Newly painted cottage, paintwork damaged after just two lettings

12th Sept 2020

When we cleaned the cottage at the last changeover, my wife noticed that the wall surface in the bedroom had been scuffed leaving dark marks on the newly painted wall. Presumably this had been caused by a carelessly handled luggage scraping against the wall.

This damage was quite annoying as we'd only just finished decorating the interior of the whole cottage a couple of weeks previously. I think perhaps there'd been a total of 7 guest nights since the redecoration.

I also noticed some damage to the lock of the linen cabinet located on the first floor landing. Again, these doors had been recently painted as part of the redecoration, so the damage was very recent. Yet more repairs to do when there's a gap in the bookings.

The cleaning work involved vacuuming the bedroom carpets. My wife was using the cottage's brand new vacuum cleaner. We'd had to purchase a new one because, shortly before the lockdown, we'd found the older one had been broken and was no longer working properly. The older vacuum was less than 18 months old.

I also discovered the lower bracket on the stair bannister rail had become slightly loosened. Whilst the overall rail is safe, I'll need to take off the lower bracket from the rail, and remove it from the wall. I'll then need to repack the screw holes in the wall and then remount the rail bracket. Unfortunately I only discovered the issue late in the cleaning cycle and didn't have sufficient time to go collect the correct tools and supplies to effect a repair in time for the next guests. The rail was not loose during redecoration process.

Edit 25th Sept 2020: 

Our last set of guests were excellent, but it was a disappointment for them to find that the electric toaster was not operational. Thankfully our guests left us a note to let us know. There was no fault report of this by the penultimate guests, which was annoying because if we'd known we would immediately replaced the toaster. The toaster unit had been PAT safety  tested by an electrician in July before we re-opened for business after Covid-19 lockdown. I guess we'd best test and document, every electric appliance in the cottage between guest stays.

We already have a note in the cottage handbook asking people to report faults to us when they find them so that we have the opportunity to remediate without delay. However it seems some guests subsequently abuse the post-stay comments process to pick fault in their subsidised  holiday accommodation even though damage occurred during their stay. So far we've not charged for damages, but we've decided it is time to introduce a "good housekeeping bond" for bookings.

 

Decoration in progress

We've had a few days of good dry weather and a gap in bookings at the same time, so I was able to start some exterior paint works. The first job I've tackled is repainting the front door. I'd notices that the paint on the door glazing bars was beginning to flake, exposing the underlying wood to the elements. This could lead to wood rot and also didn't look too good. The previous paint was just two years old, but didn't seem able to resist the harsh conditions in the street. I decided to up my game and invest in some genuine yacht paints. 

After a lot of Internet research, I chose Rawlins Teamac Marine Gloss (Colour RAL2002) and Teamac Marine Undercoat (White). This is an oil based paint, rather than the more modern water based paint. After the usual hours of work to sand down the door, removing damaged paint on the glazing bars, I was pleased to find the undercoat paint applied like a dream. It was smooth, with a run free surface. Being oil based it needs at least 12 hours between coats. The top coat was equally good and dried with a nice gloss, requiring just one coat to provide coverage. I'd run out of time between holiday bookings so I'll apply a couple more top coats during the next gap, but the door is now weather proof.

One of the reasons why the paint had cracked on the front door was a failure of the filler material used to fill cracks in the woodwork. When selecting paints (for the door frame) I came across some specialist wood filler (TouPret). It seems to work really well, with a 20 minute pot life and can be painted over after just three hours:

I also decided to tackle the awful red tile paint which had been applied to the roadside brickwork by a previous owner. It is flaking badly and needs stripping off. After some experimentation and a lot of research I'd chosen an eco-friendly paint stripper which wouldn't damage the underlying brickwork and mortar. The stripper is designed to remove graffiti from walls. This stripping is going to be a long time process of several weeks, with many visits, as the paint stripper is quite slow in its actions. At least it doesn't cause the paint to sink into the brickwork.

