OT Exterior house painting

[miki]

We can't put off getting the house painted and getting all sorts of cracks sealed up. I know nothing about this type of work. I have recommendations for a few local outfits to do the work. When they give me estimates, is there certain information I definitely should ask about? Is there a brand of paint that is better? I know one of the outfits uses Porter and another uses Sherwin Williams and gives you a choice of what grade you want. TIA

[Wife_and_mommy]

Our painter uses Benjamin Moore exclusively. I got very specific info on what would be painted but he ended up doing it differently and it still looks good so not a huge deal to me.

One thing I highly recommend is to get the addy of some clients and go check out their work. I had one guy quote pretty low and when I checked his work, it was shoddy to say the least. We ultimately went with a more expensive quote but it was worth the extra expense for the house not to look like a 5YO did it.

Hth.


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[kellyotn]

All the major brands should have a high quality outdoor paint, probably formulated for your area. The people who did our house had two different brands they preferred and would give a 5 year labor and material warranty with. (If we used another brand that they didn't "trust" our warranty would have been lessened.)

We used Sherwin Williams, their other option was just as highly regarded, SW just had the color we liked best.

Sealing the cracks is a big thing that you should grill them on. How are they sealing cracks? Is that warrantied? What happens if a crack leaks or if the paint peels off the sealant in X years?

Definitely go look at some of their work.

Don't pay all upfront! You should pay a deposit, but final payment should not be until the work is complete.

I don't know about your area, but in our area, most homeowners are kind of on the same "schedule" for this type of work. Maybe ask around and see who used what company and if they were happy. I know in our neighborhood our painter ended up doing a TON of work there just because seeing one house get painted prompted many others to do the same.