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Should I Get Interior Painting Before I Sell My Home?

Sat, 16 Jun 2018 23:12:00 GMT

Selling a home can be exciting, as it is often the first step towards a new home that is full of potential and aspirations. However, it can also be a time in a homeowner’s life that is extremely stressful due to the many decisions and the massive amount of preparation that goes into getting a home ready for a sale. Saying goodbye to a home can also be emotional due to the memories that people tend to attribute to their residence, which makes added stress an absolute nightmare. One of the main questions that homeowners ask themselves when setting up their home for sale is if they should invest in interior painting before putting the property on the market. They often hesitate when making this decision because it can be difficult to determine if the increase in home value will be worth the initial expense and trying to figure this out on your own can be frustrating. Below are a few guidelines to help you make a decision that is in your best interest and will hopefully take some stress off your mind!

The Appeal of your Home

When a homeowner is ready to sell, a key concept to keep in mind is that the general appeal of their home is of utmost importance. The housing market is bursting with gorgeous homes and perhaps there are nicer looking homes on the market within the same price range you are hoping to get for your property. In this situation, a buyer might choose a fresh, new looking interior over a bigger yard or other redeeming qualities of your home. In order to beat out the competition and make an unforgettable first impression on buyers, adding a fresh coat of paint to the interior is a huge advantage and can help sell your home faster. Waiting months on end for a sale to go through is exhausting and can make finances tight. Keep in mind that buyers can be nervous too, so don’t let old paint be a reason to dislike your home or to try and barter on the price.

The Color Scheme

Have you painted your home in colors that really reflect your personality? Or perhaps you haven’t painted your home at all, but love the charm of old paint or eras gone by? Unfortunately, most buyers are not going to love your style choices as much as you do. In fact, it is shown that neutral colors and subtle patterns are the best choice when selling a home, so that the new buyers can picture decorating the house to suit their own personal tastes. Having too much personal flare and style can actually put off a potential buyer because the house just won’t feel like it could be their own without a lot of work. Also, a new paint job will make your home more modern and fresh feeling, which always leaves a good impression. As an added bonus for homeowners who have a hard time selling due emotional attachments, a fresh coat of paint can help wash away that feeling of nostalgia when you look at rooms that you once had painted or designed.

The Investment

At first, the cost to repaint might seem like it isn’t worth it, but if buyers negotiate your sale price because they see a need for total repainting or even renovating, then you really aren’t saving any money at all. In the end, repainting before they buyer sets foot in your home is always a wise decision because waiting to paint until a few buyers have lost interest in your home means that you could have lost a perfectly good buyer for no reason. Who knows when another interested person is going to come along? It is crucial that you don’t lose buyers over small details. Some homeowners decide to paint their home themselves in order to cut costs, but the reality is that an amateur will not be able to get the home ready as quickly or create as nice of a finished product as the professionals can. There is also a risk of the new paint job looking sloppy, which will actually be worse than leaving the home as it was originally.

To summarize, professionals are able to get your home ready for sale quickly, professionally, within budget and will certainly know how to make your home look its absolute best. That way, the very first potential buyers of your home, who are often the most interested of the buyers you will meet, will fall in love at first sight and pay what you know your home is truly worth. Selling your home faster by letting professionals take care of the esthetics is an excellent option and definitely takes a lot off your mind during such a busy time!

The post Should I Get Interior Painting Before I Sell My Home? appeared first on Wall 2 Wall Painting & Services .

What to Expect When you Hire a Professional Painting Company

Thu, 17 May 2018 01:27:00 GMT

Hiring a professional to work on your home is always a new and exciting venture. However, when you have no idea what to expect, the whole process can get a little daunting. Should you get a quote upfront, or do you wait until the job is complete? What services can you expect to have included? A bunch of questions will likely fill your mind, but there is really no need to worry. As long as you are working with a reputable company in your area you can rest assured that no obstacle will be too great.

How Do Professional Painting Companies Charge?

When working with professionals, you will often start off with a quote for the services that you need completed and come up with an agreement for payment. Shopping around for different quotes isn’t frowned upon, but do make sure that you voice all of your requests when you ask the painters to come up with a quote for you. Otherwise, adding small details throughout the job could add up to more than you were planning on. For example, if you want to paint all four walls of your kitchen, it is necessary to let the painters know if all four walls will be the same color and if you had any patterns or two-tone ideas in mind. Adding this detail later could actually cost more than asking for it upfront, since the painters may begin to prepare the room to be painted a certain way and then become obligated to start parts of the job over to accommodate your new ideas. It may be easy to forget some questions, but most painters will ask you what you want and what you don’t. So, just be prepared with a clear mental image of what you want the final product to be so that your quote is as accurate as possible.

What if I Have Rough Walls?

Professional painters are used to painting all kinds of surfaces and can definitely handle smoothing out your walls and most other surfaces before painting. Surface preparation is key to the final job looking its best and professional painters know this all too well. Depending on how damaged your walls may be (from hanging picture frames, bumps with chairs, or simply age), your painters will let you know how much preparation is required and if the damage to your walls is beyond what a coat of paint can fix. For example, you cannot expect painters to get rid of that pesky water leak that ruined your last paint job or to make your walls straight if your house is built crooked. However, painters can advise you about how to hide some flaws of your home through color choice or paint style.

Is Peeling and Discoloration Going to be a Problem?

Perhaps the last paint job that you did only looked good for about a year and then it started to peel or change color. Peeling can happen when the surface isn’t prepared well enough or if the products you used were no good. Skipping the primer is a common mistake that homeowners make, but it will cost you in the long run because you need to constantly redo your work. Professionals have access to better materials and can provide better durability and resistance against chipping, peeling and discoloration.

What if I Have a Complicated Design in Mind?

If you have chosen a style from a magazine that is particularly complex, then hiring a professional is going to be the best decision that you have ever made. Make sure to provide a drawing or a photo of what it is that you want and where you would like the painting to happen. This way, there is less room for misunderstandings that could leave you disappointed or behind schedule. Not only are professional painters able to make your dreams come to life, but they will also make sure that the final product is neat, crisp, and they won’t paint your furniture accidentally!

Do Painters Only Paint the Interior of my Home?

If you are hiring a professional painting company, don’t be shy to ask about having more than just the interior painted. These are the best people to have paint your siding, fence, patio or garage. Perhaps your shutters need a fresh coat of paint or your garden shed has seen better days? It is a great idea to ask about these services while you are getting a quote for the rest of your home. It is possible that you could save a bit of money by having it all done at once since buying small quantities of paint can be costly and you might as well have it done while the equipment and qualified painters are already on site.

Your expectations when hiring a professional painting company should be that you will receive a high-quality paint job that is completed with all the best products, no messy edges and that the job will be completed significantly faster than you could ever hope to do on your own. Give yourself a break and let professionals handle every tricky aspect of painting a run-down or outdated room. By obtaining a quote in advance and having a clear design in mind, you are guaranteed to be satisfied with the results of a reputable painter’s work.

The post What to Expect When you Hire a Professional Painting Company appeared first on Wall 2 Wall Painting & Services .

Commercial Painting FAQs

Mon, 16 Apr 2018 23:17:00 GMT

Painting a commercial space is a completely different experience from painting a residential area for many reasons. While sometimes homeowners take it upon themselves to paint their homes interior and exterior, when it comes to a business property it is highly recommended that you hire a team of commercial painting professionals to do it for you.

The process for painting a commercial space is different because the needs of a commercial location are unique. You need a paint job done that isn’t going to interfere with your day to day business practices and can be done on a tight schedule. You need a paint job that is done to company and commercial standards in a space that has the potential to be much larger than a typical residential job. And you need a job that will stay within budget.

Despite the difficulties of such a job, painting your commercial space is beneficial to your business because it can give it an immediate boost in appeal in a short time with a decent amount of cost. While the appearance of your business is important, painting it can also increase cleanliness and better protect your walls, or help you to reach a higher set of quality standards.

Why hire professional commercial painters?

Hiring professionals for your commercial painting jobs is beneficial to you. Hiring a professional team means you and your workers can go about your jobs while someone else worries about the painting. Sometimes commercial painters will even come in outside of work hours to tackle the job. In this sense, it’s very time efficient. Hiring professionals also means that your project will be done professionally – this means proper preparation, proper application and a quality finish.

If you hire professionals for your commercial property, you have nothing to worry about. This means you don’t have to worry about fumes, heights, mess or any of that. All you have to worry about is hiring the right team – one that is committed to efficiency and quality.

But it isn’t every day that one in a commercial setting needs to hire a team of professional commercial painters or decide whether or not it’s time to paint their exterior or interior. This can make it seem like it’s a difficult job to do because you want to make sure you’re painting at the right time, for the right reasons and that you’re hiring someone that will do the best work for your business. To help you make it all work, here are some frequently asked questions so you know you’re going about your commercial painting venture the right way.

Why should I paint my commercial space?

As noted above, a fresh paint job can instantly bring new life to your business. It gives your commercial area a fresh feel by giving it a new look, covering old imperfections like scratches and marks. Your paint job is an easy way to project the desired image of your company to your customers. This gives your business a chance to receive a second look from potential customers, making those important first impressions into lasting ones. Why shouldn’t you attract new business with a new, fresh professional look? And it’s long been known that the colors of a place can affect mood, so you can switch it up for different innovative effects.

A well-done commercial paint job can also bring new life to your employees as well – studies show that the physical appearance of your interior can affect employee productivity levels. Physical environment has long affected people’s behavior whether that’s emotional, physical or mental. A place that feels old and run down is not going to promote feelings of happiness and efficiency. Lastly, a fresh paint job can increase the value of your building, so why not?

When should I paint my commercial space?

When it comes to the exterior of your business, the climate around you can greatly affect how it looks. And every business owner knows that the appearance of the outside of your business can be the making or breaking point when it comes to gaining new customers. If the exterior of your business looks rundown and shabby, you’re not going to have a lot of people coming in for business. To counteract this, commercial painting is clearly the way to go, but when should you do this?

