Tim Brennan said:
My uncle has been painting and decorating his homes for decades and says that tradesmen aren't as interested in making the job last as long as possible. They are mostly interested in getting the job done quickly.
That's my experience too. But that trend is not driven by the tradesmen..... it is driven by the home owners who want it done as cheaply as possible. That means it must be done in the smallest time possible. For instance, all paint manufacturers recommend to apply 2 layers of primer and 2 layers of paint. This will improve endurance from 2-3 years to 4-5 years. You think a home owner wants to pay for that when it looks just as good after 1 layer of each? No way.
Tim Brennan said:
One of his pet peeves is when tradesmen key existing paint with p120. He says p400 gives a much better key.
I don't know what you mean with "key" exactly. But sanding with p400 is overkill. 120 to 180 is really enough. What's the point of sanding up to 400 only to see the wood fibers show up a couple of weeks later due to wood movement? Or the paint application method, a brush or a roller, it's never going to be 100% flat like when you spray it. Really, 120 or maybe 180 is enough.
Tim Brennan said:
Similarly, I have also seen that many if not all painter decorators prefer to sand off or burn off lead paint instead of other safer methods. From what i have read, i believe they absolutely should not be doing this.
All about cost again. Europe doesn't have the strict rules concerning lead paint America has. Americans treat lead paint as if it is as hazardous as asbestos. European opinion about that differs. So the method used to remove lead paint is not mandated by the governement, but up to the discretion of the individual painter. If you, as a home owner want it to be removed in the absolute safest way, you can most certainly tell the painter to do it that way, and then he will happily do it for you, but for a higher cost.
Tim Brennan said:
Anyone have any advice on how to find a painter decorator that actually does things the right way?
First, I think it's going to be difficult to find actual consensus about what is the right way exactly. Second, there's no person or organisation keeping track of how good painters actually do their job. Most of the time, a good job is only defined by how good the result looks and how cheap and how little of a hassle it was for the home owner.
