How to Pick the Right Painter

Why Is It Important to Pick the Right Painter?

Hiring a professional painting contractor can take the stress out of painting your home. However, finding the right one is an important decision that requires careful consideration. Hiring an unlicensed, uninsured or underinsured contractor is a potentially serious financial risk. Here are a few items to consider if you hire an unsuitable painter: medical bills is someone is injured on your property, lawsuits by the contractor for a variety of claims (you lose even if you win these), increase in your insurance policy cost, cancellation of your homeowners’ policy, and even out of pocket expenses due to theft or other crimes.

Ask around and you will quickly learn that property damage, scams, poor workmanship, and contractors that either disappear during the job or ask for more money to finish the work are some pretty common occurrences. For these reasons, it’s very important to pick the right painter for your home project. You wouldn’t want a new construction painter to paint your furnished home. New construction building painters are used to empty houses with no carpet or flooring. A seasoned, experienced home painter might spend one day in a bedroom simply making sure furniture is covered and safe, trim is masked off, and that two coats of primer are applied by hand with a roller and brush, not with a sprayer.

What Painting Certifications Should I Look For?

If your home was built before 1978, the first painting certification you should look out for is the EPA lead-safe certification, which requires painters to be lead-safe certified before working on a home. Because it is federal law, any contractor who is not lead-safe certified can be subject to hefty fines. The PDCA (Painting and Decorating Contractors of America) certification is another one to look out for when hiring a painter. The PDCA has established clear standards for its members, from accepted production rates to appropriate materials and application techniques.

Every painter should carry general liability insurance with nothing less than $1 million in coverage. This protects the homeowner from damage done by the painter. For example, what if 5 gallons of paint is spilled down your new roof or a ladder falls and crashes onto your convertible? Remember, proper insurance is Business 101.

What Are the Different Types of Painting Work That I Should Consider?

There are many factors to help you determine the type of paint that you should use for your home project. These can include the surface you want to paint and its condition, the age of the surface and the type of paint previously used on the surface, if any. Virtually all paint that you might use around the house fall into two categories: water-based latex paints and solvent-based paints, commonly referred to as oil-based paints. The names of each of these refer to the major differences between two types of coating; most of the liquid portion of latex paint is water, while the liquid in oil-based paints consists of petroleum distillates and other organic solvents. About 75% of all the paint that is sold today is of the latex variety. You should consider the nature of your painting job to decide which type of paint is best suited for you.

Compared to oil-based paints, top-quality latex paints have greater durability on top of better color retention and chalk resistance, so they will continue to look great for years to come. Since they don’t have the tendency to get brittle like oil-based paints do, they have better resistance to cracking. Latex paints also dry much faster than oil-based paints (typically in one to six hours), which allows you to quickly apply a second coat and potentially get your painting project finished sooner. Quality latex paints contain 100% acrylic binders that are especially durable and very flexible. This means that they tend to adhere extremely well to a variety of exterior surfaces and can have greater resistance to paint failures like blistering, flaking and peeling.

Latex paints are great for painting over:

• Wood, particularly in areas that experience freezing temperatures
• New stucco and masonry
• Weathered aluminum or vinyl siding
• Interior trim

Top quality oil-based paints have excellent adhesion characteristics, so they can get a tight grip on the surface being painted. Good adhesion is essential for a durable paint job. However, oil-based coatings do tend to oxidize and become brittle over time, which can lead to cracking problems in exterior applications and yellowing and chipping problems in interior applications.

That being said, oil-based paints are still your best choice in two circumstances:

• Wrepainting exterior surfaces with heavy chalking
• When repainting any exterior or interior surface that has four or more layers of old oil-based paint (the number of layers can be determined by removing paint chips and examining them)

There are some circumstances where you should never apply oil-based paints. For example, oil-based paint should not be applied directly to fresh masonry or galvanized iron. In either case, the result will probably be a very quick paint failure. If you decide to use oil-based paint, be aware that they are more difficult to apply and to clean up than latex paints. They also take longer to dry, sometimes 24 hours or more, so you cannot apply a second coat as quickly as you can with latex paint.

How Much Should I Expect to Pay a Quality Painter?

When it comes to painting, you often get what you paid for. Let’s say you are having the exterior of your home painted. You get three bids ranging from $3,500 to $7,000. What’s with the huge difference in price? The difference is usually in the prep work. This is the same for interior painting, as well. It might take two days to do the painting, but it could take four days to prep interior rooms or the exterior of the house. The low-end bid might include the painting without the obvious prep work, or vice versa. In addition, you should beware of extra costs. Removing heavy furniture may not be included in the painter’s estimates. If you can’t do it, ask if there will be an extra charge. Painting crown molding, baseboards, or walls/ceilings taller than the average of 8 feet can also add to costs.

For the best idea of what price you can expect to pay, download an app like Contractors.com (https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/contractors.com/id1078704337 for iOS or https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.contractorsapp for Android devices) to connect with the best painters near you and get a free quote.

Everything You Need to Know About Painters

While hiring a licensed and insured painter does not always guarantee a better painting result, it does provide some assurance. There are hundreds of painters in any local market, so you should take your time selecting the right painter and paint type for your home project. Get the information you need to make an educated decision and remember not to judge a painter by price alone.

To find painters near you, enter your zip code above to start searching.