Outside House Painting Process (Our Surgery Protocol)

Did you know that most paint failures are due to poor preparation on the surface to be painted? It is very important and more so in the areas of the coast covering Ormond Beach, Flagler Beach, Palm Coast, St Augustine and St Augustine Beach where salt, sun and wind tend to shorten the paint life. Now I’m sure you will be more aware of the painting contractor who you choose to hire for your painting project. My buddy used to say “if you fail to prep, you are prepping to fail”. So, here’s Dr. Paint’s Painting Process:

1. We clean the surfaces scheduled to paint - At this stage we make sure we pressure clean your house with the appropriate solution that will not harm your landscape, but will remove any mold, debris, and chalk from the surface walls. At the time of pressure washing, we scrape any peeling and/or loose paint that will prevent the new paint to adhere on the walls. We also allow a minimum of 24 hours of drying time before we do any exterior house painting.

2. We Prep unlike many other painters - Many other painters do the obvious like pressure cleaning, but a lot of them skip on the detailed prep work because once it’s painted it will go unnoticed, at least that’s what they assume. Besides picking a high quality grade paint, prep work is also a crucial stage in order to prevent any failures and ensure a long lasting paint job. So, in other words, our secret sauce entails making an average quality paint last longer than a high quality grade paint by prepping the surfaces adequately. Here’s what we do in this crucial stage:

a. We remove all light fixtures - b. We tie down (cover) plants to prevent stepping or painting over them - c. We seal all cracks & holes with an Elastomeric patching which will help move by expansion & contraction of the house without cracking - d. We seal around all windows & doors with urethane sealant

3. Seal & condition the surfaces prior to painting - a. The paint starts to break down over time mainly due to rain, sun, wind, and salt deposits. In this process of breakdown, the paint becomes chalky on the surfaces. To test for this, just rub the palm of your hand on the wall surface and the chalkier your hand shows, the more broken down the paint is. - b. Generally, some chalk will come off during the pressure cleaning process but the remains will need to be taken care of. At this point. a masonry conditioner is applied to seal any left over chalk and at the same time, acts as a bonding primer. You should expect to see a clear satin finish and feel a tacky surface ready to receive paint.

4. Paint- spray or roll? and how many coats? - a. Whether or not you are repainting your house the same colors, we always suggest doing 2 coats. This will give you that extra thickness that will withstand the weather for a longer period of time as opposed to a single coat of paint (unless you are using Elastomeric coating; more on that product later). - b. The application method will vary depending on the surfaces that we are painting. Stucco is the most common surface here in Flagler, Volusia and St. John’s County. Spraying and back rolling is our preferred method of application to ensure we get between the stucco crevices that spraying alone can’t get to.

5. Clean up- daily & end of job - a. We pride ourselves in our work. Most of the time our customer’s notice our cleanliness more than they notice our painting LOL. We clean up at the end of each day & at the end of the job. No bags, tape, cardboard’s or water bottles lingering around your house. We pick up after ourselves. We often say that this will be the neatness, cleanest paint job you’ve ever had.

6. Blue tape day - a. On the last day, we do a final walk through. At this point, the crew leader will walk around the property looking for areas that we might have missed. We’ll place a blue tape on these areas and somebody will come behind and correct whatever needs to be taking care of. We won’t leave until we know you are 100% happy.

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(386) 230-0904