Making the Paint Job Last

Painting the exterior (or interior) of a residence or business is a costly and time consuming undertaking. You may invest time, money and angst to ensure you get the look you are aiming for. In that case, you want to make the paint job last as long as possible. Consider the following advice.

• Start by ensuring the surfaces of the structure you will be painting are clean. If it is an interior you should wash the walls down with a mild soap and rinse thoroughly. If it an exterior you will most likely use a power washer. Painters have a saying – the paint job will only be as good as the surface on which it is applied. So the first step is the most important!
• Another part of the prepping process is repairing any damage to the surface. If there are issues with the surface to be covered, the paint may not stick or stay adhered as long. Ultimately the surface should be as level as possible. Otherwise, it opens up the possibility of bubbling and chipping paint.
• Take care to keep pooling water and standing puddles away from the home. Water damage is one of the quickest ways to prevent the paint job from staying fresh. Don’t run your sprinkler close to the home and if you have a pool try not to place it so close to the dwelling that water regularly gets splashed on it. The same is true of little areas you might overlook. For instance – windows. If you have a leaky window it will eventually affect your paint job. What makes it worse is that the dulling paint in certain spots will be obvious against the rest of the structure.
• Invest in a good gutter system. Make sure the spouts drop the water far enough into the yard to avoid water damage.
• Still another way to make your paint job last longer is to ‘enhance’ the paint product. There are several items you can include in a can of latex paint to give it a more durable finish. Fairly new on the market, the aim of these products is to ‘suspend the particles and lock them throughout the paint, allowing them to remain bright and fresh-looking for a longer period of time’. Certain products also keep the paint clean longer.

If you are in need of a professional company to put a new look on your home or business, contact University Painters, Inc. We are sure you will be pleased!