The easiest way to know when you should paint your commercial space is to just look. How does your building look right now? Does it look like it’s in good shape or does it look like it’s falling apart? Chances are when your building needs it you’ll be able to tell with the naked eye. If there is cracking, blistering or chalking, it needs to be repainted. The same goes for mildew and algae. These failings in your current paint can lead to damage to your exterior surface and those damages can lead to expensive repairs. Avoid it altogether and get your paint touched up regularly.

How do I hire someone to paint my commercial space?

Hiring someone to paint your commercial space may seem daunting, but it’s actually not that bad. Get some recommendations or hope online and check out places like the Better Business Bureau and Angie’s list. Look for a reputable business that’s been around for a while with lots of reviews. Get some references and follow up on them, check out previous jobs to see how they turned out. Get a couple of bids and compare them to see what works best for your needs but be wary of prices too high or too low, they should all be pretty consistent with one another.

After you’ve narrowed it all down, call these companies and ask them about their company, about their process, and about how they’ll work with and for you. Ask them about warranties. Ask them about their hours and how long the job will take. Make sure they’re licensed and insured. Make sure they tell you how the job will be carried out (the scope of the work), how they’ll communicate with you throughout and then make sure they give you all of this information in writing.

What else should I know about commercial painting?

You deserve a company that is willing to work with your company to the best of their ability. Get a consultation/estimation and feel them out. Make sure they are communicative and on the same page as you so that you don’t end up feeling unsatisfied with the job. If you aren’t confident with the company, don’t hire them because your commercial property should come first to them and you. Also don’t just go with the lowest bid because that is likely an indication that something is not being done right. Do your research and make sure you’re hiring a reputable company that is going to give you a quality, well-timed and executed commercial paint job. Make sure they’re using high quality tools and paint so that your job will last a long time before they have to return to paint it again. Ask any and all questions that you have before you do any hiring. The appropriate time to get to know your commercial painters are before you hire them and not after they’ve already taken your money and begun painting your property. Above all, know that if you choose carefully, your commercial paint job will give you definite, lasting results.

If you have any additional questions about your commercial painting project or would like an estimate contact us here and we’ll be in touch directly.

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4 Common Misconceptions About Hiring a Painting Company

Thu, 15 Mar 2018 22:47:00 GMT

Hiring a painting company is one of the best decisions that a homeowner can make. In most cases, it is a quick way to make your home look amazing without undergoing major repairs. Nothing looks worse than a messy paint job or a paint job that beings to fade and peel after only a few months. Even though hiring professionals is a great idea, there are many common misconceptions that first-time customers might have. Below are the five most common misconceptions about paint companies and how you can deal with each scenario so that you know what to expect and have the most positive experience possible!

Hiring Painters is too Expensive

Don’t fall into the trap of believing that professionals are outside of your price range. Sure, the paint itself at the local hardware store might be on sale and seem more attractive to you than the thought of hiring a crew to come in, but don’t forget that there is much more to painting that simply buying the paint. Furniture needs to be moved and covered with drop sheets, cleaning and sanding surfaces needs to be done and masking as well as tiny repairs in the surfaces to be painted are also required before you can even touch a paintbrush or roller! By the time you purchase all of your own equipment and materials (that you will likely never use again) you have already spent a fair bit of money and there is still a great deal of your own time that has to be invested as well. Not only have you purchased all the equipment, but you likely haven’t purchased professional quality supplies, which means that the final product will not last as long or be as professional looking, no matter how hard you try.

Hiring a Professional Should Cost the Same for Me As My Neighbor

Just because your neighbor has a home that is just about the same size as yours doesn’t mean that the cost to hire a professional painter will be exactly the same. The price you are charged for professional painting will vary greatly depending on your specific needs, the colors and types of paint you have chosen as well as the general condition of your home. Also, the style of painting that you choose can cause a price difference as well. For example, if you have ceiling moldings and various door moldings that need to be painted separately from your walls or you have chosen to paint your walls with a neat pattern or color, chances are that you will be paying more that someone who opted to paint everything plain white. Also, if your walls need some minor touch ups, perhaps to hide old nail holes or dents, then professionals will likely need to take time for this as well. Reputable professionals are usually willing to provide quotes before the work begins, so you can have an idea of the total cost without relying on what your neighbor paid.

You Can Save Money by Buying the Materials Yourself

When looking for a way to cut down on costs, buying the material on your own and then providing it to the painters that you hire seems like a good compromise at first glance. However, professional painters have access to products that are not available for sale to the public and can get these products at a reasonable price. These products are more durable, tend to have more vibrant pigments and will likely come with some kind of quality guarantee. By buying your own materials, you run the risk of choosing a product that just won’t last, or worse, you could end up buying a defective paint that takes days and days to dry or just peels off. It is also important to consider that professionals are aware of which products work well together and which ones don’t. Even the kind of masking tape you buy is important. The cheap store brands might leak and give you rough edges, whereas the professionals would have nice, crisp lines thanks to their superior products and expertise. It’s honestly not worth your time and effort and buying your own materials probably won’t save you very much anyways.

You Have to Move Out All Your Belongings When It’s Time to Paint

One of the best aspects of hiring a professional painting company is that you aren’t left with a huge mess afterward and you certainly don’t need to move all of your furniture and belongings out of the house. Professionals are used to working around furniture and know how to protect your property from paint spills and mishaps. When attempting to paint a room yourself, some furniture would very likely get damaged in the process because buying all the necessary drop sheets and finding someone to help you move furniture would be troublesome at best. Overall, you just can’t beat a professional when it comes to painting your home!

All in all, hiring a professional painting company is not something that needs to cause you worry or distress. It is actually quite the opposite since your life will be so much easier when you let professionals handle all the details of what can sometimes be a very complex job. Hiring painters will save you money, time, frustration and will keep your furniture and personal belongings safe. Don’t make the mistake of taking the DIY route on this one, hire a professional near you and enjoy your beautifully painted home in no time at all!

The post 4 Common Misconceptions About Hiring a Painting Company appeared first on Wall 2 Wall Painting & Services .

How to prepare an interior room for painting

Tue, 13 Feb 2018 23:18:00 GMT

Painting the interior walls is a smart way to alter the appearance of your rooms with color. It will enhance and beautify your home without you having to work hard or put any effort. Most people try to DIY, or they can hire professionals and they will take care of the task. When it comes to preparing a room for painting, here is a quick guide to explain the process.

Get few drop cloths

They come from various kinds of materials. You can pick out the canvas drop cloth because they are really hard-wearing and permeable so you can use them again and again. The other option you have is plastic. It is a fair choice because it is tough, but it is not absorbent. It will not be able to absorb spills. If you are looking for the most cost-effective kind, pick out newspapers for the task. You can use them not only for floors but furniture and cabinets.

Empty the room

Experts will not want to trip over tables and chairs for painting. Get rid of the furniture from the interior room beforehand so that the task becomes easy and there will be no spilled paint on your furniture. To guarantee that your tables and chairs remain in decent condition, bring them to the room after the painting is over. Another important thing to consider is that you are taking this measure to protect your furniture from the paints. While moving them to other room or the hallway do not damage them. Think about renting a storage unit or storage container temporarily while you work. If there is something you cannot take out of the room, it will be wise to place in the middle so that it does not come in contact with the walls. Be sure to use lots of newspaper to cover all over it.

Secure your floor

The next important thing after the furniture is the floor. Whether it is a hardwood or carpet floor, take measures to protect it even before you begin painting. For this task, the newspaper might not be sufficient. You can have to use drop cloths that will spread out through the whole floor of the room. For this, a professional-style drop cloth should cover the entire room. As mentioned before, plastic is the secondary option but not a suitable one. It is not preferable, but it is cost-effective to select plastic sheeting. The superior option is a professional grade or a heavy canvas drop cloth that will safeguard against tumbles and splashed of paint. The floor will be entirely clean and tidy.

Focus on the wall

The next thing you want to do is take down wall hangings so you can paint on the entire surface. Use storage bin and bubble wraps to secure them and keep out of the way. The most common thing people have hanging are the clocks. Be sure that you are storing everything properly.

Clean the wall

If you are looking for hi-gloss sheen it is important that the wall is clean or else, it will expose the imperfections after you finish the work. Are you thinking, what is the point of cleaning when it will be painted and look brand new? You should know that blank wall will get you the best results. Murky blotches or oil can expose themselves even though the layer of paint. They will affect the property of the color and change its uniformity. Utilize light detergent and water to clean the walls. For rough smudges or stains, like kitchenette grease or grime stains, experts rely on trisodium phosphate. After mixing it with bleach, it will be able to remove mildew and other fungal stains before you start to paint.

Masking for painting is also essential because you cannot take the trim and moldings out from the room before the painting. To protect them from getting spills, you have to rely on painter’s tape. You cannot use newspapers or any other materials in this case as they will not be sufficient. The type of tape you are going to use for inside masking matters depends on the material. Take into account the materials it requires to obey and far ahead be detached from, and when it will be taken away. The masking tape can be effective at attaching plastic or paper to walls. Its breadth differs from three-fourth of one inch to two inches. The material has substantial sticking power and after an hour or so it will be tough to get it off the surface. Another fabulous substitute is the painter’s tape. It is easily removable, so you do not have to worry about the painting.

Clear up some space

It is a must that you have some space while they work. You cannot store their things outside during working. For any work, people need a proper amount of space, and you cannot restrict anyone from using the area they deserve. There will be rollers, brushes and paint cans. You cannot expect to keep painting supplies out of the room.

These are the steps you need to take to prepare your interior room while thinking of painting. Rather than doing it yourself, you can hire professionals that will take care everything and make sure that your home looks beautiful, just like you imagined. Before beginning any of these steps, know why you need to carry them out. If you are preparing your room beforehand, the paint will be even and smooth. It will be beautiful, and your furniture and other belongings will be safe from spills.

The post How to prepare an interior room for painting appeared first on Wall 2 Wall Painting & Services .

