You’ve heard it before, painting your house increases the value, and provide a large (107%) ROI when you’re selling your home. What about the exterior? What if you’re not selling, but just looking for a clean and fresh look?
We asked you what questions you had regarding exterior painting, each of those questions will be answered below, sprinkled with some tips and tricks of our own.
Q&A-
Q. What are the benefits of exterior paint?
A. Cosmetics aside (which is definitely nice), paint is going to be your first defense against the Minnesota elements. A quality paint will protect the house from sleet, snow, rain and sun.
Q. Is it possible to paint myself or do I need to hire a contractor?
A. Of course you can paint it yourself! Our staff will walk you through everything you need to complete the job on your own. Some things to consider, you’ll want to make sure your house is CLEAN. That may require renting a power washer, or a lot of elbow grease to get in the cracks and around all windows. A good prep job is going to set you up for success. Additionally, this would be a great time to make repairs to siding, or foundation work. The smoother the surface, the better your paint will look. We have plenty of tools for purchase that will help this run more smoothly for you, items such as, ladders, buckets, brushes, Festool items (to assist in that tedious prep work), tarps, cleaning products, and much more. We’re a one stop shop for this type of project!
Q. I don’t know where to start! I want to hire it out, but don’t know the first step. HELP!
A. We get this a lot, you’re not alone! Starting a project as big as this is intimidating and can cause what I like to call, “project paralysis,” meaning, you don’t know where to begin which leaves you in a holding pattern of doing nothing. Our sales staff knows exactly how to help, however, there are quite a few scenarios depending on your desires. Ultimately, we have a list of painting contractors that we have worked with for years and recommend with a 5-star review. Come in the store and tell us a little bit about your project. We’ll ask questions such as: How old is your home? What color is it now? Why are you painting it (new look, selling, etc)? What do the other homes on your block look like? How quickly do you want this done? Once we have a little bit of background, we’ll be able to recommend who we think would be the best fit for your house. We take into consideration your timing (do you want a full crew to get it done in a day or two?), the size of your house, and your budget (might be a smaller team, and will take longer, but will be less expensive). THEN, we can walk you through color selection and product recommendations. We have several great exterior paints, but they’re not all the same, so we’ll make some suggestions. Once your contractor is scheduled, and your paint is selected, we’ll determine how many gallons you will need and get those mixed up and delivered to your team. Again, there are many ways we can help, so just stop in and we’ll walk you through exactly what needs to be done!
Q. What is the biggest consideration I should have when selecting a color?
A. There are a couple things, but the biggest is going to be the color of your roof. That isn’t likely something that will change frequently, and you want to make sure your color selection compliments what already exists. We will ask you about the pitch of your roof, sometimes they are not as visible, and therefore, don’t hold as much weight in color selection. We’ll also ask how many textures your house has, brick, siding, etc. and we may provide some recommendations on complimentary colors based on those elements.
Bring pictures! They’re extremely helpful for our team to get an understanding of your house and style. We have professional designers in each store daily to help with any decisions you may need to make!
Those were our most asked questions, but feel free to reach out via our "contact us" page or stop in to one of our three stores for a more personalized plan to get your house painted this spring!
We also have some GREAT sales on all our exterior paints this month, check it out on the sales page.
