Category Archives: Maintenance

People put their houses up for sale all year long. As a result, there are many things that they take into consideration prior to putting the sign in the yard. One of these is whether or not to paint any part of the inside or outside to give it greater sales appeal. This article should help you make the right decision.

• Painting your property inside or out can spruce it up and make it a more inviting place to visit for the prospective home buyer. Getting customers in the door is the first step towards selling!
• Painting your property can potentially increase its value. In other words, an interior or exterior paint job can yield a greater return on your investment (ROI) – meaning the cost of the paint job could result in more money for the sale.
• Painting your home’s exterior gives it greater curb appeal. This is important not only in getting buyers to look at your home but also having those same potential customers think about the home in terms of its value. A freshly painted home is worth more to the buyer and the seller. Be sure to choose a neutral color that will enhance the home’s look without making it stand out for the wrong reason.
• A home that has dingy interior walls with peeling paint or similar problems will turn a customer away even if they like what they see on the outside. Most potential homeowners will look at a house with an eye towards making it their own and redoing it to their taste. That means that even if you paint the interior or portions of it, the buyer may come in and repaint or wallpaper. But fresh clean walls help the buyer look at the interior and see how they can remodel it to their taste. Dirty, peeling paint will turn the customer away in many cases. Remember, again, if you do paint the interior to use neutral colors or white. These are easy colors to paint over if a buyer wants to do so.
• Don’t take those pictures you intend to use to promote your property before you have spruced up the place. The whole point of painting is to improve your chances of appealing to potential buyers.
• Don’t feel obligated to repaint everything. Only paint those areas that you believe will look better when refreshed.

If you need to spruce up your home, contact the professionals at University Painters, Inc.

Have you looked around the interior of your home with a critical eye as the holidays approach? Do you see a smudge here, a scuff there? Unnoticeable to the soon-to-be guests but to you each mark seems to be magnified! So, you run around creating perfection from imperfection and just as you sit down in front of the fireplace it hits you! The fireplace needs refurbishing! After all, it is Santa’s entryway and you want it to be flawless.

Time to get out the paint and paintbrush. Yes, fireplaces can be painted! Begin by scrubbing down the area so you can get a true idea of how the area looks unadorned. This only requires the use of warm soapy water and a wire brush that can be used to scrub the bricks clean of any soot and debris. Sand down any loose mortar and rinse thoroughly. Let the fireplace dry for at least 24 hours then speckle the holes and cracks. Again, give the fireplace time to dry again.

The next step is taking the time to look at images of similar hearths to get ideas of how you want yours to look when you are done. Some people like a modern look while others prefer classic. You may want to create a striking contrast between the fireplace and the surrounding walls. You may instead prefer to make the fireplace the same color as the walls so it blends in.

Now, the best way to ensure that the undertaking is successful is to gather all of the materials and supplies you will need in advance. In that way you will not need to stop and start and drag the project out. This may include everything from paint to tarp, painting tape to spackling, caulking, paint brushes of multiple sizes and types and anything you may feel is essential for a proper job.

Finally, you are ready to paint! Start with that primer. It lays down a coat that evens out the paint that is laid over it. When it comes to fireplaces – start at the top and work your way down the structure. A water-based paint is your best choice. Remember to let it dry thoroughly before deciding if a second coat is needed.

The only thing left to do now is wait for Santa! When you need support for your next residential or commercial painting project, contact the experienced professionals at University Painters, Inc. We’ve got you covered!

We’re all spending more time indoors these days. And just like ‘familiarity breeds contempt’ – the same holds true about your home. Do you find yourself walking out to your kitchen to prepare breakfast, lunch or dinner and averting your eyes from your surroundings? That is likely because you are tired of the worn-out, faded look that stares back at you. Short of an entire kitchen make-over what can you do? We have a suggestion to brighten your kitchen and your mood!

Redo your kitchen cabinets! Now, at first this may seem like too-easy of a fix that will not bring the results you are looking for. But, after years in the business, we know just what freshly painted kitchen cabinets can do for a kitchen. Consider that in many kitchens the cabinets take up the greatest amount of space. They are above and below the counter space and usually circle the entire room. If you have an island, more cabinets might be found there. In other words, your cabinets may take up 50% or more of the visual space you are looking at.

Perhaps you didn’t realize the impact of cabinets before now. Maybe, when you purchased the home you liked the color of your cabinets. But over time everything presents better with a new look and that is as true of kitchen cabinets as a new hair style!

So here is some advice that may help you in your decision to redo your cabinets.

• First, get out there and see what the latest styles and colors in kitchen cabinets are being marketed today. That may require you to visit some home stores where you can browse or talk to an expert on cabinets.
• Second, you may want to take the time to visit home openings of developments that are being built. They often offer the most up-to-date looks on kitchen cabinetry.
• Third, use the internet! There are dozens of sites devoted to updating a kitchen appearance by painting your cabinets.
• Fourth, bring in a professional paint company or two to get their perspectives.