4 Questions to ask before you get interior painting

Fri, 19 Jan 2018 03:48:00 GMT

When it comes to your home, you’ve got to be conscious and knowledgeable of whom you’re letting in to do work. If you don’t ask some questions before you hand over your interior paint job, you may end up with extra fees, a ton of unexpected cleaning, or a badly executed paint job that you’ll want to be redone right away. But don’t let that scare you away from hiring someone to paint your interior; you just have to ask the right questions first.

Interior paint jobs can be done for a number of reasons. Maybe you just want to freshen up your home for your own purposes or maybe you want to update it to sell it at a better price. Whatever the reasons it’s done for, an interior paint job is also one that has to be done right as it’s one that you have to live with. You probably know the easiest way to do this is by hiring a professional interior painter and letting them deal with it.

But like we already agreed, you can’t hire just anyone. If you don’t know much about the process of interior painting and hiring contractors, it would be easy to get overwhelmed by the choices involved. You have to decide on everything from your paint color to who it is that’s going to be doing the work.

Once you ask the right questions and hire the right people, they can help you worry about paint colors and everything else. But you really have to start with who to hire. Below we have the questions you should ask to make sure you end up with a professional interior painter who will do your job right.

1. Do they have a portfolio or references they can show you?

This is something that can be fairly easy to come by via social media sites. Often a business that has been around for a while and does a good job will have something to show for it. Reputations exist for a reason and the reasons why you would ask about this are pretty self-explanatory. You shouldn’t hire someone who can’t show you examples of their previous work.

Without those examples, you really don’t know what it is you’re getting in to. You don’t know if the work will be quality or mediocre. Guarantees and words don’t mean much if there isn’t actual work to back it up. If someone can’t show you examples, hire them at your own risk. If you can’t see what their completed work looks like how do you know that it will stand up to your standards?

Before you hire someone, know that if they’re based in your area they should have customers nearby that have reviewed their services and/ or posted pictures of the work. They should also have some pictures accessible on their website. These should be high-quality pictures with workers working in them so you know they’re real and not just stock photos. This is easy evidence of a job well done.

You might also use these references to gauge (or just ask) how long they’ve been in business. If a company is new they may not have as much of a standing, but a company that has been around for a while is one that is good and has been in your community. If they haven’t been in business long this isn’t to say don’t hire them, you should just be a little more thorough to make sure they’ll be around long enough to see your job through to completion.

2. Are they licensed and insured?

If you don’t ask any other questions, at least ask this one. A big benefit of hiring interior painters is that you don’t have to worry about any issues that may arise during or from the job. For example, most ladder accidents that happen occur on a ladder between two and six feet tall. You may not think it but problems and injuries do happen during the painting process, and that’s why licensing and insurance programs exist in the field.

If you don’t hire a painter you could hurt yourself, so you hire a painter. But what if the painter hurts himself? If it’s on your property, you’re responsible. That is, unless they’re insured. That’s why you need to make sure any painter you hire is licensed and insured. Ask your interior painting company is they have both liability insurance and worker’s compensation insurance.

Liability insurance means if there are damages done by the painter or if something happens to your home, you will not be expected to front those costs. Worker’s compensation insurance means that the painter that hurts himself is taken care of by the company, not by you. So when incidents happen, and they do, these two things protect you and the team you’ve decided to hire.

3. What products do they use? What is their prep process?

One thing you want to know about the interior painters you hire is what kind of paint they use. You want to know that they’re using the best paint available and you want to know what they personally know about it. They should be able to tell you why their paint will ensure good, long lasting results that you won’t have to paint over for a long time. Make sure they don’t sacrifice quality of paint for the price because then you know they’ll skimp on other things as well.

Next ask about their preparation process. This is arguably this most important step of the painting process and if your chosen interior painters don’t do it correctly, it could compromise your entire painting project. If you don’t ask and they do the job, when it starts peeling right after you won’t be very happy having to fork over more money than you wanted to spend in the first place. Be sure to ask about their clean-up process too, it doesn’t hurt to know.

Then after you’ve asked these questions, get it in writing. Before you get started a good interior painter will write up a document guaranteeing the quality of the work, what they will be doing and the time constraints for the project. They’ll also include everything from the estimate of the project to the materials used and the amount of preparation work. You should feel free as a homeowner to ask for such a document.

4. How do you feel about it?

This is a question for you to ask not your painters, but yourself. One of the most important things to keep in mind when it comes to who is doing your interior paint job is to trust your gut. If you don’t feel you would be comfortable having someone working in your home, find someone else. If you’ve asked every question you can think of and you still don’t feel satisfied, don’t do it. At the end of the day, it’s your home and you have to live in it. For this reason, ask any and every question that you might have. Make sure someone will be available should you have any questions during the process.

Make sure you feel good about the price you are paying. The saying “you get what you pay for” is a saying for a reason so keep that in mind. When you’re paying for someone who is licensed, with the skill and experience needed to do your job properly, the lowest bid is probably not going to be the best answer.

Deciding shouldn’t be too hard

Once you’ve asked these questions, you’ll generally be in good hands. It’s often a good idea to talk to a few different people and get a few different bids and estimates. Don’t base your ultimate decision on price alone, and be wary of anything that doesn’t make you feel comfortable. Find an interior painting company that will give you satisfactory answers to all of your questions.

We hope that this list can help you decide what questions to ask your interior painter before you get started and that it can help you know what to expect from a professional company. If you have any questions, please contact us here or call us directly.

The post 4 Questions to ask before you get interior painting appeared first on Wall 2 Wall Painting & Services .

Why is surface prep so important for interior painting?

Sun, 17 Dec 2017 23:05:00 GMT

Typically you won’t have to paint your interior too often but when it’s time for a new paint job, you just know. If it’s done right, it should last. You might think that painting the interior of your home just consists of buying the best-warrantied paint available and applying multiple coats.

In all honesty, the success of your paint job can depend greatly on how well your surface is prepped. More than half the time, premature painting issues stem from incorrect surface preparation. We want to help you avoid this issue. Let us use our expertise to tell you why surface preparation should be done and how to do it.

What is surface preparation?

Surface preparation is just what it sounds like. It’s preparing a surface for painting. Surface prep is cleaning your surface. It is scraping, repairing and sanding your surface. It is also applying a quality primer. As simple as it sounds, it isn’t.

The cleanup consists of removing built-up dirt, grease, mildew and everything else from the area. This may not always be easily seen or easily cleaned. Old paint and uneven edges must be scraped away. Cracks and holes need to be filled and then the entire surface sanded to form an even and smooth surface. A primer must be chosen that works best with the material and evenly applied.

It is a job that can be time-consuming as well as difficult. Many home-owners just don’t know how to do it, so they don’t.

Underestimating the importance of surface prep is a bad idea. This is one of the most important steps for your interior painting job. Whether the surface to be prepped is fresh and new or old and previously painted, your surface preparation job is the key to making both versions perfect for your home.

Why should I prepare the surface?

So now you know what surface prep is, but you’re probably wondering why you should do it. There are four in particular that we’d like to tell you about. So, why should you prep your surface? Simple:

Adhesion

Paint adhesion is one of the biggest concerns when it comes to interior painting. This is the number one reason surface preparation is so important. Surface preparation gives you a surface that is clean, repaired and durable- the best foundation to bond with your paint.

If your surface isn’t clean, chances are the paint won’t last very long. Paint won’t bond with grease, oil, chemicals, and dirt. Even residual water or materials from cleaning can compromise your paint. And it will flake right off when attached to old, lingering paint chips. If it’s just going to come right back off, why paint it in the first place?

Surface and Stain Sealing

Surfaces that are primed and sealed will have an even appearance that may not have been there before. This will help the area to be painted to have a more even absorption rate, allowing your paint to dry with a more uniformed appearance. This helps the color and sheen of your paint to come through more easily. If an area is not well primed, your area may not look the way that you wanted it to.

Additionally, surfaces that have to be stained should be sealed so they don’t damage the fresh paint.

Durability and Investment

All of these reasons help make your paint more durable. It bears repeating here that well-prepared surfaces extend the life of your paint. This can be a money saver. Quality house paint can be expensive. If the job is done right the first time and done to last, that’s less money you have to spend on paint. It’s also less time and less aggravation.

Aesthetics

Lastly, the aesthetics! It goes without saying that the best looking paint job is the one that has been the best prepared. Once the paint has dried, poorly done repairs and uneven surfaces are very noticeable.

Surface Prep – A Necessary Step!

As you can see, for your interior painting job, surface preparation can make it or break it. Making sure it’s done properly can help to ensure that your invested time and money are worth it, that your paint job will last as long as it’s supposed to. Skimping out on it because you don’t know about it or because it’s cheaper not to do it will cause you more problems in the long run. Buying the most expensive paint and using the newest techniques can’t save you from a necessary but skipped surface preparation job.

You have come to the right place to get your surface prep job started off right. We’ll see to every minute detail of the preparation and then continue on to give you the paint adhesion job of your dreams. We have the knowledge and experience that you need.

We are here to answer any questions you might have about your interior painting process. Give us a call at 760.535.4126 .

The post Why is surface prep so important for interior painting? appeared first on Wall 2 Wall Painting & Services .

8 Questions to ask before you get exterior painting done

Thu, 16 Nov 2017 23:25:00 GMT

The way the outside of your home looks can say a great deal about you as the homeowner. A good first impression is always an important one and that’s why you want people to drive past your home and see nothing but curb appeal. Not to mention that the look of your home can affect its resale value. This is one of the reasons you might want to consider an exterior paint job. Or maybe you want to add elemental protection to your home.

Whatever the reasoning, the easiest way to achieve these goals is to hire exterior painters and let them worry about it. But it isn’t that simple. You don’t want to hire just anybody.

If you don’t know much about the process of exterior painting it won’t be hard to get overwhelmed by the choices with everything from available paint choices to who it is that’s going to be doing the work. To help you figure out the best painting companies to bring your exterior painting job to life we have compiled a list of questions to ask before you hand over the reins.

Are they licensed?

This one is a big one. Any painter you hire should be insured, especially if they are working on the outside of your home. Typically, you are going to want a company that has both liability insurance and worker’s compensation insurance.

