One side of the door trim has peeling paint. The house is about 4-5 yrs old, located in South Carolina, on the north-ish side of the house. No apparent water damage to the wood. Any ideas if this is moisture related, and if so how does the water get to it? If not maoisture, what else?
I’m sorry, I thought you wanted it done the right way.
How the work of a home-performance professional can result in a path toward improved energy efficiency, durability, and health.
"I have learned so much thanks to the searchable articles on the FHB website. I can confidently say that I expect to be a life-long subscriber." - M.K.
Dig into cutting-edge approaches and decades of proven solutions with total access to our experts and tradespeople.
Start Free Trial NowGet instant access to the latest developments in green building, research, and reports from the field.
Start Free Trial Now
Replies
Moisture may be wicking in from the brick. Brick is like a sponge.
Down low there, you probably get some splash back from the roof runoff.
Hard to say from here, but a few comments anyway.
Which way does that door face anyway?
How many coats of previous paint?
Did someone mix oil topcoat over latex?
Wood has stripped back to bare wood. Might mean conflicting expansion and contraction from "mixed" topcoats that developed more pull thanthe primer bond could stand. Or maybe there was no true primer ever applied......? Maybe just the cheapo factory primer...?
Corners look nicely rounded, but paint crack still seems to run right up near those outside corners. Could be the expansion conflict issue.
I'd be removing the casings and getting a bed of polyurethane caulk under the bottom end before/when I replaced. Set it in the fresh caulk and strike off the excess.
The house has not been repainted since new. It is probably oil over factory prime. Even in heavy rain that part of the trim stays dry.
I'm sorry, I thought you wanted it done the right way.
Not painted since new. Out of curiosity.......how long ago was that?Oil paint becomes more brittle as it gets older. If wood expands or contracts under that, tension develops. That tension may be what caused the primer to let go. If the sun strikes this lower portion of the door, then the paint would dry out and lose elasticity even faster than on a shaded side.The problem doesn't really have a "history" of yet as it's only been painted the once....and that over factory prime...so it's kinda hard to deduce from the available visuals and "knowns" just what might be the cause. Bear in mind that nothing lasts forever, if ya know what I mean.
I guess if it was mine...... I'd prep it well(scrape and sand everything back to bare wood that you possibly can), apply a good primer and then a couple coats of SW Duration. Or since the area is so small, you could just use the Duration as it's own primer. It says that's doable and would fall under warranty. I guess I'd consider ripping out all the existing caulk that looks like it needs it and replacing with the PL poly there, too. ( I never like to see a scarf joint mid-run on jambs or casings or anything, for that matter. There they are anyway.) If the wood does the peel again in the near future, then I'd go looking for the source of a problem.
Are those vinyl windows? Can't see any stripping paint on 'em in the pics. Knowledge is power, but only if applied in a timely fashion.
Gold, you need to learn how to read, boy. :) First post: house is 4-5 years old and the door is on the north side.
My guess now, based on stuff you guys have mentioned, is that the back side of the trim was not primed and is thus sucking moisture from the brick. The caulk is in very good shape.
I'm sorry, I thought you wanted it done the right way.
"Gold, you need to learn how to read, boy. :) "Sorry about that, Ed. A bit preoccupied and anxious to get outta here to boot at the time.I'll try to do better in the future............. but no promises. <G>If I do it again, just yell in my ear real loud. LOLEdit: Almost forgot. DanH hit it about the factory "primer". I'm convinced it's nuthin' but a way to hide all those friggin' fingerjoints from view. Knowledge is power, but only if applied in a timely fashion.
Edited 2/28/2005 8:45 pm ET by GOLDHILLER
The "factory primer" used on "pre-primed" exterior wood is generally excrement. It's really intended to protect the wood until it gets painted, not serve as a decent primer.
Unfortunately, there's really no way to remove the factory primer on a new door short of sanding, and few painters go to the trouble of scratch-sanding and repriming, so the only choice is to paint over it, wait for it to peel, scrape everything, then reprime and repaint. Since the thing never peels completely all at once, you generally have to repeat this procedure 2-3 times.
Scrape it down (I prefer using a hot air gun), sand smooth, reprime the bare wood & exposed factory primer (I prefer Bennie Moore exterior primer), and repaint with a good quality exterior acrylic.
I bet you have interior paint on that casing.
how's the seal at the junction between that aluminum threshold and the wood jamb - besides water wicking from the brick/mortar, you may have some getting sucked up there - how old is the door - you might want to talk to the manufacturer and see if they've had any failures similiar to yours