Surface Preparation: Residential and Commercial Painting

As a professional house painting contractor and commercial painting contractor in Colorado, we know the preparation involved in a paint job is the key to a quality, long-lasting paint job. The first thing to be done is rinsing down the house. This is accomplished one of two ways: either a light wash with a hose or a power wash using a 2300+ PSI unit. The method used will be based on the condition of your home, as there are advantages and disadvantages to each.

Once the house is dry, the labor-intensive preparation can begin. If the prep-work is low-quality, even the highest quality paint will not last. Preparation includes, but is not limited to scraping, sanding, wire-brushing, priming, caulking, and filling. Using an elastomeric 55-year warranty caulk is a critical step if you want a long-lasting paint job. The caulk will stretch as the house expands with heat and contracts with cool weather.

One thing to be aware of: most companies caulk only where there are cracks. Before painting, it is important to re-caulk areas that are prone to cracking including around windows, doors and in the corners of soffits. These are details that most painters will skip because they are not committed to a quality paint job. Rest assured that we know what it takes to properly prep your home before we start painting.

Scraping and Sanding

Loose flaking paint will likely come off if a power wash is done. A scraper is used to take off additional flaking, peeling paint. Sanding with a power sander is done to smooth the edges where old paint still exists. It also helps score the paint in these areas to help the new primer and paint adhere. This tedious step will help ensure a quality, long-lasting paint job.

A wire-brush is used on rough-sewn wood where the texture is part of the character of the home. The purpose is to remove flaking, peeling paint. On interior painting projects, there is typically not any scraping and sanding. Interior painting often requires filling nail holes and patching drywall from holes and dings. We also wipe down walls and sills to make sure there isn’t dirt before we paint. Mile High Coatings can also remove wallpaper if necessary.

High-Quality Primer

A high-quality primer is used for multiple purposes. Primer helps to seal the wood or substrate and has different properties than paint. It helps the paint coat to adhere better and helps create a consistent coat and finish. Primer has an entirely different chemical make-up than paint. There are different primers for different situations (stain blocking, gloss surfaces, etc) and Mile High Coatings uses only the highest-quality primers specified for their application.

On interior paint jobs, two coats of paint is the standard unless being applied to an unpainted surface, in which case a primer will be needed. If drywall is unpainted, a drywall primer is used after properly sanding. For unpainted wood trim, a high-quality oil-based primer is used.

Bonding The Surface

A lifetime warranty, urethanized, elastomeric caulk is used on our exterior paint projects. A quality caulk will expand and contract with the home and should retain its elasticity for many years. The purpose of caulk is to seal and/or fill small cracks along vertical seams and fascia boards. We always check around all 4 sides of windows and unseen areas to ensure there aren’t any open cracks or missing caulk.

Caulking helps to prevent moisture from penetrating the surface and causing warped siding and potential rotting. Keep in mind that there are areas around the home that are not caulked. This is to prevent trapped water and air. It helps to allow the house to contract and expand (or breathe) throughout the seasons.

Painting

Mile High Coatings paints after the preparation is complete, we will carefully mask or cover all appropriate items (typically anything that we don’t want to get paint on). These include, but are not limited to windows, brick, and railings. We will use drop cloths for areas on the ground to protect decks, concrete, and landscaping.

Once the area is masked, we will spray the body and brush the trim. Methods may vary from home to home. In some cases and only in a few places, it makes sense to spray the trim. This method should only be done by professionals.

Mile High Coatings can offer a back-rolling coat over the first coat. This method will further increase the quality of the finish, help the paint job to last longer, and provide the best overall quality job.

We do occasionally brush and roll homes, but please be aware that the cost-benefit of this application is typically not favorable to spraying.

Our Painters

Mile High Coatings employs experienced painters. All workers are experienced painters who typically have at least five years of experience. Our painters are covered by our Workmans Compensation insurance.

Mile High Coatings hires only painters with the utmost integrity and professionalism. We appreciate that you are placing your trust in Mile High Coatings to do an outstanding job painting your home. We paint houses in Denver, Westminster, Arvada, Thornton, Broomfield, Longmont painter, Loveland painting, Fort Collins painter, Windsor, and Greeley painting.

High Quality House Paint

HIGH-QUALITY HOUSE PAINT FOR TOUGH COLORADO WEATHER
Mile High Coatings only uses top-grade 100% acrylic paint. We prefer to use the Green Seal products from Sherwin-Williams or Benjamin-Moore. If you have a preference, please let us know! When measuring the quality of a 100% acrylic paint, the higher percentage of solids indicates a higher quality of paint. Don’t be fooled by low-quality, 100% acrylic paint!

Commitment to YOUR Satisfaction

The commitment to quality and customer satisfaction is what Mile High Coatings are the principles upon which we are building our reputation. Feedback is always appreciated and welcomed.

The Mile High Coatings Warranty

Mile High Coatings offers a standard 5 Year Warranty on paint and labor and an upgraded 7 Year Warranty and we have recently introduced our Ultra 10 Year Warranty. This is practically unheard of in the painting industry! We are very confident in our work and recognize that if new paint is going to fail, it will typically do so within a year. You should expect to get 9-14 years life out of a paint job. The life is dependent on exposure to weather, the quality and color of the paint, and especially the quality of the preparation. Darker colors will tend to fade and chalk within a shorter time period than a light color. Ask your estimator for more information!