For you an exterior painting company being insured means that if something happens to your home, or if there are damages done by the painter, you will not be expected to front those costs. The worker’s compensation insurance means that if something happens to a worker, you aren’t responsible for those costs either. These two things protect both you the homeowner and whoever you choose to hire. These programs exist (and are important to have) because problems really do happen.

Do they offer a portfolio or references?

This one can is pretty self-explanatory. You don’t want to hire someone if they can’t show you examples of their previous work. This is because without those examples, you don’t know what you’re getting in to, or how quality the work actually is. How do you know if their work will be truly satisfactory to you if you can’t see it?

Today it is easy for exterior painters to have pictures of their work accessible for you. You’ll want to see high-quality pictures of workers working in them. This lets you know these are real pictures and not just stock photos. You’ll want to see evidence of a job well done.

There is also the fact that often customers will leave reviews online. Check those out to see the first-hand experiences of homeowner’s dealing with them.

How long has the painting company been in business?

This is mentioned because it is important to know that the business you are hiring has good standing within your community. If they have been around for a while, you know that they’ve amassed a reputation and will work hard to keep that reputation up. It makes it extremely less likely that they’re bad contractors who will skip out before your job is even done.

In addition, if they’ve been in business longer, the above question should be even easier for them to answer. With local exterior painting companies, you should be able to see their work in your community. If they haven’t been in business long this isn’t to say don’t hire them, you can still take a chance, but you’ll just want to be a little more thorough and conscious of what’s going on.

What kind of paint do they use?

The type of paint used can tell you a few things about your exterior painting contractor. First, you want them to use the best paint available to ensure good, long lasting results. Lower quality paints can dull over time and you don’t want to (and shouldn’t have to) have your walls painted again for a while after. You shouldn’t sacrifice quality of paint for a lower price. Secondly, you want to know what they know about the product.

A good exterior painter should know what works best for your project and what recommendations he can make about them. Experience counts here and they should be knowledgeable about the latest products to help you with your final decisions. Obviously, your exterior painter should know the materials he is using personally and why he is using them. If a painter uses specifics products, you should feel free to ask why. You want quality.

What is their preparation process?

If you know even a little bit about the painting, you know just how important proper preparation is for your exterior painting project. If painting preparation is not done correctly, it could compromise your entire job. Your paint could start peeling immediately or have an uneven appearance. With the money, you’ll be paying to have this done right, that probably wouldn’t make you very happy.

Exterior painting preparation includes cleaning the outside of the home and checking for any damages. Damages should be repaired, holes and cracks filled and sanded, peeling old paints scrapped away and removed. The exterior of your home should be primed and ready to go before paint is even thought about being applied to make sure you know what their process entails.

Be sure to also ask about their clean-up process, it doesn’t hurt to know.

Will they give you it to you in writing?

It’s important to know what the time constraints will be for your project before you get started. A good exterior painting contractor will often write up a document guaranteeing the quality of the work as well as what they will be doing and a timeline in which that will happen. It is also your right as the homeowner to ask for such a write-up.

This document includes all the specification you might want to know, from the estimate to the entirety of the project from the materials used to the amount of preparation work. This document should also alert you to any guarantees or warranties that are offered. Get everything in writing.

What does their bid look like?

When paying for someone to do work in your home, the cost is always going to be a concern. The saying “you get what you pay for” is a saying for a reason. Getting the lowest price should not be your only concern. When you’re paying for someone who is licensed, with the skill and experience needed to do your job properly, the lowest bid is probably not going to be the best answer. But this doesn’t mean you have to go with the highest price either.

It’s often a good idea to get a few bids and estimates. You’ll want the prices to be within a similar price range, or else something could be not right. Bids that are way low could be an indicator or shortcuts being taken. So, whatever you do, don’t base your entire job on the price or you might end up unhappy.

How do you feel?

One of the most important things to think about when it comes down to who is doing your exterior paint job, and one of the things that may be overlooked, is to trust your gut. If you don’t feel like you would be comfortable having someone working on your home, find someone else. If you’ve asked all of the questions above and you still don’t feel satisfied or confident in hiring them, don’t do it. It’s your home and at the end of the day, you are the one who has to live with whatever work has been done.

For this reason, whoever you consider hiring, make sure you ask them every question you have and that someone will be available to answer your questions every step of the way. You may be paying someone to do the work for you, but it is still your job, that you have to live with.

We work hard to make sure all of the above is taken into account and taken care of from the beginning of your exterior painting job to the completion. We hope that this list can help you decide what questions to ask your exterior painter before you get started. If you do have any other questions, please contact us here or call us directly.

The post 8 Questions to ask before you get exterior painting done appeared first on Wall 2 Wall Painting & Services .

6 Reasons to Invest in Interior Painting

Sun, 15 Oct 2017 21:00:00 GMT

For most people, our homes are our pride and joy. It’s something that we live in, day in and day out, so it only makes sense that we would try our best to make sure it is not only comfortable and livable but attractive to those who might visit it. We also try to make sure it’s attractive ourselves and our families, that it meets our standards of beauty.

Next, most of us also probably try to keep our homes as clean and neat as possible. Now both of these things, making a home attractive in addition to making it tidy, can be a little easier said than done. Failing into a rut in either of these things is honestly relatively easy; Life is busy, things get hectic and when you don’t have time these can be some of the first things to fall off of your to-do list. It happens. A home gets neglected in favor of more important things.

But something that can jump-start the state of your home and even get you out of these rough spots is something that most people surprisingly don’t think of: a simple interior paint job. You might think, well a little paint job won’t really be able to turn around the state of my home, and there you’d be probably wrong (unless you have some pretty major foundational issues or problems beyond cosmetic help.) It’s not that far of a reach to say that a well done interior painting job can change your life a decent amount.

Still not sure that it’s worth it? Take a look at our 6 reasons to invest in interior painting in San Diego, CA and then when you’re done trying to tell us that you’re not already ready to call the professionals in.

Because You Want to

The simplest reason to hire professionals to paint the interior of your home is because you want to. That’s it. You honestly don’t need a bigger reason than that. Painting a room can change it in a crazy way that you wouldn’t even expect. For example, taking your small, cramped bedroom from a dark brown color and painting it a lighter grey or neutral color with white ceilings can make it look bigger, and therefore less cramped.

So if you’ve ever felt like you hated the color or feel of a room and you want to change it, then go for it. It’s your home and you’ll only thank yourself for it later. The point of this section is to tell you that you can paint your interior just because you want to, even if that seems like a small, trivial reason. You can paint your interior for whatever reason you want. Keep that in mind the next time you think about painting.

Inexpensive Makeover

Out of all the things you could possibly do to update your home, or change it up, or whatever one of the cheapests thing is going to be for you to get an interior paint job. You don’t have to spend a fortune to have the interior of your home painted. It’s really not that expensive, and as you’ll see with our other reasons, the benefits here definitely outweigh the cost. As long as you’re careful in your selection of who you hire to do your interior painting, and you don’t just hire the first person you come across, it’s not going to cost you an arm and a leg.

And if it doesn’t cost you a lot, it definitely reinforces our previous reason of having interior painting done simply because you want it done. It being inexpensive means its affordable and that you don’t need a grand reason to do it.

Improve the Look

Changing the look of your home is easy. And improving the look of your home is just as easy as changing it. Giving your home an easy makeover that’s inexpensive via interior painting, can take your inner space and make it look and feel brand new again. A room, or rooms, that you’ve hated going into for whatever reason can be made beautiful, bright, open and airy, and become a room that you absolutely love to hang out in.

Interior painting can help you keep up with the latest aesthetic trends, bringing your home in to the present or maybe even just helping a new chair you brought to fit in more with the rest of the décor in the room. Interior painting can give you an interior that is unique to you, that no one in your area has, or it can just help you achieve a better visual effect. Interior painting just makes your home look better period.

Promotes Cleanliness

This may seem like a weird reason, or one that may seem rather unbelievable, but it’s true. Interior painting can help to improve the clean factor in your home. As time passes, your wall surfaces become dirty, dusty and faded.

Interior painting involves deeply cleaning the walls to let new paint adhere. So dirt and dust and stains and scratch marks and what have you? Gone, scrubbed away and/or covered by new paint. All of the old markings will be gone, and it will look like your home is brand new and you just moved in the day before.

New coats of paint can also reduce old odors, improving the air quality in a room. So a fresh, clean look and no smells? You’re going to feel a renewed energy to keep your home just as clean and odorless as it once was. And you’re also going to love being in all of your rooms again with that pleasant, comfy feel the cleanliness provides.

Necessary Upkeep

There are a lot of things that we think of as necessary upkeep for our homes. This ranges from regular daily cleanings to monthly repairs and general yearly upkeep. Did you know that taking care of the interior of your home’s walls is just as important as taking care of your exterior walls? Interior house painting is so beneficial to your home, and you can consider it to be a necessary, preventative form of upkeep.

First of all, painting, as we’ve said, entails cleaning beforehand. Removing dirt and grime from your interior frame helps to maintain your walls; keep them stronger longer, by removing materials that can cause wear and damage. Also when painting, damages are check for which can save you on costs in the future. Therefore, painting is a sure way to maintain your inner surfaces. Painting can also lower future remodeling costs, which is definitely something to keep in mind.

Raise the Retail Value

A big thing that can make or break a sale when trying to sell your home is when the last time it was painted was. In fact, most people trying to sell their homes paint them beforehand. It’s pretty widely known that a well-done interior painting job can raise the retail value of your home.

For as inexpensive as it is, that’s a great thing. Interior painting refreshes updates and enhances any home and these things only serve to give it a better selling point. A freshly painted home is one that is cleaner and more defended against future issues, which also increases the retail value. And if you’re not selling your home it’s also nice to note that a simple paint job can make your home look way more expensive than it is.

You’re really not losing here in any way, shape or form when you decide to have the interior of your home painted. It is a worthy invest and one you should look into doing right away. Give us a call and let us help you schedule it.

