Tag Archives: Painting

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Residential Exterior Painting: Choi Exterior

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Littleton exterior paintingCustom Exterior House Painting

Custom exterior house painting requires meticulous attention to preparation and selection of high quality materials.  This type of preparation was used on the Choi exterior to produce the superior results you see here.

A separate staging area was set aside to keep all painting equipment out of the way during the painting project so as to interfere as little as possible with the family in residence.

Littleton Exterior Painting

Stellar Painting & Remodeling has a long history of excellence in painting and staining both the interior and exterior of custom homes in Littleton and the Denver metro area.  Call us at 303-981-7827 for a free estimate for your home.

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Some Useful Q&A on Exterior House Painting with Cedar Siding

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A customer recently asked these questions about the staining process on the cedar siding on exterior of his home.

  1. Will stain penetrate the existing paint cover on the cedar siding? A customer rep. at a local paint supplier was of the opinion that the stain would not penetrate the paint, but it would adhere to and cover it.
  2. If that’s the case, what steps would be taken to ensure that the stain does adhere to the painted surfaces?
  3. Would the bare wood areas be treated in a way that the painted and then stained areas would not show delineations between the two areas? That is, will the two distinct areas blend into each other?

PAINT vs. STAIN ON CEDAR SURFACES

Solid Color Acrylic Stain can be applied over existing surfaces previously painted. We have been doing it for years with very positive results especially on cedar. Cedar is a very porous wood and tends to fracture and crack in dry climates. Acrylic paint is an open pored or vapor permeable product, meaning that the house can breathe through the coating. Paint has a tendency to fail and peel off of cedar even with a primer underneath as paint is a grabbing product and not really a penetrating product. Stain is designed to penetrate into porous surfaces and is a better overall product on a substrates like cedar. A lot of the primers used under paint on cedar do not penetrate adequately or better than a good quality stain either. When you add the weight of a paint to another painted surface, it can actually pull the currently intact paint away from the substrate(the Cedar Board) which is another concern with paint on Cedar. Maintenance painting is typically needed for structures where owner’s insisted on using paint. When we perform maintenance to many of these buildings we have to use stain and not paint to achieve much better results.

Stain to cedar is typically back rolled on the 1st coat to assist with the penetration to the siding and seal porosity and then a second coat is applied. Due to the porous nature of cedar this really should be done with even paint.

SANDING IRREGULAR EDGES AFTER SCRAPING

Once an area is scraped to an adjacent area where the paint is not peeling, there is most often an irregular edge or a delineated edge as you say. The mission is to ensure that no loose coating or all peeled away areas are attended to and then the coating is applied and locks down that irregular edge. Sanding is very difficult through multiple layers of paint and most often will not remove an irregular edge. As a protective liquid, all coatings conform to the surface they are presented. The mission of scraping or sanding is not to create a perfectly smooth surface, but to ensure the removal of loose, peeling paint. Spackling over irregular areas is not recommended as spackle or wood putty does not move with temperature and will most often crack and break out. In addition, you cannot re-create a grain with spackle or wood putty and it will most often blemish or flash through the coating applied over the top.

What are VOC?

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Volatile organic compounds are gases releases as material age and degrade over time. They are found in paint, caulk, cleaning supplies, carpet, wood and even items from the grocery store. Most importantly, VOC can be damaging to your health. It’s impossible to eliminate them completely from your daily life, but you can minimize their amount. At Stellar Painting & Remodeling we take precautions to ensure your family is safe and we minimize the amount of VOC your family comes in contact with. This is one way we differentiate ourselves from the competition!

VOCs can be serious, as they can cause allergic reactions such as asthma, headaches, upper respiratory infections and even cancer in acute cases.

At Stellar Painting & Remodeling we highly recommend reading labels if you will be the one painting. You can now find and purchase low-VOC products in most big box remodeling stores.

Now a day, water-based polyurethane that emits fewer gases than oil-based products gives you the same end result and is so much more pleasurable to be around! Anytime, you have the choice to pick between a low-VOC stain, sealant or varnish, why not pick the healthier choice?

One last tip to minimize VOC in your house and that we like to promote here at Stellar is to unroll very tightly rolled wallpaper outdoors as it allows gases to dissipate before hanging them inside. You see, the rolls trap VOCs and by letting them ‘breath’ outside we are not exposing your family to the gases.

Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About Spray Painting Versus Hand Application

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When considering painting your house, several options are presented to you. You may have to make a decision between Spray Painting your house versus a Spay/Hand Paint Application Combo. At Stellar Painting & Remodeling our goal is to educate our clients. So today, with more that 20 years of painting experience – here’s my humble opinion:

1. What is the real goal of applying paint to any surface, no matter what the technique?

Answer- The even and consistent application of mil’s/thickness of the coating to especially large surface areas such as Lap Siding to the Perimeter of your Home. This is especially important to the bottom edge or lip of your siding as the mission here is to seal the porosity and prevent any further moisture from wicking up into the board which causes the swelling, delaminating and warping you will often see.

