We have an old, wood deck in our backyard. For some time now, it’s been in need of repair. The problem is that we have a lot of large, overhanging trees that were dropping debris that was then getting caught in the grooves in between the boards. The debris was then getting wet when it rained and was trapping moisture in between the boards. This trapped moisture was causing some of the boards to rot. We hired a painter/carpenter a couple of weeks ago to come repair any broken/rotten boards and then powerwash and paint it.
This guy’s idea of fixing the problem involving cutting out the broken sections of boards (apparently, it’s OK if you also cut the boards NEXT to the one being repaired).
He then painted the (top only) deck with a roller. No attempt was made to get any paint in between the boards (where the main problem was in the first place). The places where he put new boards in were absolutely obviously…BECAUSE THERE WAS NO PAINT ON THE SIDES.
I’m not going to mention our painting/repair contractor’s name, but….I will say that the “jackass” contractor in this person’s post sounds VERY familiar. Maybe EXACTLY familiar….
Well, because we like “projects” and because we are (I’ll admit it) a bit perfectionistic, we decided to just tackle it ourselves. We spent most of the day today pushing bit of leaves and debris through the grooves in the deck and clearing any dirt out of all of the nooks and crannies. Hubby then VERY thoroughly power-washed the whole thing (he even did the outdoor furniture, while he was at it). Tomorrow we’ll paint.
These are the putty knives and palette knives that we used to clear out the dirt/leaves/acorns/screws, etc. from the deck grooves. We made the kids give us a hand. They weren’t crazy about it, but they were good sports and were actually quite helpful. We took them to see the new “Indiana Jones” movie as a treat afterwards.
I’ll post photos of the finished project when we’re done. Heck, we might even have to have a party out there.
Lara — I saw your comments in my blog and the reference you made here. I’m very sorry you and your family had to go through the same kind of problems I did. This definitely seems like the kind of work he does. I’m glad you decided to do the rest of the job yourself. Your deck is beautiful.
I don’t really believe that you are expecting perfection when you are paying someone to do a job and they do sub-standard work. It wouldn’t have been hard at all to do the job right in the first place.
I think most of this guy’s work is doing quick fixes for people trying to prepare their homes for sale. His work is minimal, mostly cosmetic (on the surface), and hastily done, and isn’t meant to last longer than it takes to sell a home. Because he completes the work (however poorly), he technically has completed the terms of the work order and we have little recourse.
By the way, I live in Angus Valley (northwest Austin). It is, indeed, a small world!