Once you know what look you are going for, make that change! For more information on kitchen cabinet refacing, contact the professionals at University Painters, Inc.

With Thanksgiving right around the corner and no time or money available to create that perfect holiday exterior we have some suggestions that will give your home’s exterior a pleasant, fresh holiday look.

• Clean your windows. You can hire out the project if you don’t have the time or don’t want to put in the effort. Nothing says dingy like a home full of dirty windows. Windows tend to hold all of the indoor and outdoor invisible pollutants that waft through the air. Over time they can make your windows look dull. This is a simple trick that will help make your home shine!
• Do a total once-over of your home’s grounds. If you live in an area that receives lots of rain and snow wait for a dry day and roll up your sleeves. Trim the hedges, do a final raking, and you might even consider power-washing the exterior to give it a fresh clean look. Then add some decorations and ‘voila’ you have a home that exudes beauty! Neat, tidy exteriors are inviting. If you don’t want to power wash the entire exterior of your home you may decide to target certain areas that get a lot of traffic, such as the front door and porch or patio.
• While you’re outside you might as well take the time to clean out the garage. Give it a good going over because it may be several months before you will be able to do this again. Consider the task as working from the ‘outside in’. You start with the exterior of your home and finish your fall cleaning and organizing and then you can move indoors for more of the same. If you have a shed or other outbuilding it deserves your attention as well. Organizing and maintaining your property is cheaper than letting things fall into disrepair and having to pay to repair and rebuild.

Well, there you go. A day’s worth of elbow grease and you have revived a dwindling exterior. Now all you need to do is add some decorations and its holiday time!

Remember, when its time to paint your home or business contact the professionals at University Painters, Inc.

It’s the time of year when people want to spruce up their home before family and guests knock on the door. Perhaps you don’t have the time or money to redo the entire outdoor façade or indoor rooms. So, we would like to suggest that you consider making some choices that will target certain areas of your home that when highlighted, give it an overall updated and fresh look. What follows are several ideas for a quick paint splash that will have you feeling smart about your painting decisions.

• Walk the perimeter of your home and take a few pictures of certain areas you believe would benefit from a slight upgrade. Then wait a day before looking at the photos so you can view them with a ‘fresh eye’. You might even ask for input from friends and family. It’s hard to be critical of yourself and your belongings and that includes your property!

You may find that perhaps the front facing outdoor wall has a dingy, worn look. It might do with just a little power washing (on a good day when the sun is out to dry it off). Or upon closer inspection it seems that your shutters, windows or front door could use some refurbishing. Why, sometimes even repainting the trim will result in a fresh glowing façade!

• Don’t forget the indoors, too! Again, do a complete walk-through of your home from top to bottom and be critical of areas where family and friends may gather during the holiday dinner or party. Try to look at each room through the eyes of your soon-to-be-visitors. What do you see? Are there scuff marks or paint chips? Perhaps a particular room has a lackluster presentation. Suggestions for upgrades may include everything from painting an accent wall to redoing the trim around doors and windows.

Who doesn’t love the holiday and entertaining? We all want to put our ‘best foot forward’ but that doesn’t mean you have to invest a small fortune to give your home a fresh look indoors and out. From our perspective a little paint can go a long way in making your house look fresh indoors and out!
If you are in need of painting expertise, contact University Painters! Your home is our business!

Fall is here and winter is just around the corner. If you didn’t get around to those home improvement projects you were planning, don’t despair—all is not lost. The professionals at University Painters believe winter is an ideal time to tackle interior painting. The colder months bring snow days and time off from work during the holidays, offering the perfect opportunity to embark on an indoor painting project.

Professional painters are typically less busy during the winter than during the warmer months. As a result, it may be easier for contractors to work the project around your schedule. Painting your home’s interior during the winter could potentially save you money, as costs are often lower than in the summer. This means that you’ll likely reap the benefits of hiring professional painters with less expense than if you hired them for the same project during the summer.

Surprisingly, paint actually dries faster in the wintertime than the rest of the year. While the weather is warmer in the summer, this warmth also comes with a higher average humidity, which slows down the drying process. Although colder, winter’s weather is also much less humid, allowing the paint to dry more quickly. Of course, you’ll still need to ventilate the room by opening a window to take advantage of that crisp air.

Lighting quality may also be more favorable during the winter months. As the sun rises earlier, painters will be able to get an earlier start and finish earlier in the day. Any snow on the ground will reflect the sun, enabling painters to work in an ideal natural light speeding up the process. The better light also helps painters notice and remedy any missed spots or uneven areas.

