Average cost of painting the exterior of your home

Unlike interior painting, an exterior painting quote is dependent on a limited number of factors. In this article, we explain our price formula which has been fine tuned over the last decade and proven to produce the most satisfied clients, as well as sustain ELEGANT PAINTING® as a successful local employer.

#1 factor: condition of current paint

Allowing paint to chip and peel before requesting the services of a professional painter comes with two complications;

1) Increased labor costs Removing loose paint is costly. Peeling layers must be manually removed and primer must be hand painted to ensure proper adhesion. This is old fashioned manual labor and it will cost you.

2) Decreased durability. Once your current coat of paint stops being protective, your substrate begins to deteriorate. Even with proper preparation you still run the risk of the new paint job failing prematurely. You also run the risk of ending up with a painting company that does not perform a proper preparation service.

#2 factor: Height

A three story house will always cost more to paint. Roofing, gutter cleaning and window cleaning will all cost more if you own a three story house. Another factor is the amount of trim to be painted on your three story house.

#3 factor: Roof pitch

If there are surfaces only reached by walking on the roof, then the pitch of your roof comes into question. Most Northwest homes have roof pitch of bellow 12/12 which can be walked on with OSHA approved safety gear. Roof pitch 12/12 (not common) cannot be walked on and require ladder hooks.

#4 factor: Slope of your lot

Has your home been built on a steep slopes? Most homes are on semi-level lots and are easily painted using ladder leveler. We have encountered a few dozen projects where a ladder-trench had to be dug in order to secure our ladder legs.

#1 factor: Siding type

There are only a few common siding types on Northwest homes

1) Beveled cedar siding. The most common type of siding used on homes constructed prior to the 1990’s. While this material is still in use, it has been widely replaced with Hardie Board siding. You can expect to pay a bit more to paint your house if you have rough-cut cedar siding. The roughness of this surface is what makes it a durable product as it holds on lots of paint and also cools down faster. Back-rolling or back-brushing is an absolute must with this type of siding. Paint must be pushed into the texture to ensure a strong bond.

2) Hardie board siding. Used on nearly all new homes, this material is easy to maintain, fairly inexpensive to paint, and it holds on to paint for many years. It is crucial that Hardie Board siding is painted using spray & back-roll method to ensure enhanced adhesion and an even spread of paint.

3)Tongue and groove siding. Less common cedar siding that general costs more to paint d

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Polo Club fence painting progress report

Click here to View your invoice/estimate/payment terms

Purpose of this report

State progress, report completed sections, report next steps, Provide estimated dates, etc.

View a sample progress report for a single family residential project.

View the Brookside Country Club fence progress report.

Note: This estimate includes top of fence and one side (facing Avondale). Rear of the fence (facing Residential) is excluded from this project.

Dates:

NOTE: Starting and completion dates are weather dependent. Once your project begins, our crew will work consecutive business days. Normal business hours: 8AM-4PM Mon-Fri, and 7AM-3PM Mon-Fri on high temperature days. We may work weekends to make up any missed week days due to rain.

Power washing: week of June 16, 2014

Estimated power washing completion: week of June 16th, 2014

Painting start date: Week of June 16, 2014

Estimated completion date:Week of June 16, 2014 – Week of June 23, 2014

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Power washing

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Power washing completion date: 6/18/2014

Paint application

Back-rolling the entire surface to enhance adhesion and provide an even spread. Watch a video on the topic of Back-rolling

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Thank you for choosing ELEGANT PAINTING®

11717 NE 144th PL Kirkland, WA 98034 (425) 242-4646 myhouse@elegantpainting.com

Painters near east side kirkland woodinville redmond WA

How precise are we?

Some photos of our razor sharp lines.

Painters near east side

Sammamish WA Exterior painting – Columbia Neighborhood – Sammamish, WA

Starting Date: July 15th, 2013

Completion Date: July 19th, 2013

Our most recent project in the beautiful Columbia neighborhood of Sammamish, WA. We are thrilled to have 10 or more clients in this neighborhood.

Colors

Preparation

We masked windows, concrete patios, power outlets, front rocks, etc. We also caulked all imperfections on the wood trim, and all butt-joints on the fiver cement siding boards.

Protecting the neighbor’s plants, while spraying the fence.

Paint Application

As always, we Apply two coats and back-roll both coats to ensure the material is being rubbed into the surface, as supposed to a quick one day spray job.

Finished Product

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Sammamish Exterior painters

Sammamish, WA

Power washing

Completed 2-3 weeks before painting. Because eaves are constructed out of plywood, and since they do not receive any direct sun, we allow several weeks of drying time. Our power washer removed bee’s nests, spider webs, and most importantly, an invisible layer of pollution that would otherwise mix into the paint and alter its formula.

Colors

Material

Masking and cover-up

This house is tastefully landscaped and our goal is to not break a single twig. We started by masking windows, front bricks, and covering up plants.

Masking Windows

We have expert maskers on the crew. We guarantee a neat job. Once we are finished, there should not be a single drop of paint on any bricks, concrete, windows, etc.

Caulking

Since we are dealing with fiber cement siding, we caulked every single butt-joint to prevent moisture penetration. Product of choice: Sika by Sika group of America. This is the mother of all adhesives. Once dry, this caulking material has the same feel as rubber used in car tires. It remains flexible even after fully cured.

