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Some Mattamy models wooden column posts on the front porch instead of the plastic-types. I think the painted wood colums look nicer than the plastic ones.

BUT...one thing I've noticed is that some homes (including ours ), the paint cracks/blisters/flakes off, especially around the wood-joins and bottom of the columns.

I noticed in the first couple months after moving in the paint was cracking off, especially around the wood joins, we put it on the 1 year list and it ended up getting repaired around October of last year. But then this spring-time (about 7 months after the first repair job) it started all coming off again, in fact much worse than before. Mattamy's been nice and they're coming back to repair it AGAIN (even though it's now about 21 months after closing). But they mentioned that this is the 'last time' and if it happens again we'll have to repair it ourselves.

Just wanted to ask what causes this? Water seeping in between the wood joins and then freezing during the winter? Why with some houses it doesn't seem to happen? Also it seems more than just paint, under the paint it looks like their is a chalky-white-plastery type coating over the wood, it's coming off too. So when the paint comes off, it actually comes off in big pieces. I'm posting 2 pictures here...

Is there a "right" way to repair this, so it will last more than one-season? If I could get it to last even a couple years between repair jobs I'd be happy. I think this is fairly common, as I've seen many houses with this.. But at the same time I've seen some houses where it seems like it hasn't been a problem (or maybe they're just repairing it every year?)

Here's 2 pictures of ours, first one is very bad, second one is just starting. If I actually press hard with my thumb on any of this paint though, it will break / crack off. It's actually on every join of every column, but just posting 2 of them so you get the idea.

Hey Rick, thats not too nice eh?

Didn't all of phase 12 get the plastics columns and railings?

or

Maybe they changed the standard halfway through the phase?

If you have a chance, take a drive on Beaty Trail, near 4th line. There are a couple of houses there that have put in new railing and posts I believe in cedar, or some type of wood. This looks really cool, but expensive.

Tim

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http://spaces.msn.com/greensburg101/ website update...Feb 13, 2009

No, only some got plastic, while others got wood. Depends on the model. I think all the 56's (or most) got wood. At the time I didn't think it would requier so much maintenance.
Yep, maybe sometime in the future.

The only imput I can give you is based on your pictures and from my experience with 2 different houses I have lived in.

Our first house had wood pillars that were like yours which sat flat right against the concrete porch. We had lots of problems with them along with most neighbours. Apparently there was a lot of moisture and rot starting because there was no air flow between the pillar and the concrete.

The house we are in now (not a Mattamy) has the wooden pillars but they are lifted slighly (less than an inch...not noticeable at all) on a metal stand/support which allows the air to go through as they are not sitting directly on the concrete. We have had no problems with these ones and we have been in this house for almost 4 years.

Good luck

Hi Rick,

There are a couple of problems with these wooden column posts.

1. The wood sits directly on the concrete, which results in it absorbing moisture via the end-grain. Eventually, the columns will begin to rot at the base. At our previous house these same columns sat on a metal base so this was not a problem.

2. The paint quality and durability are very poor. I swear they are using interior latex paint on the exterior trim. You could scrape, prime and paint the columns with a better quality paint to stop the flaking/bubbling.

Unless you address problem 1 above, painting will only give you a short term fix...

Derek

We are in phase one and all of us had wood railings and pillars. When we moved in, the house across the street from us had not been sold and Mattamy was using it as a painting station of sorts. We watched the painters take the big cans of paint and mix them half and half with water before they painted all the indoor trims and porch railings/pillars. That would be the start of the problem.
We had the same thing happen. We sanded EVERYTHING down to the wood, primed it all and used a good (Benjamin Moore) paint. It has now lasted about four years and we are just starting to see some cracks again at the bottom of the pillars. Four years is not bad though.

Actually I did see them repair it the first time, and I didn't remember them priming it. I remember them scraping the old paint off, putting some type of filler stuff (??) on, then sanding that down after it dried, then painting on top of that. What's coming off now is both the the paint, and the white stuff under the paint that hasn't seemed to have adhered to the wood.

I don't know if I'll be home this time when they come to re-paint it. As they usually don't call in advance when it's exterior work. I've requested if it's possible to know in advance what day they might come, so hoping they'll call/let me know before coming so I can see how it's done.

90% of the problem is not priming the repair before painting....make sure they prime the repair and use a good exterior paint...bennie moore is good

We have the same problem.

I talked to a friend who's a professional painter, and he said that the paint they used is interior paint, not exterior paint. That's why it flakes off..

i disagree with using oil based outside...not a flexible paint..and cracks will form due to the tempurature variations, and then water penetrates and you have a bigger problem on your hands as oil is very difficult to sand down

USE BENNIE MOORES EXTERIOR LATEX AFTER A PRIMING

use latex outdoors....

Mattamy had the original trade/company come back to repair the columns today. They looked at them, and commented that the earlier repair work was not done by them. That the earlier repair job done late last year used some type of plaster instead of exterior wood filling, and wasn't done well.

Today they sanded the surface down, and then put some wood filler and some type of other stuff on top of that (I think primer, but not sure). Then left for a few hours, then they came back and did painting.

They said they used exterior wood filler in some spots that were needed, and multiple coats on top of that, and that it should last for a couple winters much better than before.

It looks really great now, just like new. Will have to wait until next spring to see if it survives the winter.