the job was finished in 12/22/2012. We thought the house looked great with the darker color (one of the HOA recommended schemes). About a year ago, we started to notice fading and streaking, especially on the front surfaces over the garage. Hubby kept after me to call our painter, but life was too busy. So we finally called 2 weeks ago, and our painter said the job's out of warranty, but to call his rep Tom Wilkinson about it. I called, left a message. When Tom called back, he said to call my painter back & they will set up a time to come out to see the paint job.
When Tom & our painter Larry arrived that following Monday, the day was overcast & cold. All of us - Tom, Larry, hubby & I - looked at the streaks. Tom noted that the shaded areas (under the eaves) and the lighter contrast areas were fine; it was only the dark color that was the problem. He tried to blame it on the extreme heat, the rain, the wind, etc...until I told him that we live in a lovely little pocket where we don't get much rain, wind, a slightly cooler heat, etc. After much discussion, Tom took out a squeeze bottle of phenolphthalein from his truck & scraped away the stucco from an area behind our gate to test the alkalinity of the stucco.(Keep in mind that our house is 15 years old.) He said that the stucco would turn violet if it was not cured enough, and it did turn violet. He said it wasn't the paint, but that the stucco was too alkaline to handle the paint used on our house. This was their professional product, VersaFlat, and admitted that the paint was not one he would have recommended for our house - in fact, we should have used a primer before painting (what?!?) & then used a "premium" house paint - which happens to be the only D-E paint with a limited lifetime warranty.
That same day, I called D-E corporate in LA & obtained the phone numbers/email addresses for Tom's supervisor Craig Pearce and his supervisor Debbie A. in Tempe. Craig called back the next day after receiving the results of the "batch test" Tom had submitted - which was a barcode scan off the paint label & not an actual sample of the paint. We already knew that would be normal, and was forwarded a copy of the email between Tom & the D-E chemist by our painter.
I let hubby handle Craig's call, because I was so ticked off by this point that I knew I couldn't be civil. Hubby called him out on his BS in a calm manner, but Craig got quite condescending toward the end of the call & put out a deal: If we could get our painter (small businessman) to do the job for free, Craig would supply us with all the primer & paint we'd need to repaint the house. His words were,"Your painter already blew you off, didn't he?" and he added that if the smallest amount of money changes hands between us & the painter, we would be responsible for the cost of the paint/primer. And that really angered us. What an ass!!!
We're retired, on fixed income, can't afford another paint job. We're getting ready to sell the house & move on. We cannot impose on our painter to carry the loss on our behalf, since he did his job very well. Add to this the fact that Dunn-Edwards (supposedly having developed its paints for the Southwest extremes) is the only paint used by our neighborhood complex in South Chandler. Only certain schemes are recommended. To look at the houses on our street, you'd see the same oxidized look to the buildings, regardless of color.
Our painter said he would call Craig & give him his opinion on this, but I don't expect much else to happen to rectify this situation. But Larry can let other painting contractors know, just as we will, that Dunn-Edwards doesn't stand by their product after 2 years. I don't know how much good it would do for SherwinWilliams to buy them out (they've got Frazee & are sniffing), but apparently SW has a product that will get the job done. So much for product quality & customer service in this day & age.
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