Requesting An Exterior Painting Quote for Your Home
The Decision Process For Exterior Painting
The first step of your exterior painting project is to decide on your scope of work. This entails looking at all of the painted areas of your home including detached buildings to determine what you want to be done. This can mean a general inspection to look at specific areas or a blanket determination of its time to repaint. Most exterior paintwork should have a minimum repaint cycle of 6-8 years. That time can vary depending on the environment of the home, the history of the home, and the general condition of the structure itself along with some other factors.
Once the areas of the home are determined you can look at any specific requirements you may need. These can include minor repairs, structural repairs, or determining to have your deck stained that wasn’t stained before. Typically we as your painting contractor will determine the type of preparation and the level that is required to get your home ready for painting.
Exterior Painting Preparation Process
The preparation process is typically a standard process of washing, cleaning, scraping, priming, sanding, caulking, and then painting. In general, all exterior painting projects will include some level of these activities. The amount of each activity will vary based on the condition of the home. This will be determined by your painting contractor. The time allotted can vary based on their assessments. In general, the more preparation especially scraping and priming the more costly the project. Maintaining your home consistently means that you will be spending less on the most costly part of painting which is the preparation.
Selecting the Right Paint for Your Exterior Areas
The brand and type of paint is another decision in the process. In most cases, it is somewhat predetermined by the fact that you will continue with the same type and brand as previously used. Using good quality paint is a key to exterior paint longevity skimping on paint never makes sense. If you have cans from the previous work it is a good idea to have them available for your contractor. If you were a previous client of ours we will have the information in our system.
The Dulux Weatherguard and Dulux Diamond have been our go-to exterior paints for many years. However, all our brand partners which include PPG Dulux Paints, Sherwin Williams, and Benjamin Moore have excellent quality paints.
Sheen levels are the amount of shine the paint has these are typically categorized as Flat, satin, semigloss and Gloss. These are often referred to as the paint finish. The majority of homes have a flat or satin finish on the siding, shingles and stucco and a semigloss finish on the trim (windows soffits, fascia, door frames, doors etc). Your estimator can determine this by visual inspection or help determine your preferences.
Choosing the Colour
The final decision is colours. Clients do not need to choose a colour prior to getting an estimate and most do not. The key is to know if you are keeping the same colour or changing colour.
A simple repaint of the previous colour is easy with proper past info or through a sample from the house itself being matched. If you have decided to change colours it is important that you advise the contractor before he provides a quote as this can change the cost of a project significantly. We can provide multiple estimates if you are undecided on whether to change colour or not.
In general, most colours will cover in two coats over existing colours. There are times when 3 and 4 coats can be required. Making a house white from a very dark colour can be one of these cases and vice versa a dark colour from white can also be difficult. Whenever you are in doubt ask your contractor for advice and do a test patch when needed.
With all of this information, we can provide you with a quote that reflects your needs for the exterior painting of your home.
