Painting the House...
michael kelley
contractors. probably 2 maybe 3 colors. scaffolding will be needed so we
can't do it ourselves. any pointers on what we should ask, look for???
any formulas for sq footage or other 'insider' info that you have would
be appreciated.
tks alot,
michael
justus
>tks alot,
>michael
Michael,
We're in the process, too. What's tough for me is to try to determine
the quality of work one offers. We've gotten estimates from $2000 to
$4000 for our house. What can the most expensive one do that the
lowest priced one cannot? Fortunately, we'll be selling the house in
the next 5 years so no matter what, any paint job should last that
long.
Jeny
P.S. Same problem with estimates for repairs and powerwashing!
RWeidwall
writes:
>we're about to start bidding out a paint job on our house to local
>contractors. probably 2 maybe 3 colors. scaffolding will be needed so we
>can't do it ourselves. any pointers on what we should ask, look for???
>any formulas for sq footage or other 'insider' info that you have would
>be appreciated.
My experience with painters is to ask for recommendations from people you know
who have gotten their house painted. The bids will probably come in pretty
close; beware of a low bid, because the painters may be taking shortcuts. A
lousy paint job is a real pain, and you often don't find out it's lousy until
the next year when the paint starts to peel. By that time, you've paid the
painters and good luck trying to get them back to fix the job.
I hired my painter based on word-of-mouth recommendations from two friends who
used him. He was excellent. He asked for 1/3 of the money up front and the
remainder upon completion of the job.
Ruth Ann
Warren Block
>
> We're in the process, too. What's tough for me is to try to determine
> the quality of work one offers. We've gotten estimates from $2000 to
> $4000 for our house. What can the most expensive one do that the
> lowest priced one cannot? Fortunately, we'll be selling the house in
> the next 5 years so no matter what, any paint job should last that
> long.
Poor preparation or low-quality paint could be peeling in a single year.
Last time we had a large hail storm and insurance was called in, they told
me that they depreciated paint on something like a 5- to 6-year lifetime.
--
Warren Block * Rapid City, South Dakota * USA
http://extra.newsguy.com/~wblock
Cheryl L Perkins
: we're about to start bidding out a paint job on our house to local
: contractors. probably 2 maybe 3 colors. scaffolding will be needed so we
: can't do it ourselves. any pointers on what we should ask, look for???
: any formulas for sq footage or other 'insider' info that you have would
: be appreciated.
: tks alot,
: michael
ALWAYS ask for a reference, and then go and check the quality of the work
at the reference's home.
Painting and other contracting work is really likely to vary between
'fashionable contractor charging a fortune' and 'fly by night cheapos'.
In between their cost estimates, are the painters and other contracters
who have a good, reliable reputation in the local market.
There aren't any formulae. A good painter will be able to give you the
names and addresses of satisfied customers, and will be able to give you a
good estimate, and send good painters on the day agreed on.
The best advice I ever heard, is, write down in picky detail just what you
want the workers to do. Get estimates based on that. Then ask for
references. Eliminate the workers who can't tell you what work they did
for satisfied customers.
Cheryl
--
Cheryl Perkins
cper...@calvin.stemnet.nf.ca
Mark
> we're about to start bidding out a paint job on our house to local
> contractors. probably 2 maybe 3 colors. scaffolding will be needed so we
> can't do it ourselves. any pointers on what we should ask, look for???
> any formulas for sq footage or other 'insider' info that you have would
> be appreciated.
How do you know when it's time to paint? Do you wait until it's
bubbling/peeling, or do you look for other signs?
Valerie
paint that you used last time. For example, If you used Sherwin Williams
Super Paint, there is a 20 year warranty. So therefore, you shouldn't have
to paint for 20 years. Now, if you used Sears special then you will need to
paint every 3-5 years. In the long run it pays to spend the extra money on
a good brand of paint the first time. And get the job done right, then you
won't be worring about it nearly as often!!!
Mark wrote in message <35E1C3DA...@SpamBGon.mddmr.fc.hp.com>...
