Get To Know Our Painting Process
Mile High Coatings is a highly-skilled commercial and residential painting team who delivers on customer expectations. With over 12 years of experience on all types of painting projects, we can meet all your painting needs. We are proud to be among the leading painters in Fort Collins, as both residential and commercial painting experts in Fort Collins, Denver, Boulder, Loveland, Greeley, and beyond!
Let us help you plan and execute your painting and flooring project with confidence. We are confident that you, too, will be satisfied with the quality of our work, the durability of our finish, and the lasting beauty of your project.
Want to know how we paint your house? Let’s get to know how the process flows!
Painting Process - Surface Preparation
Surface Preparation
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.
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. We are very confident in our work. You should expect to get 9-14 years life out of a paint job.
Ready To Start Your Project With Us? Call Now! Mile High Coatings brings you the most complete line up of painting applications with one phone call.
Gallery
F.A.Q
What kind of paint do you use?
We use the best paints from Sherwin-Williams or Benjamin-Moore.
Can you repair damage to my siding or trim?
We can perform repairs and replacement to most siding and trim. We cannot replace pieces of wooden windows or fascia that sits behind gutters.
How many coats of paint to you apply?
We apply two coats of paint for our exterior and interior projects. Even though most paints try to hype one coat coverage, we find that applying two coats results in a better finish and longer lasting paint job. With that said, the exterior application is typically applied with an airless sprayer in a cross-hatch pattern and applied wet-on-wet by experienced painters. The manufacturers and their reps have stated it's fine to do this and there is not an issue with drying and curing.
Do you hire college kids to paint?
All of our crews are experienced painters and work full-time at their craft. So, this means that we would generally not hire college students to paint.
Do you caulk and prep before you paint?
As part of our painting process, we pressure wash (exterior), caulk seams that are cracked, fill nail holes, apply primer to bare substrates and trouble spots and make sure the substrate is clean and ready to accept new paint. The preparation is the most important part of the paint job and we want to be sure that we have good adhesion and a sound substrate before painting.
Are you insured? Are you licensed?
Yes, we have full liability insurance and full workman's compensation insurance. In Colorado, painting companies do not have to have a license - basically, anyone can call themselves a painter. Please be careful who you choose to paint your house. A low price can certainly indicate a red flag. Also, please don't provide a deposit for materials, etc. Any legitimate company can charge their materials to their account at the paint supply store. We've heard too many stories of customers providing deposits and then getting burned.
Thank you so much for all your hard work in getting our home looking great. David and the painters worked hard to make sure that our house was properly prepped before the painting began.
Tim B., Fort Collins
