When it comes to buying a home on a short sale, you always hope you are getting what you see and there aren’t any hidden ‘treasures’ to be found later. Unfortunately for one of our clients earlier this year, they purchased a home that had been foreclosed upon thinking they had gotten a great deal, but it ended up they had purchased a bit of a lemon. Luckily, they called Three Brothers Painting and we were able to restore the home to its true potential.
The New Home Purchase
When our clients originally looked at the home it was spotless – freshly painted walls and trim in every room and it looked immaculate. They were thrilled that they were getting such a great home at an unbelievable price. After they moved in though, they began to notice problems. First was the smell. The previous owners of the home had been smokers and the new buyers didn’t notice when they had looked at the house because the cigarette smoke smell was temporarily masked by the fresh paint that had been applied by the other painters. Upon further inspection, the new owners noticed that around every inch of trim in the house, the wall paint was cracking. With these two major problems in their hands, they knew it was time to call in some help.
The Underlying Problem
Luckily, Three Brothers got called in and we were able to diagnose the problem easily. The painters that had come through prior to the sale gave the house a quick once over to make it look shiny and new. First they sprayed the trim with a white semi gloss latex paint, then went right back through and rolled the walls with a flat latex paint. Because they did not properly prime the walls, the cigarette smoke smell was seeping out of the walls through the paint and permeating throughout the house. Also, after they sprayed the trim with the semi gloss paint, they should have gone back and sanded the overspray off of the walls but because they didn’t, the flat paint cracked and flaked right off the semi gloss overspray on the walls all around the trim.
A Professional Paint Job Saves the Day
Three Brothers Painting was able to restore the home by first going through and priming every surface with an oil based primer. This neutralized the cigarette smoke smell in the walls and ceiling and kept it out of the living space of the home. Next, they went through and put on two fresh top coats of paint to give the house the proper finish and brand new house smell that the owners should have had from the beginning.
If you have a tough painting project or need to paint over cigarette smoke, give Three Brothers Painting a call and we will be happy to make you and your home our next client success story!