Mike P. Swaim
>My husband is in the paint industry and he says it depends on the quality of
>paint that you used last time. For example, If you used Sherwin Williams
>Super Paint, there is a 20 year warranty. So therefore, you shouldn't have
>to paint for 20 years. Now, if you used Sears special then you will need to
>paint every 3-5 years. In the long run it pays to spend the extra money on
>a good brand of paint the first time. And get the job done right, then you
>won't be worring about it nearly as often!!!
That's only partially true. For instance, regardless of the optimistic
rating on the can, items like mold and algae can make paint look
terrible years before it's date is technically up. Often, with better
initial paints, these things can be pressure washed away, but the
effectiveness of commercial pressure washing comes largely from the
generous use of chlorine bleach as a high pressure cleaner. Now, alot
of high $$ premium paints are geared to guard against years of
sunlight and rain in "normal" conditions, but if you read the fine
print, none that I'm aware of are warranted for cleaning off mildew
with high pressure bleach. Yet that is exactly what many, (most??)
homeowners wind up doing. Especially, if they live in the hot humid US
SE. Personally, I'm convinced that the best value in house paint is
the mid-grade stuff. BTW-- need to ask hubby who makes the paint for
Sears. (I'm betting it's SW. ;-)
mps
Valerie
dutchboy and many others) however, the formulas they sell there are old and
outdated. Formulas that once were carried in the SW stored but are no
longer up to that standard.
Mike P. Swaim wrote in message <6rso5f$fji$1...@camel0.mindspring.com>...
Dorrie Shinobu J.
<jmke...@vgernet.net> shaped the words to say:
*we're about to start bidding out a paint job on our house to local
*contractors. probably 2 maybe 3 colors. scaffolding will be needed so
we
*can't do it ourselves. any pointers on what we should ask, look
for???
*any formulas for sq footage or other 'insider' info that you have
would
*be appreciated.
*
*
*tks alot,
The best thing you can do to insure that you get a good enough job
done on your home is to ask your friends and neighbors who they've
used. After which, see if anyone else you know has used that painter,
or contractor, to check not only the quality of one job, but as many
as possible. There are painters out there, I'm afraid to say, who
will vary the quality of their work depending how much they're
getting, and what part of town they're in.
Another myth I'd like to discourage would be that the larger the
price, the better the job. This is completely untrue. I,
personally--having been painting for ten years-- have worked on crews
as large as 40 to as little as one, and know that is usually the rule
that the larger the crew (and the bid) the worse the work.
The ONLY way to insure that your home gets painted well is to know
the person your dealing with and create an extremely detailed
contract. After all, they can't know what you want if you don't tell
them.
As far as pricing for exteriors go, I can give you an estimate of
costs for an average home, if that helps, as well as a list of all the
things you need to think about including in your contract.
For a two story 2000 sq. ft. home, two colors, complete siding,
sophet, and facia, that has no peeling paint:
Pressure Washing $150
Body Color $1700
Trim & Wooden Sash Windows $960
Front Door $60
These prices are, of course, using all available equipment, such as an
airless spray machine. Even though the body color doesn't usually
last as long, the price certainly is a lot less painful to your
pocketbook. However, if you'd rather get that extra year out of your
paint, the body color will end up costing you almost double. Reason
being it takes quite a few man hours to cover roughly 65,280 square
inches with a three inch paint brush.
As for paints, the top quality is worth the price. Mid-grades like
Glidden, Porter, Cal-Tone, Kelly-Moore, Anchor, and many others don't
last even five years of normal wear and tear, and usually end up
costing the contractor, thus you, more in having to buy that much more
paint to do the same job.
Sherwin Williams, although their SuperPaint is among the top five,
can be considered useless in high-humidity areas. It tends to peel
off raw wood in less than a year, most especially when anything other
than a flat sheen is being considered. (Yes, I'm sorry to say, all of
you on the east coast that just bought a new house, you don't have any
primer on that wood. It's a shame, I know, but Builders Cut Costs At
All Costs)
Benjamin Moore is in fact, the best paint you can buy. It lasts the
longest of anything I've used, and, despite the price,is well worth
the extra years it will add to your home.
