Exterior Painting Steps Used by Crowder Painting

Crowder Painting uses specific exterior painting steps to insure consistent lasting quality and your satisfaction. These are broken down to the initial consultation and proposal, help with choosing your house paint colors, preparing the surface(s) for painting, the actual exterior painting and touch up.

By following the exterior painting steps outlined, Crowder Painting has increased the amount of time between repainting, average is 8-10 years. Unless your house has specific needs, these are the exterior painting steps that will be used when we paint your house.

Exterior Painting Consultation and the Painting Proposal

The evaluation of your homes surfaces is an important exterior painting step and this begins with the initial consultation. At this point it is important for us to know the exact extent of your exterior painting project, now is a great time for you to ask questions. We too will have several questions, such as;

• Will you be doing any of the work yourself?
• When was your home last painted?
• Do you have specific product or manufacture preferences?
• Have you started considering paint colors?

These questions as well as others will give us a good understanding of your needs. We will also offer options that can save you money or give you even more time before needing to repaint.

The painting proposal will contain a full description of the surfaces in need of painting plus the exterior painting steps we will use to successfully complete the job. Our goal is to provide a lasting finish; this will require a few steps as indicated below. The best exterior paint job will cost more, if you want a paint job of lesser quality and price let us know and we will tailor the proposal to your needs. Our initial recommendations will result in a great paint job at a reasonable price that has a 3 year paint warranty.

The painting proposal can be hand delivered, faxed, mailed or emailed for your convenience.

Choosing Exterior Paint Colors

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A difficult and stressful part of painting is choosing the most pleasing paint colors for your homes exterior. We will help you through this process by offering our own opinions and applying paint samples.

Applying Paint Color Samples: 3 paint color samples are included with every proposal. The samples will be applied to varous areas of your house to help with choosing the best color for your appliaction and includes any combination of the main body color, trim color and an accent color.

Crowder Painting includes 3 separate paint samples as part of our service, more can be added if needed. For accent colors, sample boards can be supplied. Samples are usually applied to different areas of your home for viewing the colors in different light or against different accessories.

Exterior Paint Preparation – Vital Exterior Painting Steps

The preparation of all surfaces is one of the most important and time consuming exterior painting steps that needs to be done. Correctly accomplishing this step insures lasting quality even in our harsh Colorado environment.

Pressure Washing

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A clean start is needed in order to eliminate dirt, pollution and other surface contaminates. The best way to achieve this is with a pressure washer. Normally soaps or other chemicals are not needed for this process but we have the ability to inject a variety of chemicals into the stream of pressurized water.

Normally, only environmentally friendly soaps are used to protect you and your landscaping. You will be informed in the proposal if any chemicals are needed and why they are needed.

Pressure washing can remove some loose paint but we use it as the first exterior painting step to achieve a clean start that will be followed with other specific procedures.

Scraping and Sanding

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The only way to truly know the condition of your exterior paint and remove what is loose or peeling is by hand scraping. A full evaluation of your homes exterior is included with every proposal. All loose paint is removed using wire brushing, hand scraping or powder sanding. Often a combination of these methods is used to give you the best looking and lasting results. We combine hand scraping with power sanding to produce a smooth surface that is ready for primer.

Sanding is primarily used on smooth surfaces such as wood siding or trim and smooth masonite siding. Purposely rough surfaces, such as rough cut cedar siding and trim or embossed siding and trim, cannot be sanded. Sanding would destroy the character of these items. These types of surfaces will be hand scraped and (or) wire brushed to remove any loose paint.

Priming

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All raw unpainted areas are primed before caulking and painting. The choice of primer depends on the surface that will be painted. Generally, Crower Painting uses oil based primers for most surfaces, including wood and Masonite siding. Acrylic primers are used on all masonry surfaces. Fast drying stain blocking primers are our primary choice for most priming needs, especially when priming high tannin woods like redwood or cedar. Crowder Painting uses only the best and most appropriate primers for the surface being painted.

Primers aren’t always needed. There use depends on the type of surface, the condition of the area that will be painted and the finish paint that will be used.

• Wood - All exposed or raw wood is primed with an oil base wood primer.
• Masonry - 100% Acrylic masonry primer is used on brick or stucco. Cement block, cinder block, is primed with acrylic block fill primers.
• Previously Painted Surfaces - Each area of your home is evaluated for compatibility with the new paint. An appropriate primer is used if necessary, usually an oil base primer.

Caulking and Reglazing

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All gaps and cracks are filled with elastomeric sealants. The areas that will be caulked include gaps in fascia boards and trim, around windows, soffits and the soffit to the adjacent fascia board.

Old windows are checked for loose glazing and reglazed where needed. We always use oil base primer before and after the application of new glazing to insure maximum adhesion of the paint and a lasting quality job.

We understand the importance of properly sealing your home from the extremes of weather. The proper application of quality sealants will extend the life of the paint job and save you money on your heating or cooling bills.

Covering and Protecting

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All areas that will not be painted are protected from paint splatter and overspray. These areas include covering concrete sidewalks, the driveway, wood decks with handrails, windows and doors.

Crowder painting uses heavy butyl backed drop cloths for covering all horizontal surfaces and plastic or masking paper for windows and doors. Other items not mentioned will be either uninstalled or covered with the most appropriate masking materials.

Exterior Painting Techniques

The preparation can and often will take the most time and effort. Now it is time for the actual painting. From this list of exterior painting steps this is the one we enjoy the most. In most cases two (2) coats are applied with ample dry time between each coat. All finish paints are top of the line and are not thinned with water, for acrylics, or paint thinner, for oil base paints.

Painting the Main Body and Soffits

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In most cases your main color will be sprayed, two (2) coats of paint over the primer. The first coat is back rolled or back brushed to help create a longer lasting paint job.

Back rolling is a technique that uses a roller to push the paint into nail heads, cracks and helps form a better seal on the sidings lip. Back brushing is the same principle, but uses a brush instead of a roller. These techniques are used during the spraying of the first coat.

The second coat of paint is applied with only the sprayer. This coat provides the final color and sheen. Each coat is applied according to the manufactures specifications for thickness and spread rate.

Painting Trim, Windows and Doors

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The trim of your home will be brushed or rolled with two (2) coats of paint over the primer. On rare occasions the trim is the major part of a house and in these situations it is sprayed.

Painted windows are brushed while doors can be brushed, rolled or sprayed depending on the doors current type of finish. New doors are sprayed to produce the smoothest finish.

Touch Up - The Final Exterior Painting Step

The final part of every job is the touch up and final walk to check out the entire exterior making sure everything is finished. It is at this point we invite you to also look at all painted areas. Once we are sure that everything is perfect, we will give you all the remaining paint in their original containers for future touch-up and product reference.