Unfortunately NZ has a large number of houses painted with oil-based paints originally or at some point in their life. These products are now aged to the point they are flaking and breaking down.

Often painters offer two quotes, one to remove the old paint, one to just repaint. Sometimes the repainting of the top coat with a new acrylic is the final straw and the whole system gives up (flakes). The only solution is to remove all the coating and repaint with 3 coats of acrylic.

Adhesion tests can be completed prior to painting (a cross hatch with a Stanley knife then tape applied and ripped off) to determine whether an earlier coat has lost adhesion.

The need to do a more major maintenance job than hoped for is occurring more and more due to the increasing age and the large number of houses built in the 1940-1960 period. This issue is not unique to painting but also affects piling, wiring, plumbing, and roofing.

BRANZ released a report detailing the expected increase in significant work required to NZ’s housing stock.