The post 6 Reasons to Invest in Interior Painting appeared first on Wall 2 Wall Painting & Services .

How often should the exterior of your home be painted?

Thu, 28 Sep 2017 22:15:00 GMT

Nothing can give the outside of your home a fresh look quite as quickly and impressively as a fresh coat of paint. Whether the paint on the exterior of your home is fading, chipping or cracking, it can bring down the curb appeal of your home. But if you’re looking to sell your home, or enjoy living there and just want to make it look nicer, exterior house painting is a job that needs to be done.

Besides wanting to know what season to do it in, another question that comes up often during the subject of exterior painting is how often you should do it. The answer to this question varies because it depends on a number of factors; such as the exterior finish of your home, your location and the quality of both the preparation and paint aspect of your last paint job.

Additionally, when deciding how often you should paint your home’s exterior, you might think about things like your personal preference, if you’ll be selling your home shortly after, or how much of the wood under the paint is exposed and vulnerable and how much upkeep you regularly do.

As with most issues that are home related, if you find a bunch of answers that could apply to you, but you still aren’t sure about your own situation, it’s always a good idea to consult with the local professionals. If you don’t know, with the subject being their job, they’ll know the effects of your specific location, exterior finish and previous job quality on your current need for a paint job.

Another note is that if you seek out the help of professionals, not only to ask about when to paint your exterior, but to have them paint it, you can usually go a bit longer in between repainting.

But before we get to that point, let’s take a look at the things that can affect the lifespan of your paint job and see what the general consensus is.

Exterior Finish

How often you need to repaint your building can depend mostly on what was used to construct it. Some materials can go longer in between paintings while others will need to be painted more often. For example, wood siding should be repainted fairly often, but a surface like cement can withstand stress for a longer period of time.

If you’re looking for a general rule of thumb for different housing materials with the most benefit to you and your home, wood siding should be repainted every 3 to 7 years, or stained every 4. Aluminum is fine to be repainted every 5 years, and stucco homes can last from 7 to 10 years before they’ll need another paint job.

Some other materials won’t need to be touched up as often, with cement fiber siding needing painting only once in between 10 to 15 years. Your unpainted bricks don’t need to be touched up other than the trim. For them a simple cleaning will do, but if you do decide to paint them it will last anywhere from 15 to 20 years before you have to repaint it.

And again, if you don’t really know what kind of materials your exterior consist of, call the professionals and have them come do a free consultation; they’ll know what you’re dealing with.

Location of Your Home

Another factor that plays a large part in how long you can go in between exterior paintings is the location of your home and the weather that it deals with on a daily basis. Location is important to your home because you want to be in a good neighborhood and close to good schools and work. It’s also important because where your home is determining what kind of weather you’ll have on a regular basis and what kind of weather will happen to the exterior of your home.

For example, the sun can be a major issue when it comes to how long you can get away with not repainting the exterior of your home. Ultraviolet radiation can quickly fade your paint, bleach your paint and cause a decent amount of chemical bound breakdown. So living in hot, sunny areas, like here in San Diego, California, with an unsheltered home, your paint won’t last as long before fading, cracking and peeling and it will be prone to bubbling.

Other climate conditions like extreme humidity, frequent rain and storms, blowing sand, or salty ocean breezes will also quickly age your paint causing it to soften and swell. Living here requires a lot more exterior upkeep than elsewhere.

Quality of the Job

The quality of your previous paint job can affect the need for your home to be repainted in two ways. The first way it can speed up the need to repaint is if a job is done that isn’t quality or didn’t use quality materials. The difference between flaky and peeling 4 year old paint jobs and jobs done 8 years ago that still look brand new are the quality of the paint used, the preparation that went into the job beforehand and the maintenance work that’s been done. (Yes, exterior paint jobs require maintenance.)

The second way it can affect your need for repainting is if the current job is currently taken care of before having the new one done. A layer of grime between your new paint job and your home won’t allow the paint to properly adhere to your exterior walls.

Preparation is a big deal when it comes to long-lasting, beautiful paint jobs. This means old paint, dirt, grease and everything else is removed from the house. Repairs must be made and a primer applied. Then in good weather quality, fade resistant paint has to be applied with multiple coats.

Sometimes if you can’t get your home painted right away, the quickest parts to show wear and tear can be easily be painted for a quick refresher. These parts are the trim around windows and doors and will need repainting every couple of years.

Personal Preference

Obviously painting your home regularly as recommended will do you and your home’s exterior good, But if you want to do it sooner than recommended that’s fine too. There are many reasons why you might decide to not wait until your home needs a definite painting. Maybe you’re preparing to sell your home and a different color will sell better, or maybe you want to increase your home’s curb appeal by painting it within the most recent color trends. Regardless of what your reasons may be, you are the homeowner and you’re well within your rights to paint your home whenever you feel like it.

Exterior Painting Questions

Hopefully, now you have a general idea of how often you should have your exterior painted and to be honest, that’s about all that you need to know. In looking for and hiring professionals to take care of your exterior painting needs, you can easily ask them questions about how often to repaint your exterior with knowledge of your home and its own set of unique requirements. If your home is looking like it needs a fresh coat of paint, give us a call and set up a free exterior painting estimate. You can call us directly at 760.535.4126 or contact us online here .

The post How often should the exterior of your home be painted? appeared first on Wall 2 Wall Painting & Services .

When should I repaint the full interior of my home?

Tue, 15 Aug 2017 22:10:00 GMT

Homeowners have a lot on their plates when it comes to their homes. Often that comes with a lot of questions. This is especially true when it comes to painting. If you search for information on when to paint the exterior of your home, you’ll find a large number of sources dedicated to the subject.

But what about the interior of your home? Search for that and the information that comes back is surprisingly limited. There is a lot of how-to paint, but not when to paint. But don’t worry about that. We’ve got you covered.

Usually you paint a house by the room, and while that is certainly fine and certain situations might call for it, when is it the right time for you to paint the whole interior area of your home? It’s not something too often considered, whether that’s because of the scope of the project being rather large or because people rarely, truly think of their walls appearance.

There is also to consider that whenever you do paint your interior, it involves moving the furniture in every room, cleaning the walls thoroughly of dirt, old nails, etc., applying a primer and then finally painting. Then it’s still not over because you get to put it all back.

It may sound like a lot but at the same time, it can be very much worth it. Giving your home a fresh paint job can make your home look like it’s brand new again, giving it a more modern look or simply refreshing what was already there. This works whether you’re doing so for your own purposes, or getting ready to sell, which brings us to the first reason.

When Selling Your Home

You should definitely paint your homes’ full interior when preparing it to be sold. Many homeowners will paint their home in neutral colors before they sell to: make the home look brand new, and to make potential buyers more comfortable instead of scared off by strong colors they don’t like, or colors that make the rooms dimensions appear different from what they actually are.

To buyers a tidy new paint job makes a great first impression, and you only get one of those. After the exterior paint is taken care of, the interior is just as important. Peeling, cracked paint tells buyers that the home hasn’t been taken care of and that there may be other issues beyond that first glance, but non-distracting, neutral colors can allow the buyers to visualize themselves living in your home.

So in the instance of selling your home, paint to modernize your home, paint to de-personalize your space, and paint to create a clean slate that your buyers can later make their own. If you aren’t selling your home and want to paint your interior for your own reasons, there are other appropriate times to do so.

When Keeping Your Home

If you’re painting your home for reasons other than selling, it immediately becomes a much more personal project. This is your space so whatever colors strike your fancy, those are the colors you can put on your wall. At the same time, you’ll have to live with it so be careful.

When painting the interior of your home, keep in mind though that if you want a long-lasting paint job, realistically some colors will always be popular while others will begin to look dated after a few years. Maybe the homeowners before you painted or wallpapered the master bedroom a bizarre color and that’s the reason you want to repaint. Updating your home and bringing it into the present presents a good time and opportunity to repaint.

Another good time to repaint your interior is after damages, or when your walls have gotten old, scuffed up and scratched. When your walls are beyond cleaning, a new paint job is easiest the way to go. Or maybe you’re just sick of the colors in your home and want to give it a quick make-over, a better color scheme, or an instant refresh. These are all good times to paint as well.

It’s Your Home

The fact of the matter is that it’s your home and you can paint it whenever you want. The exterior of your home can be tricky to time, due to weather/environment constraints, but the interior can be painted at almost any time, especially with indoor temperature control. Aside from our suggestions of when to repaint the interior of your home (when you’re selling, when it looks dated or damaged, when you’re tired of the color) you can honestly paint your home whenever you think you need it.

With proper preparation and a quality paint, your full interior paint job can last anywhere from 5-15 years. Paint when you feel it’s necessary, and make sure that it is done right so that you don’t have to do it again for a while. If you want to discuss the best time to paint the interior of your home with a professional, feel free to give us a call at 760.535.4126.

The post When should I repaint the full interior of my home? appeared first on Wall 2 Wall Painting & Services .

An Outline of the Exterior Painting Process

Sat, 15 Jul 2017 22:31:00 GMT

Painting the exterior of your home can be a big job, but it’s a job that has to be done. The benefits of painting your home though are well worth it; with an immediate boost of curb appeal and improved extended protection for your home from the elements. For a small price, you can easily make your home look like it’s brand new again.

A good paint job requires knowledge, careful preparation and attention to every little detail. Even a small home can require countless hours for proper preparation and immaculate execution. Even seemingly unimportant things like the weather have to be taken in to account.

You’ve got to be able to work confidently on and move around tall ladders, have the patience not to rush and a steady hand. Luckily for you and most other homeowners, you have the option to hire professionals to do all the work for you and give you one less thing to worry about.

DIY is not a bad thing in any case, but an exterior paint job is one that’s totally different from an exterior paint job. Here any mistakes can be seen by any passerby on the street and they can be more costly to make. Another thing to note is that doing an exterior paint job on your home by yourself is going to take a lot longer than it would a team of experienced professionals.

Whether you want to do it yourself, hire someone else to do it or just know how a good paint job is generally done, we’ve got you covered. This article will walk you through a quality paint job from beginning to end.