Applying the second coat

As always, we apply 2 coats whether it is needed or not. Both coats are back-rolled to improve adhesion and spread the paint evenly.

Front Door

After sanding, cleaning, and performing our standard precision masking, The front door was treated with 2 coats of Benjamin Moore MoorGlo. Color: 2137-10. with every front door we paint, our goal is to produce a finish that resembles something that just rolled off the factory line, and on this project, weather conditions were perfect and we were able to reach our goal.

Railings

ELEGANT PAINTING signature 2 tone railings. Spindles are body color, and the horizontal pieces have been coated with 2 coats of the trim paint.

Finished product

Completion date: July 8th, 2013.

Sammamish Exterior painters

Gray exterior paint colors

Gray exterior paint colors are classic colors that work with any color scheme and combination. Gray works with white trim, darker gray trim, red doors, and pretty much any color configuration you could think of. Gray can be cool and classic, or daring and bold with a deep hint of blue. We recommend a lighter shade of gray for smaller homes. A light gray can take years off the look of an older rambler and give it an updated clean look that appeals to any taste.

List of exterior grays and houses painted by Elegant Painting®

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Light Gray exterior paint colors

A light gray with warm undertone can create a classic and calm finish. It is perfect for large or small exteriors in The Northwest setting. If you are looking for that perfect, clean look, this might be the color for you. Gray siding limits your trim choices to pure white or very light shades of gray.

You may also be interested in our Exterior Photo Gallery

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See photos of houses we’ve painted in these classic favorite gray colors:

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Role of primer in house painting

All too often house painting companies skip this very crucial step when painting exteriors. Unsuspecting home-owners can not tell the difference between a well prepared and primed surface, and a paint job that produces substrate protection for only a short period of time. It is important that you hire only reliable and established painters who have proven themselves over time. Drive by and see some of their model homes, contact references, and learn how long the painting company has been around.

House painting and wood rot

Raw wood is constantly trying to return to nature (rot). Wood surfaces breath and have a natural humidity of ten to fifteen percent. This humidly level fluctuates based on air humidity. When exposed to high humidity, dead wood will capture some water from the air. Living plants have microscopic pockets of water, but in dead wood, these pockets are consumed by fungai, and the walls between the pockets open up. This allows more moisture to be absorbed in the wood, providing more humid wood, which is more favorable to rapid growth of fungi, thus accelerating the decay of the wood.

Role of Primer in Exterior House Painting

Priming is mandatory for exterior surfaces in our damp climate. Primer acts as sealant. It covers water stains, oil stains, and any other material that be be present on the substrate. Wihtout primer, your wood siding is exposed to the elements. Primer is an under-coat applied before painting. Priming improves adhesion, increases durability, and is an excellent protector for exterior substrate. As paint dries, it undergoes chemical reactions. Water evaporates from paint as it cures. Primer controls the curing pace of finish paint and allows it to cure slowly while the chemical reaction is taking place.

Applying Exterior Primer

Primer should never be sprayed on. Having a thin, sprayed layer of primer sitting on the surface offers little to no protection. Brush and roll method is recommended to ensure proper penetration, even spread, and better adhesion.

Please feel free to call, email, or text us if you have any questions about our procedures, or any of our do-it-yourself articles. We are not just a business, we are here to help.

never before painted surfaces – Because this home was previously stained, applying primer to the entire exterior is the only durable option.

By Elegant Painting

MyHouse@Eelegantpainting.com

Phone: (425) 242-4646

Exterior painting professional Preparation techniques

Exterior Painting Preparation

Painting Preparation is key to a durable, professional paint-job that can withstand our damp Northwest climate. Elegant Painting uses the following professional Preparation techniques to prepare exterior surfaces for painting. This process removes any loose or chipping paint and mildew, leaving the substrate ready for primer & paint.

Steps:

Power washing

Washing is the first step in any painting job. After moving items, such as patio furniture, planters, garbage cans, etc. a safe distance away, we wash they house by first soaking each wall, then we apply a mixture of TSP and bio degradable house bleach to any visible mildew and water-stains. The solution is then allowed sixty seconds to activate and washed using Honda power washers. The tip of the wand is kept a safe distance away from siding to prevent damage. Windows and doors are rinsed from an even further distance to prevent water entering the house. After the wash, we rinse all exterior surfaces to remove any debris before they dry.

One of our painters uses a disk sander to remove lose paint from a verge board in Sammamish, WA

Sanding & Scraping

After allowing sufficient drying time, our painters remove any peeling or chipping paint. We start by using Makita disk sanders to remove not only paint that is currently peeling, but also anything that we feel might peel anytime in the future. The Makita disk sanders remove loose paint as well as any early stages of dry-rot that might be developing underneath, leaving the substrate ready for primer.

Masking and cover-up

Elegant Painting gurantees, in writing, that our painters will complete a thorough masking and cover-up job and will not slop paint on any surfaces; windows, plants, walkways, driveways, patio furniture, deck, etc.

Primer before caulk

AFter all the sanding dust has been removed, KILZ oil based primer is applied using brush and rollers. We used brush and rollers to ensure proper penetration into the substrate.

Caulking

Caulking is done after the primer has dried. Much like paint, Caulking materials adhere best to primer. We caulk all gaps, cracks, nail-holes, and joints.

By Elegant Painting