2. What affects the ability to apply paint evenly?
Answer- It is very difficult to apply Paint evenly by hand across a large surface area for the following reasons:

  • The back and forth action of going to the paint bucket to re-load the brush or roller. It would be impossible to load the brush or roller the same each time.
  • Different amounts of Hand Pressure when applying the paint. This would just be a natural occurrence, as it would take a perfect robotic stroke to maintain the same hand pressure.
  • Basic Human Fatigue- Again, this would also contribute to the difficulty in applying paint at a consistent pace, pressure or thickness.
  • Up and down / Side-to-Side Ladder Work and all the movement required here would also make even distribution of a coating by hand very difficult.
  • Airless Application-If the Applicator is consistently more than 1 ft. from the surface making for inefficiency.
  • If the wrong size tip is used as the tip dictates the volume and a tip that is too big can contribute to paint waste and unnecessary over-spray.
  • A Poor Power Source can cause inconsistent performance.
  • Lack of experience with the equipment can create some inconsistent results.

    • Stellar Painting & Remodeling conclusion- It takes skill to use either technique. However, properly used, an airless compressor that puts out up to 1 GPM at 3000 PSI can more evenly and consistently distribute the paint across a large surface area and most importantly to the bottom edge of the lap board.
    This technology is a successful multi-million dollar industry that was developed to provide a more efficient and productive way to apply coatings versus the hand painting technique used by contractors for so many years. We are after all in the 21st century. Why not use the technology available today to produce a beautiful end result.

    3. What are the best surfaces to hand paint?
    Answer- Trim, gutters, down spouts, roof caps and to some degree some doors and shutters.
    These are smaller surface areas that paint can be more evenly distributed across with an a more even application of thickness versus across a 30 ft. x 30 ft. side of your home.
    By the way, for the best results most all-metal doors should be sprayed and not hand painted period.

    4. What about spraying and back-rolling? Are they an Effective Combination?
    Answer- These two techniques combined, are often practiced by novice contractors when painting siding. One important thing to consider when painting siding is that it is very difficult to roll as the paint has a tendency to drip and run as the roller is pushed across a very uneven and lapped surface. Altogether, this combination isn’t the one you want practiced on your home. Here’s why; imagine your contractor spraying a beautiful coat of paint on your siding while another painter is standing right behind him ‘back-rolling’. Essentially, removing thickness of paint that the first painter just applied or ultimately removing a layer of protection on your house!

    5. Won’t more time and care be taken when my House is Hand Painted?
    Answer- Not necessarily, No question it takes longer to apply paint the old fashioned way. However, many times this added having multiple painters on a home compensates time. Often 6-8 men at a time. This can make for inconsistent results as the job becomes difficult to manage.

    6. Should Hand Painting a House Cost More?
    Answer- Sure, it just takes longer to do it. However, we believe it is a niche in the market being tapped in order to charge more and just to be different.

    Be careful, as no matter how paint is applied anybody can make a paint job look great for a couple of years or just after completion. The overall even application of paint will dictate the mid-term and long-term life. Other factors for life of a re-paint- Quality of prep, Quality of Paint, Non-dilution of Paint, Pre-existing condition of House, Exposure of House or Portions of House to Altitude and UV. A House in good condition when painted will last longer no matter how the paint is applied.

    Make sure information being passed along as fact in regards to hand painting has some legitimate source to back it up. I.e. Hand application applies paint with more pressure or pushes the paint into the surface more versus 3000 psi and up to 1 gpm. Pretty hard to believe!

How to Get A Designer Look And The Room You’ve Always Wanted

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Need a fresh look? Paint is an inexpensive and fun way to create some fun effects and bring some dramatic elements to life in your home. Here are just a few techniques to inspire you:

1. Blending. This is used when you’d like a soft transition from one color to another or for a gradual blend through multiple colors. An example might be blue to green to yellow.

2. Distressed. This technique is used frequently on small objects such as chairs, dressers or frames to give a character and aged look. It can also be used on full walls or rooms, however, it can be very time consuming as it typically uses layers.

3. Faux fabrics. Faux leather and strie styles give the appearance of a fabric adhered to a wall or piece of furniture. Faux stone work is also growing in popularity, adding dimension to columns, back splashes and otherwise uninteresting walls.

4. Stripes. Whether one horizontal line that divides a wall, or many vertical stripes to add texture and dimensions, lines are a well defined, bold and structured look.

5. Stencils and Rub-ons. These are now available in retail stores or online with a variety of styles. If you are a renter, rub on’s are a great, removable way to add some design to those plain white walls.

6. Murals. Murals aren’t just for children’s rooms. People are painting the ceilings in entryways or even having inspiring quotes painted on bedroom or office walls. Many of these are left to professionals, as a poorly done mural does indeed look like a toddler got a hold of markers and crayons.

All these techniques have examples and can be found online. If the do-it-yourself videos are too intimidating, keep in mind Stellar Painting & Remodeling can help you with any of these painting projects. Have fun, be creative and love your space!