When painting the exterior of your home, the preparation of painted surfaces is one of the largest contributing factors in a quality paint job. For most homes, prep includes: washing, masking, scraping loose paint, sanding bare wood, priming failures, and filling cracks and gaps with caulking. At Ace of Diamonds Painting, our goal is to have the job last as long as possible; using high-end materials helps, but preparation is what will really help the new paint hold up to Colorado’s harsh weather conditions. Often times, even the best pre-paint prep will not suffice, and there are boards that should be replaced prior to the normal prep work. Evidence that necessitates full board replacement can be: rot, holes, missing chunks, depressions, sagging, large cracks, or a general look of dilapidation. The good news is that we can replace a lot of these boards for an additional cost as part of preparing the home for paint! In some cases, varying circumstances prevent us from completing the replacement in-house, because we highly recommend doing so if your goal is to have a long lasting paint job, we will work with you to find the right solution to these specific issues.
Although we strive to prevent it, there are times during the estimate process or initial job walk through, when boards that cannot be repaired by normal preparation tactics are not initially noticed. In some cases, it is not until we have started to prep the home for painting that we will come across necessary replacements that were unapparent to the naked eye. This forces us to question whether or not a normal preparation process can restore the board and have it hold paint for even a short period of time.
The questions we are asking ourselves when looking at these boards are: how sturdy is the board? Can it easily be damaged without much force? How much give does the board have when I push it? If it is scraped will it cause more damage or become de-laminated? Is the board holding water? If it is sturdy, how discolored and aged does it look, how much is it cracked and distorted? Can this be restored efficiently or does it make more sense to go ahead and replace it? Ultimately, if the board is: not sturdy, easily damaged, has quite a bit of give, becomes damaged while scraping, holding water, discolored, cracked, severely aged, distorted, warped, or any combination of the preceding– than it is probably a good idea to replace the board.
Ultimately, if the board is not sturdy, easily damaged, has quite a bit of give, becomes damaged while scraping, holding water, discolored, cracked, severely aged, distorted, or warped, or a combination of any of the preceding than it is probably a really good idea to replace the board.
Fortunately, as I previously mentioned, Ace of Diamonds is able to replace a lot of these boards and enhance the overall quality and longevity of the paint job. In most cases we are able to do the work for a reasonable price, and it totally makes sense to hire us to do the work at the same time we are doing the prep anyway. We are typically going to be between $12 and $20 a linear foot to replace the wood we are able and willing to replace. We do charge a fee of $100 for anything that is under 20 feet for lap siding, 20 feet for trim and $150 for anything that is under 8 feet for paneled siding, and 8 feet for eaves.
In terms of what we can replace, it actually just makes more sense to say what we cannot replace. We Cannot Replace: Any rotted wood that needs to be replaced behind rain gutters, boards behind flashing, boards behind drip edges, boards behind roofing, boards going into stone or masonry work, wood secured to stone or masonry work, eaves with trim overlay from behind the gutter (MOST EAVES), any boards that are attached to the previously mentioned boards that would require said boards to be removed in order to replace, quarter round, corbels, beams, pillars, spindles, pre-cut handrails, wooden shutters, frame work, door jambs, window sills, parts of wood windows touching glass, rounded cuts (or cuts around anything attached to the home), custom decorative trim, crown molding on soffits, anything requiring us to order the wood custom or any structural pieces of wood
A couple of things to keep in mind. First, in the process of doing these repairs, no matter how careful we are, additional boards may end up needing to be replaced. It is something that we try to avoid, especially if the board appears to be in good condition, damage to surrounding materials can occur, especially if adjoining boards exhibit undetectable dilapidation. It’s important to keep this in mind because it will cause additional work thereby increasing the cost of the repairs. Second, if there is more than 100 lft of wood that needs to be replaced there will be a need for a waste service to come and take the waste away and that cost will vary depending on how much waste there is. Finally, if there is more than 150 lft of wood that needs to be replaced there will be an additional delivery fee for the wood of $50.
Ultimately, it makes the most sense to hire Ace of Diamonds to do these repairs when it’s not too small of a job and not too big of a job that fits within our abilities. In these cases it always enhances the quality of the job and allows you to work with one contractor.
Full transparency, from a cost perspective, for small jobs we recommend hiring a reputable handyman, for larger jobs it makes sense to hire a reputable general contractor who specializes in exteriors. Not that Ace of Diamonds cant or wont do this type of work, just that for you, the homeowner, if you can find someone reputable and trustworthy to do the job, it will be the most cost effective and efficient way.