Cleaning

Your first step of preparation when it comes to an exterior painting job is obviously to choose your paint and gather your tools. If you hire professionals, you don’t need to worry about the tool part. But the initial step after this, and one of the most important is to clean the exterior of the house. Giving it a good pressure washing will remove any loose paint chips, dirt, grease, mold or grime. A garden hose is not going to do the type of cleaning that you need.

With generous amounts of eco-friendly home cleaners (to make sure the exterior truly gets cleaned), pressure wash the area to be painted in small sections and soak them thoroughly, starting at the ground and working your way up. Let it sit a moment to soak in, but not long enough to dry, before you rinse it all off again, working this time from the top on down.

Expect to get wet and expect to give the house ample time to dry. The washing isn’t a blast, but it is a crucial step.

Removing Paint

Pressure washing your home should remove a lot of the older flaky paint chips, but it’s not as easy as that and the next step is kind of monotonous. You’ll need a large curved scraper or blade and a smaller one for tighter, more detailed work. Here you scrape, scrape and scrape. Occasionally you’ll use a putty knife to grab paint your scrapers can’t get at or a hammer to push in or pull out loose nails.

The point of scraping is to remove all of the loose, unbonded paint, so ignore paint that is still sticking; often the only way to remove that kind of paint is to damage the surface, which is not what you want to do. Go with the grain with pressure, and lightly scrape against the grain after.

Realistically you aren’t going to be able to remove all of the paint yourself. That’s fine, there’s nothing wrong with that. Professionals or renovators should be able to or at least have the knowledge of how much to remove to provide the best available paint job.

Repairs

This is the part where you stop worrying about the paint and try to make sure you have a smooth surface before you start trying to apply your primer or paint. The craters and cracks and what not in your exterior walls from the years of weathering, the lack of protection from the old paint, or the result of you getting frustrated as you scrap, will need to be filled in and blended back in to the rest of the wall. So get out your siding spackle and trowel.

You’ll need to make sure you have exterior grade filler so that it will dry to withstand the elements. With your various putty knives, you’ll want to fill everything and anything in but don’t use too much or it’s just more work for you having to sand it off later. Let it dry and then come back and sand it later. Make sure you’ve got all of the visible areas especially taken care of and then you should be good to go. This is also a good time to see to any other potential trouble spots.

Prime

While you’re at it, for consistency at least, now is a good time to go around the exterior of the house and caulk it up. With the good caulk, we’re not cheaping out, generously apply it to cracks and around windows, door frames, chimneys and corner boards or any places the original caulk has shrunk. You can even put it in foundational cracks. Make them smooth as possible and don’t fill in any natural gaps so that the house can still vent.

Next, you can prime the house. Get the best primer available and have at it. Use a roller and a paint brush, but first test a small area and come back later to make sure it’s sticking; otherwise, you might have to clean again. Another step that you might want to do before this, though you can also do it after, is to cover everything that you don’t want paint on and tape your windows and doors. Go ahead and go drop cloth crazy.

Want to know another tricky part of exterior painting? Remove the downspouts. Label them so you know where they go. Move everything else as well – mailboxes, outdoor lights, bird feeders, hanging plants, etc. Move ground items too so you don’t have to step around them.

Paint

There may not seem like it but there is a lot that goes into the painting part of painting your home; from brush types (endless) to buckets, ladders, and technique. So we’ll hit the basics. Spray your paint or brush your paint, whatever works for you and paint shady sides first and avoid direct sun. When you paint go from left to right or vice versa, and then lower a level so you aren’t repainting over dry areas. How you paint deserves on your surface type so be sure you know what your siding entails and use quality paints with more than one coat.

Finally, after the whole house is painted, paint your trim and your doors. Then you can put back everything you took down. You can carefully inspect and do any necessary touch ups and then there is just one thing left to do. Now you have to clean up any mess you’ve made and pick up and put away your materials. Wipe up any paint that’s where it shouldn’t be and that’s it.

Then you’re done! We’re done. Isn’t it all so tiring just even thinking about it? Maybe we’ll let the professionals handle this one instead. They’ll be able to do the maintenance for you to so you don’t have to do it again anytime soon.

The post An Outline of the Exterior Painting Process appeared first on Wall 2 Wall Painting & Services .

Interior Painting FAQ | San Diego Interior Painting

Sat, 17 Jun 2017 00:23:00 GMT

Interior painting is one of those house projects that always ends up requiring more than the homeowner originally thought it would– whether that means more time, more paint, or more money. And this is especially true if you’re going to go the DIY route and paint your interior yourself. DIY can be tricky because obviously there’s a lot more going in to it than just hiring someone and handing over the reins. But the point of this isn’t to scare you away from DIY.

Although it’s strongly recommended that you hire professionals (because painting is their legitimate day job), at the end of the day all that matters is that the job is done right.

If you’re the average homeowner chances are you don’t spend a lot of your daily time painting your home’s inner surfaces and there’s nothing wrong with that. It just means that when it does come time for you to paint your interior or have it done for you, you might have some questions. Today you can hop on the computer and read a million articles, but you’re going to get a lot of differing opinions and bits of advice. If you have questions about interior painting, definitely speak to your local, professional interior painting company. We’ll be happy to help and that’s where you’ll find the best, proven knowledge.

But to hold you over until you can get us on the phone, we’ve put together a list of some of the more frequently asked questions about interior painting. The answers are simple and hopefully easy to understand so that no matter which route you go, DIY or hiring the professionals, you can get the process started right away. And don’t forget that if we don’t answer your question here that doesn’t mean that we don’t have an answer for you. Give us a call.

We’ve bolded the questions in case you want to skip right to the one that you have. But it could also be beneficial for you to read the whole piece, if only to have a firmer grasp on the interior painting process. We hope it helps.

Why Should I Paint My Interior?

People paint their interior for any number of reasons. In fact, you don’t even really need a reason. If you want to paint your home just for the sake of painting your home – go for it. When it comes to renovating and rejuvenating your home, painting is one of the easiest and most cost friendly ways. And as long as it’s done right, painting can make your home look brand new.

So if you’ve always hated the color of your walls or think they’re outdated, that’s a reason to paint them. Or you can paint your interior to match your decoration scheme, to modernize the room or to give it new feeling. Fresh paint promotes feelings of cleanliness, and different colors can make rooms feel bigger and airy or cozy and quaint. Fresh paint can protect you walls and when people are selling their homes, painting it can give the property values a rise. There’s more but basically, why not paint your walls?

Should I DIY or Hire Professionals?

Often when people decide to start a DIY project they’re doing it because want to save money. But if the job isn’t done right then the savings might not have been worth it. In fact, you could still end up having to come out of pocket. And experience, which most people don’t have, is important when it comes to interior painting; a job done improperly isn’t going to last long before it’s peeling, chipping, and uneven.

Another thing to think about when it comes to DIY is your time. Do you have enough time for the project? If not a project that could be done quickly could end up taking months. Lastly, taking on an interior painting project can mean stress. DIY means you’re taking on everything – by yourself. If you’re cool with that then by all means.

Hiring professionals means that you don’t have to worry about much. The stress is removed and you have experienced painters who know what they’re doing. You know you’re going to get a quality job and timely results. Forget buying tools and messy cleanup, all you have to do is pick out a color.

What Questions Should I Ask When Hiring Painters?

When hiring someone to do your interior painting job, you want to be sure that it’s someone you can feel safe with. You want to be sure you’re getting the best available job and that they aren’t going to leave you with an incomplete job and an empty wallet. The best thing to do to get started is to ask friends and family for recommendations or to read reviews online on trustworthy sites. Ask them how long they’ve been around and if they can show you examples of their work. If they’re older, you’ll know that they’ve been around long enough to do good work and to have a reputation to maintain.

Get estimates and ask any questions that come to mind. Ask what their work entails, what products they use, how many people they’ll have working, and so on. Also, make sure they’re licensed with insurance and get it in writing.

If I DIY, What Should I know?

When it comes to DIY, the most important thing to know is that the preparation step is vital. That’s what’s going to make the difference between a job that lasts and one that needs to be immediately redone. And easily enough, the paint prep process is almost the same no matter where you’re doing it. If you are doing a DIY interior painting project, become familiar with the process so that you’ll have no major problems later and you’ll know how to do it next time. If you hire professionals, don’t be afraid to ask them what their process looks like.

As a basic overview, start by removing everything from the walls (and labeling it so it can go back). Cover all of the furniture in the room. Wash all the areas to be painted to remove dirt, loose paint, etc. Look for and fix any damages. Smooth your surface, via scraping or sanding. Apply a primer and then you’re good to start painting. It sounds lengthy, but it’s worth it.

How Do I Select A Paint Color?

Selecting your paint color is the fun part and the step you get to do whether you hire someone or not. First, think about how you want the room to feel. Light colors darken a poorly-lit room making it feel more open while dark colors give rooms a more intimate feel. Reds and yellows are warm, while greens and blues are cool. Tans, creams, and greys are modern, easy colors.

Buy a quart of paint and test it to see how it looks in different lighting around the room. Also, think about what rooms you are painting to help you decide what kind of paint to get. It never hurts to ask a professional for their opinion, and if you hired someone definitely ask them what kind of paint they use. In fact, professionals can tell you anything you need to know about anything paint related, it’s their job!

The post Interior Painting FAQ | San Diego Interior Painting appeared first on Wall 2 Wall Painting & Services .

Exterior Painting FAQ | San Diego Exterior Painting

Tue, 16 May 2017 03:42:00 GMT

When it comes to projects involving our home, we often find we have a lot of questions. That’s not really a surprise. People have had questions about how to do things around their house probably for just about as long as they’ve had them. There are many different subjects we have questions about, and exterior painting is definitely one of those topics. Usually when people take on home painting projects, it’s more likely to be inside for aesthetic appeal; or for other reasons, but still inside the home.

