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Thursday, July 29, 2010

Twin Cities Metro Painters- Quality

There are many different ways to paint a house. There are normally only a few different ways a quality painter would do it.

A lot of times I run into houses where the previous painter didn't take the time to prep the surface correctly or make a perfect cut mark and I instantly think that the homeowner must have done the work. In most cases my suspicions are correct but in some cases the homeowner informs me that it was "professionally painted." I always find sloped paint on roofs in gables where the homeowner would never look or can't see from the ground. The back side of a chimney is another area that I see a lot of crummy work from either homeowners or previous painters.
This brings me to my point. If you hire a painter, the minimum standard should be that the job look good. In my early years this was the only goal. The more experience I've gotten has made me become more picky and I really think its important to start telling homeowners and customers the benifit of a higher sheen products that achieve better durability. It requires that a painter know how to back-roll correctly (which requires more skill than you may think on high walls) and also requires quality primers and the correct millage applied on the top coat, but the end result is something that will look good and last longer. Higher sheens do tend to reveal more imperfection (especially on scraped wood) but the longevity you will get out of the paint job is worth it and it should look good anyway.

NICK DETTINGER
COMPLETE CUSTOM PAINTING
651-336-0561 cellular

Tuesday, July 27, 2010

Different ways to restore old painted wood siding

Q:How should I paint my previously painted exterior siding?
A: Depends on the desired outcome.

There are different ways to prepare to restore old painted wood siding.
Here are a few:
Gel Stripping agent
Angle Grinder
Orbital Sander
Scraper
Sanding Sponge
Sand Blasting

The level of finish you would like will determine the process.

Every year I run into multiple projects on houses that have multiple coats of paint where the previous painter scraped the peeling or flaking paint, scuff sanded the edges, spot primed the bare wood and re-painted. This is fine but normally it hinders you from using a higher gloss paint (because the scrape marks will show up) and normally is the minimal expected from a painter. A step up from that would be using a orbital sander after the scraping to get a more polished sanding job. Better yet would be to take a angle grinder with a sanding attachment and fully sand any peeling areas back to the closest board cut so you have a perfect finished look. A few draw backs to the angle grinder and orbital sander are that they remove the vertical texture in a shake and they create a lot of dust. Another draw back may be that while some areas are peeling and will be fully sanded to ensure a perfect finish, the areas that are not peeling decide to peel the following year. To ensure the most durable, flawless finish the the painter needs to remove ALL of the previous coating. This can be done by Sand Blasting or extensive sanding/angle grinding. You should consider the project, talk with a qualifed painting contractor and decide which option is best for you. You'll probably not sand blast the 150 thousand dollar split entry but may want to consider it on the 1 million dollar house.
Be aware of Lead Based Paint Laws, Risks and Requirements

Call NICK DETTINGER
COMPLETE CUSTOM PAINTING
651-336-0561 cellular