There are plenty of home improvement projects that should be saved for warmer weather, but indoor painting isn’t one of them. If you’re considering an indoor painting project this winter, please contact University Painters at (800) 390-4848 or visit our website at https://universitypainters.com.

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Achieving painting perfection is often more about the preparation than the actual brush and roller work. When painting a room, the quality of the prep work can either make or break an entire paint job. Following these tips from University Painters will help ensure the best possible results on your painting project.

Before you begin, remove everything from the room. This includes anything on the floor or anything that’s attached to the wall, like outlet covers, switch plates, towel bars, and toilet paper holders. You can leave flush-mount sconces or light fixtures, but everything else needs to go.

Once the room has been stripped bare, cover up any exposed flooring with tarps, sheets, towels, newspaper, or plastic sheeting. Painters’ drop cloths are ideal, but they’re pretty pricey, and these alternatives work just as well. Put a folded towel in the doorway to wipe your feet so you don’t spread any drips— and there will be drips, no matter how careful you are.

Next, assess the condition of the walls. Are there any uneven spots or dimpling? Are there any nails protruding from the drywall? Are there holes from long-ago anchors? Hills and bumps need to be sanded down, and holes must be filled with spackle or joint compound. Once the spackle is dry, sand it until it is smooth. Lastly, remove any remaining dust with a damp sponge and a bucket of fresh water.

The final step is to grab a roll of that blue masking tape and start taping! Begin with any light fixtures and then move on to the baseboards and trim around windows and doors. A neat and even tape job will result in crisp, clean lines and a professional-looking finish.

After completing your quality prep work, you’re ready to paint! For more painting tips and ideas, please be sure to visit our website at https:// universitypainters.com. Or call us at 1-800-390-4848.

Many home improvement projects are a big disruption to our daily schedules, and painting is no exception. At University Painters, we do our best to keep the disruption to a minimum. Generally, there is no need for you to remain in your home while the interior is being painted, unless of course that’s your preference.

While we leave the ultimate decision up to you, many of our clients prefer to vacate their homes during the project. Painting the entire interior is likely to take several days. Before we begin, we’ll prep all our work areas in order to protect your furniture and possessions from any accidental paint drips or splatters. This allows us to work more quickly and efficiently than if we focused on individual rooms. We’ll carefully cover all the beds, furniture, and appliances for the entirety of the project, so it’s up to you if you’d like to live in the home during this process. If you wish to stay or have no other alternative, we can accommodate you by either completing one bedroom first or saving it for last so you’ll be able to sleep at home.

University Painters uses high quality paints and the odor is generally not a problem. If we’re only painting walls and ceilings, for example, the odor may not be an issue for you. However, if you are sensitive to smells you may want to find alternative accommodations while the work is being done.

The painting of cabinets often has a more potent odor, as the prep process for these surfaces may require additional chemical agents. Since every client has a different tolerance level, we recommend leaving the home if possible.

Of course, for smaller projects, such as painting only a few rooms, it makes perfect sense to stay if that’s your preference. We pride ourselves on accommodating whichever choice you feel most comfortable with.

Should you decide to leave your home, you can feel confident that we hire only the most trustworthy crews, and have no reservations about leaving them unattended. For more information on our painting services, please visit our website at https://universitypainters.com.

We’ve all heard about the dangers of lead paint, but is it really something we need to worry about? For most of us, the short answer is probably not. However, lead paint can pose a significant health risk, so it’s important to understand when it can potentially cause a problem.

Lead paint was used in homes built before 1978, when the federal government banned its use. Some states outlawed it even earlier, but all homes constructed prior to 1978 could potentially contain lead paint. It’s generally not a problem unless older layers of paint are chipping, flaking, or sanded into dust. It can be exposed through repairs, remodeling, or extensive wear and tear.

Exposure to lead paint can cause serious health issues, especially in young children and pregnant women. High levels of lead can cause lead poisoning or brain or nervous system damage. In children, even low levels may cause behavioral problems or learning disabilities.

Because of their tendency to chew everything in sight, toddlers are most likely to ingest lead paint, especially if it is flaking or peeling off the walls in an older home. Children’s bodies absorb lead much more easily than adults; and even low levels of lead can harm a pregnant woman’s developing baby.

If you suspect lead paint in your home, you can send a paint sample to a certified laboratory, or use a home lead test kit. They are readily available at home improvement stores.

When lead paint is present in a home, leaving it undisturbed is sometimes better than removing it, as long as the paint is not chipping or disintegrating. The removal process is labor intensive and should ideally be done by a professional. If the surface is in good condition, you can minimize the chance of lead exposure by covering it with wallpaper, paneling, or a fresh coat of new paint.

If you are concerned about lead paint, please contact the paint professionals at University Painters. Visit our website at https://universitypainters.com.