Residential painting advice blog

This is great news for all in the paint and color industry and those who love to pick colors for their living and working spaces.
Benjamin Moore has come up with a new way of grouping colors together. There are eight different groups of colors to choose from. Anything from Shades of Gray to Fiery Sunset and everything in between. There is a story behind every color and stories are a collection of great tales of hues inspired by nature, objects, and imagination. Did I say there is an App for it? Yes, there is an iPad App for it as well.
Follow the link below to get inspired by colors and tales:

Color Stories

New construction painting projects are not the most profitable painting projects out there. However, if a professional painting contractor is fortunate enough to team up with a well organized and reputable general contracting company, residential new construction painting can be done on time and on budget without sacrificing the quality that homeowners expect.

As soon as I launched my residential painting company in 2004, I was awarded contracts for a few new construction painting projects to cut my teeth on. I had the misfortune of working with a one-man-show construction management company whose mismanagement and lack of organization caused all parties involved to pay dearly. What a nightmare! The good news is I learned valuable lessons and became more selective in choosing prospective general contractor clients.

My company, PaintTrack.com completed a dozen new construction residential painting projects between 2004 and 2007. Although, we completed every interior painting job on time, on budget, and with quality craftsmanship, I realized it was hard to make a profit when dealing with unqualified builders who just happened to land building projects due to the boom in building new custom homes at the time, rather than based on the quality of their work or knowledge of the construction field.

Throughout the years organization is the one factor that helped me the most. I was able to standardize every task by on-site training and reviews of my professional paint crew members to make sure we all follow the same procedures. For example, we have specified procedures for filling up nail holes or painting wood windows. Moreover, by collecting detailed time/task sheets we were able to pinpoint which crew member worked on an interior painted surface, when they performed the work and how long it took them to complete it. Our clients benefit by our professional standards in training and efficiency.

Recent years have seen a slow down in the construction trades, but even so, PaintTrack.com continues to build good relationships with reputable partners. We are currently working with a well organized construction management company and are due to complete the interior painting of the custom 6000 plus sq/ft home in Riverdale NY your see here by the end of August 2011. Visit our Facebook gallery for more photos of this project.

Stains in general, and deck stains in particular, have been a problematic item of paint contracting challenges within the past few years. More specifically, carrying these projects are more challenging since much stringent regulations went into effect to limit the amount of Volatile Organic Compounds aka VOC that can go into a can of paint. As a house painter in Westchester county New York, I have been looking for a satin product that protects and beautifies wood surfaces, resists mildew, has an easy application, stands the elements, and more importantly, it is environmentally benign by design.

My research led me to a most unique Benjamin Moore product: Arborcoat Stains®. My painters and I love this stain and have been applying it for most of our new wood staining projects.

Arborcoat Stain® comes in Transparent, Semi Transparent, Semi Solid, and Solid. It is 100% Acrylic, formulated to penetrate and protect the wood, resists abrasion, and beautify wood surfaces on deck, siding, and fence. The fact that it is 100% Acrylic makes it a perfect solution for mildew prone areas and surfaces. Arborcoat Stain® may be applied to new and pressure-treated lumber and is ideal for soft wood such as cedar and pine. However, I’d avoid using it on hardwood such as mahogany, ipe, and oak.
One major characteristic I like about Arborcoat Stain® is its ease of application and hiding property on solid colors. Remember the transparent and semi-transparent Arboarcoat Stains® have to be top coated with Arborcoat clear protection coat (636). This is a low luster protective coat which protects the stained surface against weathering elements. The good news is that this clear coat can be applied on the same day as you stain the deck. As for the maintenance of transparent and semi-transparent surfaces, Benjamin Moore recommends to wash the surface lightly and apply a coat of clear protective (636) each year to keep the wood look beautiful and structural optimum. For more information on Arborcoat visit Benjamin Moore site at: www.benjaminmoore.com