Exterior painting is a completely different thing. There’s much more to account for outside, like the temperature you can’t personally control and the effects of the sun on your paint. It can be much more challenging than interior painting. Difficulties, as always, lead to questions, which takes us back to the main point that there are a lot of questions homeowners have about painting the exterior of their homes.

Luckily we live in a time where most information is easily and readily available. All of your questions can be answered with just a few taps of your fingers or words spoken into your phone. So that’s why we’re here, to gather a few of the more frequently asked questions all in one place, and to give you an answer that’s simple and easy to understand. If we don’t cover something you want to know, feel free to contact us and we will do what we can to help you figure it out.

The questions are bolded, so you could ideally skip the rest and go right to the specific question you have in mind. But it also might be beneficial (if you’ve never done this before or are just curious) for you to read the whole piece. It could give you a firmer sense of what you’re doing or reinforce something that you already knew. Either way, hopefully, you’ll find some information here that can help you.

Should I DIY or hire a professional?

Exterior house painting is something that you can do yourself for sure, but be sure to think about it before you commit. It’s a big job to paint an entire house, it requires ladder usage for heights and it can be a lot of work. Another thing to consider is the time commitment. So when you decide to hire professionals it means your exterior painting will be done quickly and to high standards of quality. It means someone who is insured for it is climbing up on the ladder and that they have the experience and knowledge to know that they’re providing the best available job.

If you decide to do it yourself, it’s doable. It’s definitely a project that you can take pride in when it’s finished; you can do it on your own time and to your own specifications. However, if you go this route, you might want to do some research before you get started.

What questions should I ask when hiring someone to paint my exterior?

Finding professionals to trust with the exterior of your home can be a process that makes any homeowner nervous, especially if you’ve never done it before. Look to friends and family, and online for reviews and suggestions. Find a company that is reputable and has been around for a while. If they’re established you know they aren’t going to disappear with your money and you can also pretty easily find pictures of their work and whether or not they have satisfied customers. Get bids from three companies to compare and talk to the companies. Ask them what their work entails, how many people they’ll have working and any other questions you have.

Be sure to ask if they are licensed and if they have insurance. Be sure to get everything in writing and to find out if they offer any sort of guarantees.

If I’m going DIY, what do I need to know?

If you’re going to do your exterior painting project yourself, take a deep breath before you get started. Remove everything you can and label it so you know where it goes back to. Clean the house and fix anything that needs to be repaired before you paint. Properly prep your area, it makes a big difference.

After all of that, you can finally paint. Paint you exterior in this order: the gables, main siding, and windows. Then siding trim and the doors last. Paint from the top to the bottom, from left to right. Then you can put everything back and do any necessary touch ups. After you clean up, you’re done. It’s a lot shorter of a process in writing. Also, make sure you’re careful on your ladder.

How do I properly prepare my exterior for painting?

The preparation process for exterior painting is the same as it is for interior painting. And it’s just as important as any other painting job that you do. No matter how well the paint is applied, if you have a bad prep job done beforehand, that paint isn’t going to last very long. The preparation process must be attentively done. If you hire professionals they should know what they’re doing, but don’t be afraid to ask. If you’re doing it yourself, make sure you’re doing it right.

Wash all areas of the home that will be painted. Remove dirt, loose flakey paint and everything else that will come off. Any damages need to be fixed, that means filling chips and scratches, and caulking. This includes window and door frames. Make sure you’ve got a smooth surface; scrape off old paint and sand all over. Apply a good primer to seal and protect, and then you’re golden and prepared to start painting!

What’s the best temperature to paint outside in?

The best temperature to paint outside in really depends on where you live. But there is always one constant and that is that you paint the shady sides first and avoid painting in direct sunlight. You should sort of just follow behind it around the house, avoiding heated areas. In addition, paint is best applied when there has been a little rain and low humidity. Never paint a surface if it’s not dry. Painting can be done with levels of humidity at 70%, but it is recommended that the range of humidity be between 40% to 50%.

If the temperature is too high or too low, the paint won’t properly adhere to the siding but most painting labels will show a minimum and maximum temperature for exterior painting. If you live in Florida the best time to paint your exterior is in the summer.

What do I do if I have more questions?

This question is just to underscores something we said earlier. If you have more questions that weren’t answered here or that you can’t find the answer to elsewhere – contact us. Any professional exterior painters should be able to honestly answer any questions that you might have on the subject. Additionally, ask every question that you have and don’t be nervous to do so. It’s what we do for a living and chances are we’ve answered the question a million other times before.

You can contact us online here or call us directly at 760.535.4126 .

The post Exterior Painting FAQ | San Diego Exterior Painting appeared first on Wall 2 Wall Painting & Services .

Six Reasons to Hire an Exterior Painting Company

Tue, 14 Mar 2017 12:00:00 GMT

Your home is one of your biggest investments. Taking care of your home is the best way to take care of that investment. A fresh coat of paint is the best way to both protect your home’s exterior and increase its value. It also gives it a nice new look. It’s almost like a facelift.

Exterior painting in San Diego, CA can be a tricky experience, but a professional exterior painter can help you get the look you want. While there may be many how-to do it yourself guides or people willing to do the job for the lowest of prices, we would like you to know that a quality job that you can be proud of comes from the professionals.

But don’t take our word for it. It’s important to research any project before you actually do it. Let’s educate you on why you should hire an exterior painting company .

1. An exterior painting company is a business.

Before all things, an exterior painting company is a business. And their business is to make sure you are satisfied with their work! If they went and did their job while not caring about the end results, they wouldn’t be a business for much longer.

As a business, exterior painting companies are held accountable by their community and the people they service. This means local exterior painters in San Diego, CA are employed and operated by those residing in San Diego, CA. The work that these businesses have done must be sustainable and long-lasting so that their work can speak for itself.

Hiring a local company means you can look around your community and see the work that they’ve done. You can see their reviews and learn about the experiences of your neighbors. You can know beforehand how those around you were satisfied and go into your own exterior painting experience with a smile on your face.

2. They have the know-how and experience.

If you decide to paint the exterior of your home, you might watch a DIY video on the internet. This means you have about ten minutes of experience. If you forgo that and hire an exterior painter, you’re getting your work done by people with years of experience.

Exterior painters in San Diego, CA know that painting a home isn’t the only step in the process of painting. It includes proper preparation and checking of damage before the painting has even begun. If you decide to do your painting yourself, you might overlook these things and compromise the job. A compromised job means more money out of your pocket. But this doesn’t have to happen.

Exterior painters have the knowledge and experience to make sure your exterior paint job is done correctly the first time around. On a daily basis, they offer homeowners’ professional, long-lasting paint jobs. You may not be able to do a smooth line of paint, but they sure can.

3. There is a high-level quality of workmanship.

When you hire exterior painters you are hiring professionals. When you are dealing with professionals, you know that you are going to get what you paid for. As experts of the trade, professional exterior painters are dedicated to their craft. They offer jobs that both you and they can take pride in. Cutting corners and lack of attention to detail are not an option.

Applied correctly and carefully by professionals, your exterior paint job can add appeal and value to your home for years to come. Using their expansive knowledge they can make sure that you have the best paints and tools available and that they are applied to their maximum benefit. Every step of the process is done with what is best for your property in mind.

San Diego’s professional exterior painters will begin the project with extreme detail to the preparation process and carry that all the way through to the final paint stroke.

4. They save you money.

Typically when people do home improvement projects they think doing it themselves will save them money. While that might be true in some cases, it isn’t when it comes to exterior painting. To even start the project you’ll need painting supplies and tools. If you don’t know anything about them, you might spend money on products that don’t actually do what they say they do. And after the project, you’re left with all of these purchases you no longer have a use for.

Or what about when you decide to do a DIY project and (as previously stated) you overlook your prep? The next thing you know your exterior paint is flaking off of your home or none of it look as though it was evenly applied. That means you have to do it again, and now you’re spending double what you originally planned.

These things don’t happen when it comes to hiring exterior painters. They have their own materials and tools that you don’t have to worry about supplying or storing. You aren’t even required to know what the tools do. Experience, knowledge of the job, professionalism- all of this means that your preparation and execution will be seamless.

5. The end comes faster than you think.

It always seems like home projects take so much time to do. This is especially true for something as big and time-consuming as painting the exterior of your home. Who has all that time? With your busy schedule, your weekend house painting project could quickly turn into a process that lasts months. In that time your house will sit there only half painted.

Exterior painters work with you to set up a timeline for painting. With them, when there is a definite start time, there is also a set deadline. This means when you are ready for your paint job to be done, it will be done. Exterior painters will work hard to make sure your job is done within your timeframe. You’d be surprised at just how quickly they can get things done. And while it may be done faster than you’d expect, quality is never sacrificed.

6. You’ll get peace of mind.

One of the best things about hiring exterior painters in San Diego, CA is the peace of mind that comes with it. Home improvement projects can be very stressful. When you have someone who knows that they are doing, it’s just one less thing you have to worry about. Experienced exterior painters don’t need to be supervised so you can just hand it over to them and relax knowing that your home is being taken care of.

Painting the outside of your home can also be dangerous. If you do the job yourself, you run the risk of injury. Professional exterior painters are licensed and insured, however, and if anything should happen it would not be up to you to take care of it. It would be out of your hands.

Finally, with the level of professionalism that can be expected from exterior painters, you can rest easy knowing that your painting job will be done on time and to the highest standard of quality. So you don’t have to worry about extra costs, injury or dissatisfaction. After all that, what even is there to worry about?

Hire an exterior painting company.

As you can see, the best way to get an exterior painting job that you’ll love is to hire an exterior painter. You will deal with a professional business who knows what they are doing and how to do it. You will get the best quality job in the best time for the best price. On top of that, you don’t have to worry about what could go wrong. This might be the easiest home related project you’ve ever had to deal with.

Wondering about your own San Diego, CA exterior paint job or just want to know more about why you should hire an exterior painter ? Then give us a call, we’re ready to answer all of your questions. You can reach us directly at 760.535.7336.

The post Six Reasons to Hire an Exterior Painting Company appeared first on Wall 2 Wall Painting & Services .

How long does interior painting take?

