Seven Common Questions About Exterior Painting – Part 4

Seven common questions about exterior painting:

Did the previous painters use the right product?

I hear this question whenever I go to meet with potential customers who are facing paint failure. “Did the previous painters use the right primer or paint?”

When it comes to choosing the right paint products you need to understand the basic chemistry of paint. More importantly, painters need to understand the substrate that the paint will be applied to, as well as other factors such as the surrounding environment, the age, and condition of the surface, moisture etc.

Some painters and many homeowners, simply show up to the paint store or the big box store and ask the store employee for help with choosing the right paint product. This is not the best option but might be alright if you are repainting the drywall and doors in an interior room. However, such might not be true when you dealing with problematic areas, especially exterior of houses and decks.

Are site visits necessary?

Without a site visit, the store employee simply does not have enough information to recommend the best product.

As painters, we come across many surfaces of different material that require paint for protection and beautification. There is a wide variety of materials such as drywall, metal, vinyl, composite, and wood.

There are also many species of wood such as pine, cedar, poplar and hardwoods such as mahogany and Brazilian Ipe. And then there are tens of paints and product manufacturers that have hundreds of different product lines to choose from.

As you can see the possibilities are infinite and can be confusing. Successful paint contractors spend a good amount of time doing research to better understand substrate and products they need to use. They can also test sample products and learn from experimenting.

This is exactly what Paint Quality Institute does to help educate contractors and consumers about paint products performance and properties!

Performance Data

PQI’s recommendations are based on performance data collected from over 30,000 sample boards and 120,000 painted boards exposed to real-life conditions and elements in their facilities spread in fourteen different location in the US and around the world. PQI does not recommend any particular brand of paint, rather it makes recommendations on the characteristics that paints should have for different conditions. 

Some painting contractors might try to save a few dollars by using cheaper paints and paint related products. This can cost homeowners hundreds or in some cases thousands of dollars in repair and repaint over the years they live in their house.

We at Paint Track Painting Services have been on a mission to do due diligence and thorough research before making paint recommendation for any specific surface.

There major differences between paints such as price, spread rate, coverage, hide, and VOC content, but one thing is for sure: “Cheaper paint is NOT better.”