Staining and finishing a Therma Tru door is one of those projects I truly enjoy doing. Gel staining doors require certain level of patience and organization to achieve a professional result. So, if you plan on staining a door don’t rush through it and follow the staining instruction closely. It is possible to stain and clear coat a Therma Tru door in one day. However, many new doors are installed along with side glass sections that need to be stained as well. There are also many cases where the interior and exterior stain colors are not the same and therefore more time is needed to finish.
It is a good practice to finish all the preparation and staining of Therma Tru door in one day and clear coat it the next day. This way you don’t take chances on applying the finish coat on not completely dry stain.
Bare in mind also that door casing usually is made of natural wood and staining it with the same color stain might not match the door color. In such cases, some sampling of the colors is needed to figure out what stain color to use for the casing in order to get it match the door color. It is well worth spending some time to figure out the colors and practice runs before you are ready to start the actual staining of the door. Unless you are a pro and know what you are doing!
Following link provides instruction, video, and other related information you need to complete staining Therma Tru doors on your own:

http://www.thermatru.com/products/entry/stain/index.aspx

It is said that many people spend more time researching to choose home electronics such as TV and cameras than they spend on hiring a prospective contractor or painter.
We have operated in Westchester County NY and Fairfield County CT for years where most of our clients are from and their referrals have been a great source of new business for us. Although it is a prudent idea to ask a friend or a neighbor to refer a professional painter, many people end up searching for a house painter online. In either case customers need to do some homework before and after meeting with painting contractors and to follow some simple steps to ensure they hire the right painter to paint their house or business. I outline herein the list of important steps you the consumer, need to follow when you are thinking to hire a painter:

1. Have a list of what you want to paint and any other project related details (e.g., restorations) you want to discuss with a prospective contractor before you make an appointment with them.
2. Call two to three painting contractors to set up an onsite appointment and make sure to meet them in person and leave enough time to discuss the project with each painter. Meeting the potential contractor in person enables you to observe his or her timeliness, appearance, professional knowledge of products, and advice, etc.
3. The following are good questions to ask during meeting:
a) Ask if they are licensed and insured and whether they can provide liability insurance certificate.
b) Do they have workers’ compensation insurance and can they provide a certificate of workers’ compensation insurance?
c) Are they member of any professional association?
d) Can they provide references?
e) Ask about the process and work sequence. A good painting
contractor should be knowledgeable enough to educate you about what needs to be done and make professional recommendations.
f) What sort of warranty they can provide for their work?
4. Ask for detailed project estimate to include the scope of work, paint work sequence, detail preparation, number of coats, products, cost and payment schedule, and the workmanship guarantees.
5. Once you have received estimates and have gathered all information try to compare them side by side to make sure they are comparable. By then you would have a good idea of which painter is better qualified to work on your project. Avoid proceeding with the unusually lower estimates. If it is too good to be true, it probably is untrue! Proceed with the above average, realistic and detailed estimate as it will in the long run save you time, avoids cost run up, redoing, and aggravations.
6. Make sure you sign a written agreement or contract prior to the start of painting project. Read the contract to make sure it spells out the work scope, pricing based on the provided estimate and the guarantees. The contract shall also have payment schedule.
For more information please visit PDCA web site to read related article.

Today at dawn, I received a splendid correspondence from PDCA Contractor College. I was informed that I have fulfilled all educational and documentation requirements and my company is now the 109th painting company to receive the PDCA Contractor College accreditation in the U.S. In continued quest to become and remain the best in my field I started the PDCA application and documentation process in early 2008. I attended PDCA convention in LA, and continued by accumulating the required continuing education credits in New Orleans and Arizona in 2009 and 2010 respectively. It has been a long, nonetheless, fulfilling journey.
During the subsequent two-year accreditation cycles a certified company is required to complete 24 credits in order to maintain their status as an accredited company. So, not fully done with yet!
PDCA Contractor College is the single educational hop for the professional painting and decorating contractors. It provides a community of learners and educators for painting and decorating contractors that leads to business excellence.
I genuinely encourage reputable painting professional colleagues to join PDCA and attend the Contractor College in order to stay well informed about the latest in paint industry trends.

