Response from LOPCO Contracting
I remember Member's project quite well. Member was an absolute pleasure to work with. Her original project was completed in the Fall of 2007. Unfortunately Member had to invoke our two year warranty due to peeling areas on various areas on the body of her home (in the late Spring/early summer of 2008). We came out and fixed these areas thoroughly to the point where after we were done with our warranty repairs, the house looked like it had just been painted in its entirety. The first time we painted her home, it was done by a spraying and backbrushing technique. This is a generally accepted industry practice and contrary to Member's comments is absolutely fine to do if done in the correct manner, there is certainly not anything "cheap" in the way that we approach jobs in which we utilize a spraying technique to apply the finish coat. When we performed the warranty service on her home, a sprayer was actually not utilized in applying the finish coat product. Both the original paint job and the warranty visit had surface preparation and a priming process that was performed in-line with industry standards. This is important to note as surface preparation will often dictate the longevity of a paint job, even more so than the finish coat in many cases, unless there is an outside force at play. A high quality finish was used in both the original job and the warranty call back. Because of the way Member's paint is not adhering, there definitely seems to be a deeper issue than is associated with an average paint job. It is my professional opinion that the problem is more than likely stemming from a mill glaze issue that is not as easily diagnosed as a more common "wear and tear" paint failure. There is no reason why her particular job should not have lasted. We tested her house for moisture on many occasions (throughout both the original job and the warranty process) through use of a correctly calibrated moisture meter. We even had the paint manufacturer submit samples of the failing paint to a lab for additional paint failure diagnosis. Moisture was not the issue, the house was prepped and primed properly (in accordance with industry standards and the paint manufacturer's recommendations), and the finish coat was applied appropriately. Member's paint failure falls right in-line with many similar mill glaze based paint failure situations that we have seen in recent years. Mill glaze related paint failures are paint failures that are found in many homes that have been built in the Southern New England area, particularly from the mid-eighties to the mid-nineties (Member's home was built in 1989). The way Member's home does not hold a paint coating definitely seems to be in-line with other mill glaze related paint failures that we have seen. Unless the mill glaze is completely removed and the original wood grain of her siding raised in the mill glaze removal process, I truly believe no matter who paints the body of her home, the paint will not have a chance at sticking. Over the last couple of years we have benn able to develop more complicated systems of both diagnosing and treating these types of situations. When Member had contracted with us (5) years ago to perform the work, these systems as well as our means of more readily identifying the mill glaze phenomena were not yet in place. Once diagnosed, it is a very costly procedure to eliminate the mill glaze but once done, the system that we use nowadays will prevent homes which utilize it, from showing any signs of peeling for years and years to come. We stand behind our track record as our overall Angie's list reviews will surely back us up on. We paint about (200) homes a year in the Southern New England area and very rarely do we run into a situation like Member's. We stand behind our warranty with each and every job that we do (as we did in the case of Member). Over the past several years, we have been able to learn about very specialized failures - such as mill glaze - that were not as easily recognizable at the time we had originally performed the work for Member. We have been fortunate to learn a lot about these types of paint failures as well as ways to combat them appropriately and have even been able to be blessed enough to gradually develop a reputation as a company that is highly adept for handling these specific types of highly specialized issues. Unfortunately the technology we utilize today was not available to us at the time of Member's project (5) years ago. We truly made every effort, as we do with all of our Customers, to deliver a quality product to Member as well as to back up what we did when asked to do so within our warranty period. Although the technology to properly diagnose and treat Member's rare type of paint failure situation was not available to us at the time, we did everything we could in association with the way that things should be done as dictated within our industry to handle most paint failures. I am thorougly convinced that if presented with a similar situation to Member's today we have the tools in place to not only figure out why the paint is failing even in the most unique circumstnaces, but to be able to properly treat it as well (and we have exemplified this with many similar situations over the past few years in particular). I sincerely wish Member the absolute best and am hoping that whomever she decides upon to paint her home the next time has the ability to properly discern the mill glaze issue and to address it appropriately.