One more thing, and I'll actually let you go. References are the
single largest con in the business. You have no idea who you are
calling, and even if, by some chance of fate, you happen to get an
actual reference from someone who isn't being paid, in one way or
another, to lie, you have no idea if that one job represents the
quality of the thousands of others the contractor has done, and will
do.
Don't be fooled by one glowing appraisal of anything a contractor
does. If anything, suspect the 'Too Good To Be True'.
Dorrie's Hubby
Painter
OU Physical Plant/Contractor
References Available Upon Request (grin)
Clisby Wiliams
And make sure they have workmen's comp/liability insurance, unless
you want your homeowners' policy to pay if one of them falls off
the scaffolding.
Clisby
James Kokernak
I just went through this whole process with my house...but I did it
myself. I talked with a lot of people about paints... a *lot*...pros,
do-it-yourselfers, manufacturers, etc.
First of all, 20 years is a joke, at least here in the northeast.
The general rule is 5, maybe 8 if you do a good job and perhaps
10 if you are painting bare wood.
From what I've seen and from the people I've spoken with, there is
no better paint than Benjamin Moore.
--Jim
In article <nJkE1.423$mc5.2...@news.mci2000.com>, "Valerie" <valerie...@mci2000.com> writes:
|> My husband is in the paint industry and he says it depends on the quality of
|> paint that you used last time. For example, If you used Sherwin Williams
|> Super Paint, there is a 20 year warranty. So therefore, you shouldn't have
|> to paint for 20 years. Now, if you used Sears special then you will need to
|> paint every 3-5 years. In the long run it pays to spend the extra money on
|> a good brand of paint the first time. And get the job done right, then you
|> won't be worring about it nearly as often!!!
|>
|> Mark wrote in message <35E1C3DA...@SpamBGon.mddmr.fc.hp.com>...
|> >michael kelley wrote:
|> >
|> >> we're about to start bidding out a paint job on our house to local
|> >> contractors. probably 2 maybe 3 colors. scaffolding will be needed so we
|> >> can't do it ourselves. any pointers on what we should ask, look for???
|> >> any formulas for sq footage or other 'insider' info that you have would
Old_Timer
"Shinobu" J.) wrote:
>On Sat, 22 Aug 1998 01:21:56 -0500, michael kelley
><jmke...@vgernet.net> shaped the words to say:
>
>*we're about to start bidding out a paint job on our house to local
>*contractors. probably 2 maybe 3 colors. scaffolding will be needed so
>we
>*can't do it ourselves. any pointers on what we should ask, look
>for???
>*any formulas for sq footage or other 'insider' info that you have
>would
What is the meaning of "body color" ?
Why would another year of durability cost double?
Old_Timer
Dorrie Shinobu J.
*What is the meaning of "body color" ?
*Why would another year of durability cost double?
* Old_Timer
The 'body color' refers to the color of the paint that goes on the
body of the house (as in the siding, or brick, if it is to be
painted).
The price difference has to do with the application. Using an
airless spray rig (that picks up the paint from the bucket you buy it
in, and sprays it onto the surface) you can save 2/3 of the time it
would take to physically paint the side of a house with a brush.
Also, there are paint conditioners and such to consider, which are not
cheap, even if those products only recommend one ounce per quart. And
so, if you're applying 5 gal. of paint, you'd use at least a gallon of
conditioner, and at $32 per gallon, it's not exactly cheap.
BTW, about insurence.
It's true that on the job injuries do happen, and most painters
don't get benefits like you do. And so, if the contractor doesn't
carry, or cover his employees (about 9 out of 10 don't) the home-owner
will end up paying the bills. By law, you are liable, even if they
were SUPPOSED to have insurence. Be careful.
I would also suggest trying to find someone who carries Liability
(at least $100,000) as well. You might limit your choice to one or
two contractors, but you'll be much happier when you have to replace
part of your deck and the contractor says he can't afford it, which
happens quite a lot. Most of the chemicals painters use are not only
toxic, but LIFE THREATENING given the right circumstances.
Dorrie's Hubby