I present herein a select sample of the College courses:
* Decorative finishes workshops
* Chemistry of paint
* Navigating the often complex OSHA regulations
* Designing an effective safety program
* Recruiting, motivating, and managing the best workforce
* Devising a workable business plan that will guarantee success
* Sales skills training to drive success
* The latest industry technology and technical information

I recently attended a three day PDCA seminars and trade show in Buffalo, New York. Meeting and exchanging ideas with other painting contractors, especially with the CEO of National PDCA, was the highlight of my trip. I was honored to receive the Distinguished Contractor of the Year Award sponsored by PDCA.
I also participated in two business marketing seminars tailored toward painting contractors. Most painting contractors attending the seminars explored novel marketing tools and strategies available to them to implement in order to stay competitive in their businesses and to grow their share of the local market. However, there are still some peers who cannot quite grasp the need and merit for effective marketing strategies such as their painting companies online showcase.
Unless they adopt to the new business realities, I am afraid it increasingly become challenging for them to stay in the field, let alone grow and take their business to the next level.

So far, this has been one of the busiest summers on record for me, not so much for the size and scope of painting projects we had to deal with, but rather for the number of projects we have successfully completed. As expected in most areas of the Westchester New York and Fairfield County Connecticut, mildews has been one of the main challenges for exterior painting companies to deal with. This year in particular we had four separate projects where the entire exterior painted surfaces were covered with black mildew. This problem was especially exacerbated where oil based paint was previously used. In mildew prone areas such as homes that are surrounded with trees and vegetation oil paint is recipe for disaster. It’s been said that oil based paint is mildew food and not to my surprise three out of four mentioned houses were previously painted with high quality name brand oil based paints or stains. To mitigate the problem we had to power-wash the surface with cleaning solutions, apply a coat of mildew sealer/blocker, and paint with a high quality 100% Acrylic paint or stain. We have been using mildew sealer for the past five years with great success. Not only does it prevent any remaining mildew from growing and resurfacing again but that it also acts as a great bridge primer to facilitate the switch from oil to acrylic paint or stain.
I just don’t understand why many painters still insist on using oil based paint! The paint and coating industry have come a long way since the days of oil paint superiority. Acrylic paint products and especially those with low or zero VOC are much better for our environmental sustainability and can outperform their oil counterparts in nine out of ten characteristics.

Regular cleaning and maintenance of gutters, leaders and down spouts can extend life of exterior painting, aesthetics and the integrity of your house structure. On the first day before we start the preparation and painting of any exterior painting of a house, thorough cleaning of the gutters is one of the first task to complete. Ever since we have started our house painting business in Westchester, I have advised homeowners to ensure their gutters and leaders, securely attached to the house, are clean so rain water can flow down and away from the house without any obstruction. I would recommend to our clients to clean gutters frequently to prevent overflow which could cause paint failure and wood rot if it persists. The best time to tackle this maintenance is in early spring, late spring, mid fall, and late fall.

Over the years of our house painting projects, I have witnessed ample painted gutters. What people need to recognize is that painted gutter surface would look far dirtier after a season of weathering exposure. Instead of painting aluminum gutters their facial exposure should be cleaned with a special cleaning fluid available in hardware stores. A homeowner simply sprays the face of gutters with the ready to use cleaning fluid, wait for a minute or two, and then wipes off with a rag or towel to achieve the shiny brand new look.

After more than a month of anxiously waiting, I finally received the Paint Track’s EPA certification by official mail yesterday. I had already received my personal EPA certification when I attended the Lead Safety course about two months ago; however, companies need to be certified along with individuals who actually perform and supervise the work on pre 1978 buildings within such companies. Throughout the past few months I have had many discussions with colleagues and peers in paint and coating industry regarding the Lead Safety Renovation, Repair, and Painting requirements as set forth by the EPA and how we as professional painters need to comply with the newly enacted law.

Seasoned generation painters remember those old days when lead was considered quality ingredient for paint and more lead in the can of paint meant better quality! I even heard it was advertised on billboards and posters. Well, I saw one of those advertisements today in a movie setting depicting 1930’s California. For the past week or so there is a huge movie crew shooting part of an HBO series on Bank Street in our town. They have turned one of the local stores into a paint and hardware store from the 1930s. It is also interesting and surprising to me that Benjamin Moore was the brand of choice back then on the west coast. Here are a few pictures of the paint store and the infamous Dutch Boy Lead paint poster: