The Painting System
Residential - Industrial - Commercial
So, what exactly IS your painting system?
Our twelve step preparation method has been helping us paint beautiful homes for over thirty years. By putting each home through heavy preparation, we ensure a better outcome that is guaranteed to last you and your family longer. Although each part of our twelve step process may not be necessary when it comes to your home, it is always available to each customer and is part of the value we include in every job we do. In addition to the twelve steps we take to get your home ready to paint, our system also includes a steady flow of specific tasks that allows our paint crews to get the job done as efficiently as possible, minimizing the time of interference at your home. This flow of tasks starts when our crew arrives at your home (covering delicate plants, unloading equipment, and mixing the bleach solution to kill mildew) and extends to the completion of your home when we walk the customer through the job for their inspection. Take a look at our "12 Step Preparation" Process in action! (You may click any of the smaller photos to see them in their original size and quality, for a better view.)
Step One: Kill Mildew
Here,
in this photo, the small blotches present is mildew - a type of mold that can
grow either inside or outside, on or around your home. Mildew is found
commonly on most homes, especially in areas that are exposed to heavy rain,
areas around gutters, or areas near leaks. Mildew that is allowed to
spread unattended can cause nearby paint to fade or chip and creates an uneven,
porous surface on which to apply new paint. We create our own mild bleach
solution to kill the mildew - stopping it from spreading. Our crew then
hand wipes the existing mildew from the walls and reapplies the bleach solution
to deter mildew from returning to a previously affected area.
Step Two: Power Wash
Power washing a home is one of the critical elements in the preparation of any home. To power wash a home, water and a mild cleaning solution are mixed together inside a power washing machine that then pressurizes the contents of the solution and is then pressurized from the water gun onto the home. This makes for a very efficient way to rid the house of cobwebs, dirt, dust that has been caked to the house, and reveals the true size of any type of gaps or holes that would then need to be filled by caulking. Simply "blasting" homes and surfaces does little else other than damage surfaces, so we are careful to remove spider's nests, insect's nests, dirt, road film, and loosing ivy tracks.
Step Three: Caulk Window Frames
The window frames of a home are especially subject to cracking and splitting of wood because the materials used here are usually thinner and there exists a more intricate design of the house. This is where items like pop-outs, bay windows, or planters that are bolted onto the windows are often found. Our crew hand caulks each area with 40 year, high quality caulking, filling in each gap or crack and then smoothes the surface by hand. On an average home, our company uses three to five boxes of caulking to ensure that the paint that goes on your home will last as long as possible.
Step Four: Caulk Door Frames
Caulking the door frames of a home is a similar process to caulking the window frames. Again, the framing areas on a home are much more subject to splitting, cracking, and deterioration given their decorative nature. In addition to the intricate nature of window frames, door frames are often subject to high-pressure instances repeatedly over long periods of time from the opening and closing of the door. Our thorough inspection during our estimate will call attention to any type of special consideration your door frame may need.
Step Five: Seal Water Stains
Water stains can occur where there may have been previous leaks or water over areas on your house. These areas are most common around gutters and water spouts or spigots. Before we start painting, we seal these stains with oil primer to ensure that this discoloration does not grow larger or show through the paint.
Step Six: Seal Rust Stains
Similar to our step of sealing water stains, sealing rust stains involves sealing over stained areas with an oil based primer to ensure that the stain does not grow larger or show through the paint. Rust stains are more common around areas involving metal surfaces, such as the areas around gutters or nails.
Step Seven: Prime Bare Metal
Although we do not encounter bare metal too often, it is commonly found in industrial and commercial painting. We apply a coat of primer to this area before painting is to begin. On residential jobs, bare metal can be seen in any protruding or exposed nail heads.
Step Eight: Prime Bare Wood
Bare wood undergoes the same priming step as bare metal - we apply a primer coat before we begin painting. This step also includes priming severely damaged wood, trim boards, eaves, and fascia.
Step Nine: Fill Stucco Cracks
Our method for filling stucco cracks includes brushing away any residue which would change the painted surface and appear different than the rest of the surface. These lines are referred to as "spider lines."
Step Ten: Roll-Coat Damaged Siding
Any damaged wood siding, eaves, or stucco walls are rolled with a slurry of priming, sealing, and texturing materials that will protect these heavily weathered surfaces from further damage. If any Elastomeric material is needed for your painting project, this is the step of preparation in which it will be added.
Step Eleven: Minor Base Plate & Stucco Repair
The minor base plate repair that we do to ready your home involves caulking the base plate around the bottom of any stucco, repairing damaged corners of the stucco, and repairing any minor stucco damage. This minor stucco repair is in addition to the filling of stucco cracks that we work on in our ninth step of our preparation.
Step Twelve: Fill Fascia & Trim for Sound Paint Surface
The
wood that makes up the trim
and fascia boards in most homes commonly contains cracks, splitting, or opening
knotholes. Trying to paint directly onto a surface with that uneven nature would lead to a poor application of paint that
would dry in both poor and differing qualities. To ensure a smooth,
consistent, and beautiful surface, before we start painting we create a flat,
even surface on which to paint. This is done through the application of
caulking - filling the cracks created by splitting wood or opening knotholes.
In some extreme cases of deterioration, some boards may need to be replaced, and
that is something we can also help you with. Pictured here is a trim board
going through this step of our preparation. The white substance that you
see pictured is the caulking used to smooth out the surface. This will not
be seen through the paint once applied, regardless of the color you choose.
It is common for our crew to add further and additional preparation to regularly damaged areas such as trenching the foundation, Elastomeric coating areas (for waterproofing), and back filling after painting. We regularly search the structure for connections that need caulking, and then caulk them at no additional charge. Such areas commonly include plywood, trim above front doors, trim attached to fascias that need to be sealed with caulking, and any areas beneath siding or sliding doors where the 1" x 2" wood pieces below the door frame is heavily damaged. We also include the scraping and sanding of any chipping or peeling areas.