Exterior Painting FAQs

When you get your home painted, you want to get the best results possible. Painting the exterior of your home can be especially stressful. You can dodge a lot of bullets if you dedicate yourself to having clear communication with your prospective exterior painters and asking the right questions. We know that it can be hard to know what the “right” questions are. Our professional painters have compiled a list of our most important questions to ask any exterior painting company. These questions give you insight into what you can expect, how they treat their customers, and any liabilities to look out for.

What is involved in exterior surface preparations?

An exterior should always be cleaned prior to painting. A good power washing and review for damage is recommended before any work starts. This ensures everything is fixed and clean prior to the job. Dirt or grime on the outside of the house can keep the paint from properly adhering and cause a paint failure fairly quickly.

Priming sometimes is recommended, especially if your home has any areas that have not previously been painted or raw wood. It’s up to the discretion of the estimator to determine if the primer is a benefit to your job.

Repairs like caulking cracks give you a professional looking finished product. Areas that tend to need repairs like this include wooden elements, joints and frames of doors and windows. There are specialty elastomeric patch compounds for use on an stucco cracks. It will seal the crack and hold up to the elements.

Areas not being painted should be covered with drop cloths, trim and frames should be taped off.

What kind of paint should I use?

Material costs can be shocking at first to a novice painter. Professional painters will tell you that purchasing budget paint and supplies will only shorten the life of the paint job. Going with a good moderately priced paint and supplies will ensure you get through the job with no fuzz or bristles in your paint and that it will last for a decent amount of time. The middle to high end paints typically carry warranties that will last from 10 years to a lifetime, so it’s a small price to pay for these guarantees.

While most exterior paint jobs are acrylic latex paint, there are some times oil based paints are more appropriate. Typically, oil-based paints are reserved for wooden homes or homes that previously had oil paints on them. Once either latex or oil paint is used, future updates must remain in the same format.

What do I look for in a good painting company?

It can be incredibly stressful to paint the interior or exterior of your house. One thing that can make it incredibly more difficult is hiring the wrong house painters. Fortunately, this is something that can be easily avoided by doing just a little bit of the right research.

• Look in Your Price Range: The most important part of any project is staying on budget. Painting is no different! Set up a general budget for your painting project before even contacting any painting companies. Then, request 3-5 estimates from paint companies you are considering.
• Review Painting Services: The next step in hunting for the right house painter is to review the services each company can offer. Painting a house typically will require a bit more work than you initially think. Power washing, sanding, and repairs are pretty common for both interior and exterior projects. We recommend choosing a company that can take care of all of these things for you.
• Check out the Reviews: Our last tip is to look at what their previous clients have said about their work. This is probably one of the most important ways to get a sense of what the company will be like if you choose them for your project. Reviews can often be found on a website, Google, and Yelp. You may also want to check in on their rankings with the BBB!