Joiners' or decorators' job?

[Mogweed]

The joiner has fitted some new architrave and skirting - nailed the arc, screwed the skirting - but has left the nail and screw holes, probably assuming that the decorator will fill them in.

However, the decorator has undercoated without filling in the holes, which suggests to me that he thinks it's not his responsibility and that the joiner should have done it.

Both are still on site (but not at the same time, which is maybe why this problem has arisen) and I don't care who does it as long as it gets done (I can't 'cos of a back injury, otherwise I'd be doing it all myself anyway) so who's responsibility is it and who should I be having words with?

Cheers,

Mogweed.

[The3rd Earl Of Derby]

Tell the joiner to fill half the holes and leave the rest to the decorator. Joiners responsible, there his holes. :-)

-- Sir Benjamin Middlethwaite

[Rob Morley]

Are you sure the decorator hasn't just primed the screw/nail heads prior to applying filler? Putting filler straight over untreated steel fixings can cause rust stains to come through to the surface in time.

[Mogweed]

Well, the whole of the architrave and skirting has got a coat of white paint (which I assume to be undercoat) and I can clearly see the nail heads and the cross-head of the Philips screws covered in the same white paint, so I'm assuming that he's just not bothering with filling the holes.

I take it you think it should be the decorators responsibility to fill these holes while he's going round sorting out various cracks and imperfections with Polyfilla?

Mogweed.

[John Rumm]

New wood? It is often best to prime it before adding the filler.

Let em get on with it and complain to the decorator if he does not make good before glossing.

[Rob Morley]

If he wasn't expecting to do it I think he'd have moaned by now, because he can't very well leave the holes unfilled and call the job finished. There again, based on some of the decorators that I've worked with ...

[John Rumm]

My mum had some working for her on an insurance job....

While painting the skirting beside the sink in the bathroom, they painted *round* a cloth that was hanging over the waste pipe. They overfilled small holes in wooden picture rails with decorators caulk - lots of it. Then _varnished_ over the top of that!

Needless to say she sacked 'em!

[Mogweed]

Thanks one and all, I'll let you know how we get on :o)

Mogweed.

[Peter Taylor]

Sounds like your typical cut-the-corners painter to me. If you'd wanted a bare wood look the joiner would have pellated the screwholes and filled the nailheads with coloured stopper. As you're having it painted, the joiner has correctly left it for the painter to fill and rub down.

The white paint you see could be primer - it's normal to prime before filling, but ideally the timber should have been primed on all sides before fixing. If it's undercoat ask him why he didn't prime it, and don't accept that "it's not necessary". Did he "forget" the knotting as well?

[Rob Morley]

Maybe the solvents get to them after a few years, or could it be all that lead from rubbing down old paint? :-) I have to say that full- time decorating isn't a job I think I could do, it would do my head in.