What does it take to paint the exterior of your home?

Everything you need to know about painting your exterior and tips from Eric Welch Painting.

Residential Exterior
A contractor needs to be Lead-Safe certified to work on a house with peeling paint if the house was built prior to 1978 (the year lead based paint was banned for residential use.) It is possible to take a sample to the Wisconsin Department of Health Services and test it for lead paint. This usually takes about seven days and costs about $50 dollars. If a paint sample is not tested then it is assumed that lead is present and all necessary precautions must be taken.

Before any prep begins my Madison painters lay plastic and secure it to the ground so it will not blow around. A painter must wear a protective face mask that guards against dangerous particulates and is taught how to stay clean and avoid accidental ingestion of lead dust. Fortunately, the are only two ways lead can enter the body and cause any harm, one is through the mouth and the other is through the nose. Simple right? Yes, but it is very important to be safe as lead contaminates build up in the body’s fat tissue and can effect the brain, especially in children.

Proper preparation often times amounts to many tedious and meticulous hours of scraping. It is the least fun and most important part of every paint job. Hit every angle and take care to go over each area twice. Power-washing of most exteriors that have peeling paint is now not allowed due to the restrictions put in place by the EPA. Power-washing is still useful where the previous paint is still sound and on any house with vinyl or aluminum siding. We will use a power-washer when it is necessary and within the law. Any areas that have mold and mildew, use a bleach/ water mixture of 1 part bleach to 3 parts water. Use sponge or brush to apply or a pump spray canister (easiest method.) 

Cleanliness. We clean up around the house and check to make sure all the surfaces have been thoroughly prepped. Then we dispose of the plastic and haul it away from the job site. Rejoice! The prep is done.

Once the preparation is complete, it’s time to apply the primer. Typically this is done with a brush and by hand. Windows and door frames are almost always primed and painted with a brush but primer will be sprayed if the surface area of the siding is large enough to allow for efficient use. As a side note, high-end, A+ paints often have primer built in to them, aka 2 in 1s. This does not render primer less necessary it just adds to the benefits.

The Final Paint or The Top Coat. The body color will most likely be applied first. If we brush and roll the siding then there will be very little plastic or tape used. Tarps will be laid around the house to cover any concrete and on top of shingles. No Drips. Period. Whether we are painting wood, vinyl, aluminum, clapboard, asbestos, asphalt, composite, brick or stucco, we can paint it and it will last.

We miss nothing. The details are what make an excellent paint job. If you’ve ever been unhappy about a previous painter it is probably because of one or more of the following issues. 1.) didn’t prep right and new paint job is now starting to fail. 2) Paint was not applied in a clean manner, lines are not straight, drips are on the concrete or other woodwork. 3.) The details were neglected. We always focus on the details. The soffits, the facsias, behind the downspouts, the hard to reach places, the very high places and we take the time needed to make them look great. Oh, and those little windows down near the foundation that are half covered by dirt, we get those too.

Eric Welch Painting is the best choice for painters in Madison.