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FCI's Painting Blog

Exterior House Painting Tips Part 1

FCI Painting’s Preparation Tips for Ensuring the Best Paint Job for Your Home’s Exterior

Nothing renews the look of your home’s exterior like a new paint job. Exterior house painting is one of the easiest and least costly major renovations a homeowner can do. It also helps ensure that the materials making up your home are protected from the elements, with a new paint job typically providing such protection for 10 to 15 years.

If you have the free time and inclination, you can save significant money by painting your own home’s exterior. However, success of do-it-yourself jobs lies in rigorously following numerous pre-painting preparation details to ensure proper paint adhesion, longevity of the job, and a like-new aesthetic outcome. In fact, the more effort you put into the preparation grunt work, the better the resulting new paint will look, and the longer it will last.

With more than 25 years of exterior house painting experience, Naples-based FCI painting is glad to share its knowledge base with southwest Florida-area do-it-yourselfers, and offers you the preparation tips below. Of course, if it all seems like too much, we’d be pleased to do your exterior home painting for you, from pre-painting prep work to job site cleanup.

Pre-Painting Preparation is Crucial for Ensuring a Quality Finish

Exterior house painting would be relatively easy if you could just start by covering the existing paint job with a new coat of paint. However, to ensure proper adhesion of the new paint, make sure you address all of these pre-painting preparation tasks:

Check for Lead—while this prep work does not affect the paint job outcome, it is crucial for protecting human health. Fortunately, it is only necessary if your home was built before 1978, when lead-based paints were banned. If your home was built before then, you can get a lead paint testing kit from your local hardware store or paint supplier. If the test comes up positive for lead, then you will want to take a number of precautions—such as wearing masks and protective suits, properly disposing of scrapings and residue, and cleaning with a HEPA vacuum—during the prep work.

Clean the Surfaces—new paint resists adhering to dirt, grime, mold, mildew, and other contaminants, making it imperative to wash the outside surfaces slated for painting. Professional pressure cleaning represents the easiest means for handling this task, but it can also be done by hand with any numbers of specialized cleaners designed with exterior paint preparation in mind.

Scrape the Old Paint—while perhaps the most tedious pre-paint prep tasks, if you do not remove any loose, flaking paint, it will inevitably come off soon after applying new paint and expose the surfaces underneath. Hand held paint scrapers are effective, especially when you scrape the old paint from all different directions. You can also use a heat gun to soften old paint for easier scraper, or an infrared paint stripper.

Sanding for Smooth Flow—sanding not only smooths out bumps and rough surfaces that can impede the smooth application of new paint, but also smooths out the borders between the surfaces exposed by scraping and the remaining old paint. For best new paint adhesion, you need to create a smooth transition from exposed surfaces and the old paint.

Repair and/or Replace Rotten Surfaces—Rotten wood, or deterioration in other elements of your home’s exterior, should not be painted over. If the new paint does manage to adhere to such surfaces, it will just temporarily cover the imperfections while the rot and deterioration continue to eat away and destroy the materials. You might be able to repair some compromised materials with a filler, but larger sections with rot or deterioration should be completely replaced. During this process, you should also fill any holes and chips with filler, cover exposed nails with rust inhibiting primer, and apply new caulking where needed.

Now You’re Ready to Get Painting!

With all of the pre-painting preparation work out of the way, you can now turn your attention to priming and painting your home’s exterior. Make sure you lay down drop clothes or otherwise cover surfaces that you don’t want to be exposed by accidental drops or spillage. FCI Painting will detail tips on how to successfully apply the paint to the exterior of your home in a future blog.

Or Ask How FCI Painting Can Meet All of Your Exterior Painting Needs

If you just do not have the time (or inclination) to carry out all of the detailed prep work—along with the subsequent actual painting—needed for a successful exterior paint job, consider letting Naples, Florida-based FCI Painting take care of it for you. With more than 25 years of experience in helping thousands of southwest Florida homeowners paint their exterior spaces, we provide expert service in all elements of every painting job. To learn more about how FCI Painting can help you with your painting project, contact us online or give us a call at (239) 435-1001.

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6 Stars

The entire process from start to finish was professional. They did a great job and left everything clean. Ryan wouldn’t leave until everything was perfect. The entire team was so responsive. I would recommend FCI to anyone. I would give them 6 stars if I could.

Bruce G

Reasonably Priced & Very Detailed

We have a three unit, two story condo building that needed an exterior painting job we awarded to FCI Painting. Their proposal was reasonably priced and very detailed. Richard Foden’s came to estimate the job and took the time to explain the process, answer questions and provide recommendations (that help us in our process). We received four proposals and FCI’s stood out making our decision straight forward. FCI crew was professional and the foreman ‘Eduardo’ exceptional. On a daily basis’s he communicated what to expect, what they would be achieving and the crews next steps. Crew was courteous and cleaned up the grounds every evening. We highly recommend FCI Painting company. Thanks

Leo G

Incredible Service

I honestly cannot recommend this company enough. I was attempting to find painters in Naples while I was still in Canada. Richard and his team were so helpful in the process, going above and beyond what I could have ever imagined. They were thorough, professional, and one of the best prices I found in the area. Incredible service.

Jeremy S

Definitely Use Them Again

Richard and his team were great to work with. They were polite, cleaned up and did an awesome job! I have already recommended them to people and would definitely use them again.

Helen R

Ahead of schedule

Very professional, prompt… even ahead of schedule. I will always use them from now on.

Brittany K

Can’t Recommend FCI Painting enough

I can’t recommend FCI Painting enough! Owner Richard Foden runs one of the finest painting companies I’ve ever had the pleasure to work with. When my business moved into our new office, we started researching painters in Naples, FL and FCI came highly recommended. The commercial painters that Richard works with are prompt, thorough and professional. After working with them in a business setting, I’ll be certain to give Richard a call next time I’m in need of house painters as well.

Martin V

Professional & Friendly

Had my condo painted by FCI Painting and they did an outstanding job! They were professional and friendly.

Eileen F

Competitive & Fair

FCI Painting did an outstanding job for us and we are more than pleased with the results. We found the pricing to be competitive and fair. Our painter, Chris, was an expert craftsman, patched several areas of drywall that needed attention and helped us work through a problem we had with one of the colors we chose. We would definitely recommend FCI painting for anyone looking for a quality job at a fair price.

Donna C

Way Above Expectation

Big thanks to FCI, I had them paint my house inside and out and they did a fantastic job, way above my expectations, there employees were punctual and polite, and the work was completed 2 days before the scheduled completion date. Would not hesitate to recommend A++++++++++

Neil S

Highly Suggest Their Work

FCI Painting did a fantastic job on my driveway. They were swift, neat, and very sharp eye on quality. I would highly suggest there work and I would call them again.

Tom D

Pleasure to Deal With

FCI did a great job painting our home! Job was done on time & on budget, no surprises! Rich was a pleasure to deal with & was very prompt when responding to a question or request. Chris, our painter, was on-time each day, always prepared, cleaned up every afternoon, worked at a good pace & super friendly. Would definitely use them again & recommend them highly!

Christine C

Always an Outstanding Job

My family has used FCI in our homes and businesses. They have always done an outstanding job, neat and clean and Richard is wonderful accommodating owner to work with. I would highly recommend this company to anyone.

Valerie G

Great Company, Great Results

Great Company, Great Results! We use FCI whenever we can!

Bill

Easy to Deal With

Pleasant and easy to deal with. Did exactly what they said they would, when they said they would do it. Would highly recommend.

Christopher G

Beautiful Work

Beautiful work and very friendly respectful employees. Couldn’t be happier.

Tiffany K

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