It's finally getting warm enough to consider exterior painting for your home. The question you have to ask yourself: is it time for a new coat of exterior paint? There’s a lot of signs that your home’s exterior paint is still high quality enough to last you awhile, and there are signs that it’s time for a change. Here’s how you can tell a house was painted by the pros; when your own home doesn’t have these telltale signs, it might mean it’s time for a fresh coat.
1. You Like the Colours
This might seem obvious, but it’s really worth mentioning. Go outside and look at your home, or your neighbor’s home; do you like the colours? Do they mesh well with each other and the neighborhood? If they do, it’s a good sign that professional painters did the deed; they can help with colour consultations so that even if creating a beautiful palette isn’t a homeowner’s forte, they’ll still get a home that looks beautiful and speaks to their personality.
2. There’s No Bubbling
When paint is applied in the wrong conditions, blisters and bubbles can form. This can be because the paint was applied over top of contaminants like dirt, or because it was too humid when the paint was applied. These blisters are unsightly, so when they’re present it’s pretty obvious; thorough pre-planning and paint that’s only applied in the optimal conditions will seriously reduce the likeliness of bubbling, so a bubble-free house was probably painted by a professional.
3. There’s No Peeling
Quite similar to the bubbles we just discussed, paint can peel when applied in suboptimal conditions. Throw on some paint with no primer in the middle of summer and you’re sure to get some pretty noticeable peeling. You can see peeling even in a high-quality paint job after years and years, because the elements will degrade the quality of the paint over time, which leads us to our next point.
4. It’s Long-Lasting
When exterior paint is done right, the painters will choose a highly elastic paint, one that can stretch and bend with the natural expansion and contraction of your walls. The paint will also be UV resistant, so the colours don’t wash out quickly in the sun; of course, it will be waterproof, so the rain and sleet and snow don’t take it all off. Choosing a high quality paint is an important part of getting a beautiful finished home.
5. It’s Even
You don’t want the paint on your home to look thick and some points and thin at others, you don’t want the colour from the trim bleeding into the primary colour; you want someone who can use a wide variety of brushes and techniques to make everything look even and properly finished. When you look at a home and are impressed by the uniformity of the paint, it was probably professionally done.