Wed, 15 Feb 2017 02:18:00 GMT

There are a ton of reasons a homeowner might want to paint the interior of their home. Repainting the space you live in can do a lot for you. It can give your home a brand new look and feel no matter its age. It can freshen the air in your home and encourage a cleaner environment. It can make your décor fit in better or simply bring it all into the 21 ^st century. Whatever reason you have for doing it, painting your home interior is well worth it.

But even after you’ve made the initial decision to have your interior painted there are a few other questions you’ve got to think about. Aside from the major task of choosing what colors you’re going to use, you’ll have to consider things like, how long is this project going to take? And that’s a pretty important question actually.

Having the interior of your home painted is very different from having the exterior painted. The process is the same for both but having the interior of your home painted is going to more directly affect your life and day to day activities. For example, if you hire a company to paint the exterior, they can do it without any major changes for you. If you hire a company to do the interior, they’re going to be painting inside your home, furniture is going to need to be moved, light fixtures and switches taken down and so on.

So for the purpose of your life and home getting back to normal as soon as possible, how long the process is going to take is an important one. So … how long does it take?

Will you DIY or hire a professional?

A big thing to think about when trying to answer the timeline question is who is going to be the one to do your interior painting. A lot of people assume that painting isn’t as time-consuming as it is and decide they’ll do the project themselves. There’s nothing wrong with this, but if you want it done efficiently and quickly then you’re probably not going to want to do it yourself. You’ll probably want to hire interior painting professionals who know what they’re doing.

The fact is painting can take a lot of time, especially for homeowners who have their own busy schedules. Work-life and family-life can leave you pretty tired at the end of the day and the next thing you know your weekend project has taken you two months to finish. While you may feel this isn’t the case for you, it’s definitely something that can affect how long your interior painting job takes before it’s finished.

And if you hire someone to paint your interior for you, you are often going to get three or four people to come out and paint. Three or four painters who paint for a living are going to get the job done much more quickly than one of you with other obligations in addition.

Is it the whole house or one room?

Obviously, how many rooms you are having painted will determine whether your project is done quickly or not. You can paint just one room at a time which can be done surprisingly quickly or you can paint the whole house, and often painting companies will give you some sort of a deal for painting more than one room. Going hand in hand with how many rooms you’re going to have painted, the size of the area you want to have painted will basically determine how long it’ll take to be done.

The time required for interior painting depends a lot on how many square feet are to be painted. It also goes hand in hand with the question of whether you’ll be doing it alone or not. One person will paint much more slowly than a team. A medium room about 12’x12’ can take about 5 to 6 hours to be done to professional standards, but that doesn’t always include preparation and trim painting. On a larger scale, 12,000 sq. ft. home can take less than a week to paint. If you want a definite number, we offer free estimates that you can take advantage of.

Is the space old or new?

Believe it or not, the age of the area to be painted can be a major factor when figuring out how long it will take to paint the interior of your home. Painting the walls, trim and ceiling of a new home or addition are easy to do. They don’t take long as they don’t require much preparation. They’re new-ness means that they haven’t had much time to acquire buildup of dirt and old flakey paint. They don’t have layers of wallpaper and deep scratches and holes. Or rather, hopefully they don’t.

Older areas though require more work. They need more cleaning for those old stains and dirt to be removed. They need old paint scraped off and old wallpaper taken off. If those things aren’t carefully removed in the preparation period then the paint can’t properly adhere and your paint job was all for nothing. Lastly, if the walls are damaged they’ll need to be repaired – whether that entails caulking, patching and/or sanding – and that alone means you’ll require more time.

Essentially, the older a home is the more prep work it’s bound to need. Preparation requirements are factored into the cost and the timeframe just as much as the square footage is. The more preparation a place needs – the more time you’ll have to figure in.

What colors and designs are you using?

The colors and designs you use might not seem like they’d really change much, but they actually do when it comes to your allotted work time. If it’s an initial paint job it will take longer than a touch-up job, and it will require significantly more effort and time. A basic paint job is usually one application of white paint on the ceiling and then two coats of a colored paint on the walls. Some quality paints include a primer, and some purport that they only require one coat. But a lot of the painting coat requirements you will have will depend on the quality of the paint.

If you’re painting walls in the same room different colors, or applying different patterns and colors all on one wall – it’s going to take more time. For proper application of the unique look you want, the project will definitely need more time. Darker colors, like deep reds, can need three or even four coatings which equals more time. In other instances, if you’re changing from a dark color to a lighter one you will again need extra coatings. You already know what that means.

Talk to the Professionals

Ultimately, when you’re trying to figure out how long it will take to paint the interior of your home, you should just go talk to the professionals. It’s hard to estimate how long it can take because, as you can see, there are a lot of factors involved. Each project has a different size and level of difficulty. Different paints do different types of work and sometimes the preparation needed for the project can be on either end of the scale. Sometimes you might need more than one person.

We can give you an estimate of how long the process will take for your home and how much it’ll cost. To get a free estimate, contact us here or call us directly at 760.535.7336.

The post How long does interior painting take? appeared first on Wall 2 Wall Painting & Services .

3 Reasons you should invest in exterior painting

Sun, 15 Jan 2017 22:58:00 GMT

Your home is probably your pride and joy. You spend a lot of your indoor time cleaning it and looking after it, but do you take care of the outside as often as you should? You cut the grass and you clean your gutters regularly like you’re supposed to, but do you ever think about the old, chipping paint peeling off of the side of your house? Pause and think for a moment, when was the last time you had the exterior of your home repainted?

It’s something that we don’t think about nearly enough, but many professional exterior painting companies recommend that you get your exterior painted on a regular basis, sometimes that as often as once every two years. Painting is a quick and easy way to bring freshness to any home project that you have and it definitely includes the siding panels on your home.

As a matter of fact, the benefits of having exterior painting done go far beyond just what you can see. If you’re considering painting the outside of your home but aren’t necessarily sure why you need to, we’ve compiled a list of reasons why we think you should go for it. As in most cases, you’re going to get what you pay for, and in this instance, it’s definitely worth it.

Curb Appeal and Resale Value

The first thing your friends, visitors and potential buyers see when they pull into your driveway is the biggest visible space- your home’s exterior walls and their old paint job. So whether you’re planning on living in your home forever, selling it in a month or just trying to please the Home Owners Association and your insurance company, the basic level of appeal that a new paint job can bring to your home can’t be ignored.

The easiest, most simple way to take your home from the unkempt one on the block to the one that everyone wants to live in? Having your exterior freshly painted. The paint job is the most easily inspected aspect of your home’s outside, and it can go a long way in reflecting the person who owns it.

This means that in addition to the roof when potential buyers come to inspect your home, the newness and cleanliness of your paint can inform most of their immediate assumptions. If you home looks uncared for and neglected on the outside, then it’s safe for potential buyers to assume the inside looks the same and is therefore not worth looking at.

But no matter what your home looks like now, a fresh coating of exterior paint can turn it right back around. A fast renewal of your exterior paint can make your home feel new again while adding to its market value- with returns of up to 7%.

Protection and Repairs

One of the main functions of the foundation and outer walls of your home is to protect the inside of it, we all know that. But did you know that one of the primary functions of your exterior paint job is to protect your outermost walls themselves? Your home is vulnerable to the weather and elements, to UV rays, insects, weathering, dust and a number of other issues that can weaken it.

Your exterior paint job is the first protective layer encountered, and it’s almost like your own outermost layer of skin. It protects your home from everything it can. Without an exterior paint job, bugs would burrow in, wind and sand would weather away the wood, and normal wear and tear will set in much more quickly. You’ve got to help out your protective barrier out and maintain it by painting your home frequently.

Painting your exterior often means you get to avoid the costly repairs that come with not doing so. The prep work that happens before every exterior painting job is important in the health of your exterior. Regular paintings are a good way for your painters to keep an eye on your home and let you know what requires attention and needs to be taken care of ahead of time. Without it, most homeowners are unaware of any issues until they’re too expensive to fix. Sometimes a new paint job is all that’s necessary to fix any minor flaws discovered.

Ambiance and Cleanliness

If you’ve lived in your home for a long time, you can usually tell. It’s the same with your exterior as it is with your interior. Whatever may have caused it, there’s bound to be stains and marks and a general feeling of having been lived in. It’s almost impossible to clean. Then on top of that, eventually you can get tired of the same old, same old. The look of your home is the look you’ve been coming home to for years and you really wish you could remodel the whole thing but it’s just too much money. This is where you get out your phone and call some professional exterior painters.

A fresh exterior paint job is almost like a new start. Often when tenants move out of a home, the owners will have new paint job done both inside and out to make it look like a brand new house. The same thing can work for you. A new paint job can promote feelings of cleanliness and as a result of that, happiness. It doesn’t just provide a clean feeling either. You’re home- due to the removal of old paint, the preparation cleaning and the paint itself- will actually be cleaner; old stains and marks will be evenly covered and dirt and dust will be gone.

Exterior painting can also change the feel of your home by changing the appearance. When painting your home you don’t have to stick with the same look you had before; there are many different colors and patterns you can go with. Repainting means you can update not only the look but the feel of your home. You can make it stand out from the other homes on your street or make it complement your garden or work area. Whatever you want your home to feel like, and whatever new feelings you’d like your home to give you, exterior painting is the time to make it happen.

Get Motivated

So go outside and look at the exterior of your home. How’s it looking? Is it in good condition? You’ll definitely be able to tell if it needs a little love. And if it does, you’ve now got three very good and extensive reasons for why you should have your home’s exterior painted with the best paint available.

And if that’s not enough of an incentive, think of what else having your exterior painted could motivate you to do around your home. Often, once you attack one big project everything else just seems easier. Once the exterior of your home is taken care of maybe you’ll feel more inspired to update your lawn, garden or other outside appearances. A freshly painted home deserves a freshly painted deck. Maybe it’ll give you the attitude to turn your attentions to the interior. Whatever it might get you to do, it’s so affordable and the benefits are really good, so you have no excuse for not doing it.

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