Posts Tagged ‘exterior paint’

Finding the Right Paint for Your Richmond Home

Monday, July 13th, 2009

If you live in the Richmond area and want to increase the value of your home or simply improve the appearance of your home with a great paint job, consider these factors to ensure your paint lasts 8-12 years.  Remember from our previous post that even though many exterior paints claim to have a lifetime guarantee, it is likely they will only last between 8 and 12 years, but that is much better than lasting only 3. 

  1. Use the highest quality paint you can afford. Waiting for a sale on high quality paint pays dividends over buying cheap paint if the budget is tight.
  2. Your house is constantly moving around and breathing. This happens because temperatures here rise and fall quite often. Wood is warping, splitting and moving. Add to that the unpredictable weather we get from hurricanes, severe heat and humidity, snow and wind . . . and your house needs to be protected by a high quality paint that seals and protects your woods.
  3. Unless you have metal capped trim on your home’s exterior, you will need to touch up your windows, doors and trim more frequently—possibly every 2 or 3 years. These items are used frequently and are in motion. This means the paint will peel before the siding.
  4. Prices range from $8-$50/gallon for paint in the Richmond area. Better quality paints generally contain a higher percentage of quality ingredients such as mildewcide, UV inhibitors and resins that make paint and paint color last longer.

If you have further questions about exterior paint or home repairs, we’re happy to talk with you or respond to your comments. Of course, if you don’t want to bother painting your house yourself, River City Referrals can help you find the best painting contractors in Richmond to do it for you.

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Exterior Painting Project-River City Referrals Customer Experience

Monday, July 13th, 2009

The exterior of your home is the first impression you give the rest of the world, and a good paint job is critical to giving your home a pleasing and inviting appearance.  For some people, the work of painting your own home’s exterior is too much and they hire a handyman or painting contractor to handle the job.  For others, although it may take four or five weekends to complete the job, it is totally worth the effort.

Choosing the right paint is a very important process when it comes to completing an exterior painting project.  Whether or not your paint weathers the storm is largely up to you and the quality of paint you choose and don’t be fooled; even though most exterior paints have a lifetime guarantee, they will probably last between 8 and 12 years.

River City Referrals customers Ken and Sarah Roland shared an experience they had with exterior painting and I thought it only appropriate to share it with you.  “We chose to paint our house ourselves, and got a great deal on a paint closeout.  We needed about 20 gallons but in order to get the great deal in the same color we ended up purchasing 10 gallons of “ordinary” latex paint and the other 10 in “high quality” latex paint. We thought we’d just paint the back of our house with the ordinary latex paint, and the front with the high quality latex paint.”

This is not an unusual story and here is what Ken and Sarah observed during their home improvement project.  First thing to catch their eye was that the high quality latex paint was much easier to apply and went on more smoothly.  Since they were going over a slightly darker color, the high quality paint required only 1 coat while the ordinary latex paint required 2 coats and didn’t hide flaws as well.  What they learned in years to come was that the back of the house, where the inferior quality paint was used, was already fading and showing wear.

In the short run, they saved $200 on paint. In the long run, they spent more money and time by having to repaint the back of the house much earlier than planned. What is the lesson here? NEVER buy cheap paint.  In the long run it costs you more.  Watch for our next post to find out the best paint to purchase in Richmond, VA. 

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