Exterior painting for homes and businesses in Edwardsburg and the communities around it: Cassopolis, Niles, Dowagiac, and across the state line into Granger and Elkhart.
Paint as protection
An exterior coat is doing a job before it is doing anything else: it is the layer between Michigan’s changing weather and the siding, trim and outdoor surfaces underneath. Curb appeal is the part you see. Keeping water out of the timber is the part that decides how long the building lasts.
Which is why the preparation is the job and the painting is the finish of it.
What gets done, in order
- Power wash and treat with TSP, so there is a clean surface for the new coat to bond to.
- Mask off everything that is not being painted, with plastic, against overspray.
- Scrape back loose paint and sand where the surface needs it.
- Prime and caulk exposed wood, the step that keeps water out, and an easy one to skip.
- Paint, by sprayer, brush or roller as the surface calls for, with proper drying time between coats.
Bare wood left unprimed is a common cause of early failure. Wood takes up moisture through any opening and moves with the seasons, and a finish coat is not doing the job a primer does, so trouble can begin underneath and surface later as peeling, often along the bottom edges of boards.
What we paint
Siding, soffit, gutters, trim, doors, garages and outbuildings: the whole exterior, or the elevations that have weathered hardest while the rest is still sound. Working on one or two elevations is a legitimate job and we will say so if that is what the building needs.
Wood, fiber cement, aluminum and vinyl siding all take a coating, and each wants a slightly different approach to washing and preparation. Board and batten, common on properties around here, has a great many edges and joints for its square footage, and that is where the labor goes.
Season and weather
Exterior work in southwest Michigan mostly runs spring through fall. Coatings need surface and air temperatures to hold while they dry, and a cold night can undo a coat that went on in pleasant afternoon sun. Lake-effect weather makes the forecast worth watching rather than trusting.
That makes exterior work weather-dependent in a way interior work is not, and a schedule sometimes moves. We would rather tell you a job is waiting for a dry window than put a coat on in conditions that will not let it hold.
What affects the price
The size of the property, how much of it is being coated, the condition of what is there now, the amount of scraping and timber repair required, and access. We come and look before we quote, and the estimate is free.
Access is the factor people forget: a steep grade, mature planting against the wall, or a neighboring property close to the elevation all slow the work more than the extra height of a second story does.
Request a free estimate, or read our exterior process in full. You can also see deck staining in Edwardsburg or everything we do in Edwardsburg.