#Exterior paint 2 or 3 coats how to

Step 8: Windows/doors to be painted- Each window / door trim must be separately prepped and painted. Select appropriate setting for your job, to get most accurate price quote. Rotten siding shingles or boards should also be replaced – these are typically found at the bottom course of your siding, or where siding and roof meet. All rotten wood should be replaced (preferably with AZEK or other PVC trim boards. By contrast, quality prep work, may extend the life of your paint job by years!Īny peeling/cracking paint should be power washed, brushed / scraped off and sanded. Step 7: Prep- preparation work is ESSENTIAL element of a quality painting job! If you have peeling paint and rotten wood, and just paint over it, your job will fail very fast. Most Victorian homes should be classified as cut-up. If on the other hand, your house has straight runs, with easy access, select “simple” setting. Most cape / ranch / raised ranch and colonial homes with typical geometry and relatively easy access should be classified as simple or medium difficulty.Ĭonsider this: If your painter will need to spend many hours to paint a relatively small section of your house, you should increase the difficulty setting.īecause your painter WILL include this extra work in their bid. Step 6: House difficulty or job complexity: identify how cut up or straight your house is, and may also include ease of access, existence of dormers / towers, random crown moldings, and other decorative wood, etc.

This means that instead of painting your home again in 5 years, you will need to do it again in 9-10 years! While it ads about 30% to the total cost, your 2-coat paint job should last twice as long as single coat, at a fraction of the cost. However, we strongly recommend that you do 2 coats, when painting your home. We made 1 coat a default option, as that is what most quotes are based on. This principal applies to both paint and clear polyurethane coatings. However, doing 2 coats, should extend the lifespan of your paint job by another 4-5 years. Step 5: Number of Coats – most houses with wood siding (pine / cedar) or fiber cement ( Hardie plank & others) or engineered wood siding, need painting roughly every 5 years. We included this option for “comparison purposes”. There has been no real testing done, to verify that Ceramic paint is in fact “lifetime”.Īdditionally, ceramic painting contractors define “lifetime” as it is beneficial to them, when WHEN a ceramic coating fails, these companies blame the homeowners for “lack of care and preventative maintenance”, and in many cases, refuse to do any warranty work.Īnother proof that Ceramic paint is a gimmick, is the fact that not a single national or local paint manufacturer produces any “ceramic-based” coatings/paint products! Do not select POLY, if your siding has been painted before.Ĭeramic paint/coating is more of a gimmick (costing 3-4 times more than conventional paint job), marketed by national brands and local “premium” painting contractors. Clear poly should only be used on un-primed wood (cedar or pine, etc) to preserve the natural color of the wood. In most cases you should go with “regular” or “premium” paint. If your roof is Hip-Style, select FLAT, because Hip Roofs do not have any gables, which does not add any surface area to be painted. For example: on a 40×25′ cape, a slope difference between 3/12 and 8/12 will result in approximately 200 square feet more for the latter. Step 3: Roof slope (pitch) is important setting, as this can add significant surface area to your job size. For other house types (like Colonial / Victorian / etc) use actual number for floors.

For common home styles like Ranch/Cape and Raised Ranch, we have pre-configured settings. For example, if you have an “L” shaped house, use the longest sides length for your measurement. If your house is odd shape, figure out the total length of each adjacent side. Measure from corner to corner, and enter length and width into the calculator. Step 1: Enter accurate house (foundation) dimensions.

#Exterior paint 2 or 3 coats how to

How to use this calculator, to get accurate house painting quote

We recommend getting at least 3 real quotes from painters near you, to compare cost and options/extras. If you got a local quote that is significantly higher, your contractor wants to overcharge you.