When I tried a few sample areas, I discovered the mortar filling the gap between the front door frame and the brickwork was crumbly and rotten. It was right next to the front door I was in the process of repainting. By the time I'd hacked out the failed mortar there was a deep finger-width gap the height of the door frame. This had to be fixed and reinstated before the new guests arrive at the end of the week. 

So it was time to jump in the car and head off to Screwfix for a mortar gun and a pail of mortar mix. Yet more expenditure!  In the evening, more Internet research at home, as I learned how to make the mortar suitable for injecting from a mortar gun. It was not sufficient to just mix it in a bucket, I had to add plasticiser and then use a paint "whisk" to aerate the mortar before loading it in the gun. The following day, it took some experimentation to get the mix the right consistency; fluid enough to flow from the gun, but sufficiently solid to stay in the vertical gap in the brickwork. I was please to have a set of specialist brickwork trowels left over from the winter's plastering session. These implements made life a lot easier.

Sorting out the mortar around the doorframe, stole 48 hours from this week's decorating schedule, but in the process I spotted some other high level gaps in the mortar of the wall brickwork which will need some attention before the autumn rains.

I then had to paint the door frame to cover the paint gaps wood work arising from the new mortar. As I was running short of time, I chose Zinsser All Coat Exterior white paint which is water based, covers well, has a tough finish, and is touch dry in 30 minutes and allows a second coat in one hour. The manufacturers claim up to 15 years lifetime for the paint.

Waiting to decorate the place

Our holiday cottage is due some renovation to the exterior paint work, and the interior could do with some freshening as well. I'd planned to undertake the work over the winter, but my NHS Lottery ticket came up in the shape of a cataract operation to restore my failing eyesight. The advice was to rest totally for the first month after the operation then nothing too strenuous over the next six months. So I had to put the decorating work on hold over winter. We also need to have a dry spell, not too cold overnight, so that the paint is given time to cure, but not too long, so that the layer of paint chemically bond.
  

I'd set some time aside to do this painting work a few weeks back, but just as I was gathering the equipment I had a text message from some unexpected guests telling me they arrive in 30 minutes. More on this story here. The last few weeks have been too cold for the paint to work properly, but finally we have a warm spell with no rain for a few days. Ironically we have some Easter guests in the cottage, so I don't want to disturb their peace. It is not a task that can be split over separate weeks.

Previously the external paint works had been done by our helpful handyman (not me), but he's not a decorator. The results were good, but the external stuff hasn't lasted well. When he went with my wife to choose the paints they chose external quality acrylic paint for the woodwork. It is easy to apply, but it just doesn't seem to last as well as solvent/oil based paints. I'm a traditionalist, and I've maintained sea water dinghies for a sea scout troop. I've found that marine yacht paint seems to last a lot longer than other paints. It is a bit more difficult to apply and get good results, but it does resist bad weather better without so much cracking and peeling. 

For the woodwork, I've purchased: 

• Teamac Marine Undercoat;
• Teamac Marine Topcoat gloss;
• Teamac Thinner 14

The lower wall on the street side of the building are a different matter. A couple of years ago on the advice of the adjoining building owner I repainted the brickwork with a cheap tile paint from Wilco's. The reasoning was it would match his place and colour scheme in the Conservation area. The paint has not weathered well and is flaking quite badly. It also suffers from roadsplash and salt from the winter road de-icing. The walls are also quite porous and allow the rain/damp through to the detriment of the plaster inside the lounge.  For the outer wall, I decided to invest in some good quality exterior wall renovation paint. I'll use a chemical stripper to clean off the masonry first, then several coats to properly protect the surface.

For the wall, I've purchased:

• Mathys Pegafix - Impregnation Primer;
• Mathys Murfill Renovation Paint

I'm just hoping I've got the colours of the paint right.  It looked good on my PC screen when I ordered the paints late at night, but they do look a bit garish in the can.  I've since purchased a proper paint colour swatch book for the colour schemes used by these paint suppliers. If the local authority moans I can always apply another coat of paint to tone down the colours.