White paint for PVC window frame

mrcheez

Had a tradesman in doing some work for me today, but he unfortunately drilled holes in the wrong PVC window frame.

He used filler to fill in the holes, and then sanded down, but it's still apparent that there were holes in the frame and it's pretty noticable.

Is there a specific paint that will match the PVC frame (standard white)?

Curly Judge

Be very careful.
As far as I know there is no such thing as "standard white".
Colours, [ in the building trade anyway] go by RAL numbers.
I have a RAL chart in front of me and white seems to range over several numbers depending on the shade.
The best thing to do is to find out who manufactured your windows, ring them and ask them what RAL number white they use.
I seem to remember that Colourtrend, Maynooth Road, Celbridge do a paint that is suitable for painting on to PVC, but you might be better off painting the whole window rather than doing small patches .

ART6

mrcheez wrote: »

Had a tradesman in doing some work for me today, but he unfortunately drilled holes in the wrong PVC window frame.

He used filler to fill in the holes, and then sanded down, but it's still apparent that there were holes in the frame and it's pretty noticable.

Is there a specific paint that will match the PVC frame (standard white)?

Is he properly insured? If it was his mistake then why should you fix it?

mrcheez

ART6 wrote: »

Is he properly insured? If it was his mistake then why should you fix it?

Hmm never thought of that, I'll look into it

mrcheez

Incidentally after sanding with fine sander there is a visible "dulling" of the surface compared to when it was untouched.

Would a Lacquer thinner restore the PVC frame back to it's "unscratched" original (or close to it)?

ART6

mrcheez wrote: »

Incidentally after sanding with fine sander there is a visible "dulling" of the surface compared to when it was untouched.

Would a Lacquer thinner restore the PVC frame back to it's "unscratched" original (or close to it)?

I can't imagine that any fine sander would ever restore the shine of the originally unblemished surface because that is machine finished. Even the finest sanding will leave minute microscopic scratches on the surface that will dull the finish. There are some UPVC restorative products that contain very fine abrasives and can be used with some elbow grease to get near to back to the original finish. That being said, if a filler was used in the wrongly drilled holes, that filler will never ever match the reflective index of the original polymer unless it is an identical polymer, and if it came in a tube it wouldn't be. Lacquer will not do it because it will simply show up the imperfections and will not last.

I would love to offer a simple solution, but I suspect that your only real solution is to claim from your contractor's insurance company for complete replacements. After all, you hired him to do a job and it went wrong. That is his problem, not yours.

mrcheez

ART6 wrote: »

I would love to offer a simple solution, but I suspect that your only real solution is to claim from your contractor's insurance company for complete replacements. After all, you hired him to do a job and it went wrong. That is his problem, not yours.

Do I not claim from the contractor himself, but I go to his insurance company instead?

Also as the windows were in the house when I moved in I don't have the product details or insulation values, so is there a risk that the windows would be inferior quality? Seems like a big thing for such small imperfection to original frame.

Alun

I had a situation where an alarm installer broke a pane of glass while drilling a window frame to mount a vibration sensor. In that case, after consultation with the company, I got it repaired myself, sent the bill to them and got a cheque in the post from their insurance company.

ART6

Alun wrote: »

I had a situation where an alarm installer broke a pane of glass while drilling a window frame to mount a vibration sensor. In that case, after consultation with the company, I got it repaired myself, sent the bill to them and got a cheque in the post from their insurance company.

That is pretty much the procedure that I would adopt, but first I would write a letter to the contractor detailing the problem and telling him that you hold him responsible for rectifying it. Send the letter by registered post. If he undertakes to deal with it to your satisfaction then fine. Problem solved. If he doesn't give a satisfactory response then another letter saying that you will then obtain quotes for repairs/replacements and will send him the quotes for submission to his insurers. Ask him for details of his insurer's address and his policy number. If he doesn't respond then seek a writ from the Small Claims Court -- it doesn't cost much and it does concentrate minds!