Repair Contractors for Condos

Several years into the life of a condo complex it becomes time to replace roofs, replace siding, replace windows, rebuilt decks, paint and do other major renovations.   The problem that condo homeowners run into is affordability. Oftentimes the HOA comes up short on cash to afford the major renovation because not enough funds were collected monthly over the years from the HOA dues.

Most condo owners don’t want to pay high HOA dues so when the big repairs come they have to look for financing of sorts and now they really have to pay their part of the financing.  So, when it’s all said and done they surely want to find affordable options and an affordable contractor to help with the renovation project.

They may have ordered some type of professional inspection report saying the best option is to remove all siding and windows and replace them.   What I am saying is that if you don’t have the funds to replace all of the siding than just replace the rotted siding.  Many times the siding is still serviceable for years to come and you can simply replace the “bad boards” and than spend some extra on painting prep and give it a good 2 coat paint job with high quality paint.    I am not saying this will solve all problems but it is often a solution if 85% or 90% of the siding is still sound.   If you can afford the complete overhaul than by all means go that direction.  Having newer windows will offer savings on utilities, they are attractive and in my opinion can help raise the value of the units.

If you hire a good and affordable contractor - you can’t go wrong by completely replacing the exterior envelope of an old building with new components - roof, siding, windows, paint, trim and etc.. - if you can afford it.   If the condo complex cannot afford it than ask contractors to give you a bid for the bare minimum that will solve problems but just won’t be a complete new renovation of the entire exterior envelope.

Homeowner Assisted or Contractor Assisted Painting Projects.

What this means is simply a Homeowner would like a painting contractor to help with their painting project but they homeowner wants to save money by doing some of the project themselves.  Well, our company offers such a service.   Here’s an example.

Let’s say your home is peeling badly and needs lot’s of scraping, sanding and priming.  You need the job done but need to keep the cost down as much as possible.  So, you want to know if a contractor would mind working with your or helping you paint your home if you do all the prep.  My answer to that is - yes.  I am happy to teach you how to prep the home, sand, scrape, prime, etc.. correctly to prepare the walls and trim for our high quality custom paint job.  Thus, saving you money.

Be aware that this is hard and tedious work and must be done correctly for proper adhesion of the finish coat(s) of paint.  But, if you do prep it correctly that you will certainly save lot’s of money.

Another example is:

Homeowner wants to save money by moving the furniture, removing and replacing switchplates,  fixtures, vents, taping windows, baseboard, trim, etc… Yes, that is fine.  It will save money since all that prep work is done for us.  Our bid can be lower than it normally would be to paint your home.   There are things to be aware of in this example. If the taping is done incorrectly or if the wrong tape is used the paint will leak underneath it and it will have been a waste of time and now there is paint to remove from  the trim, cabinets, windows and so forth.  As easy as it seems to mask a window to do it correctly actually takes some learning.   It takes a bit to learn to tape it nicely so that the tape is on the window frame only and not encroaching onto the wall - little pieces of it.. or being done sloppy and some of the window frame is not taped or it is loose on the edges…  But, you can learn and we can show you the basics in order to help you save money on your paint job.

I’ll put in a plug for professional painting contractors right now:   We give your home a new look.  No one knows we have been there - accept by the new paint smell and color and high quality workmanship.         What they don’t know is the amount of time, knowledge and craftsmanship it took to get to that point.   It’s about understanding proper preparation procedures to ensure that the surfaces are truly ready to receive paint, other surfaces are properly covered so they don’t receive paint, applying the paint material properly to attain an even appearance and sheen without leaving roller marks, sags, runs and high and low areas.  Being able to cut in the line that divides the wall and the ceiling so one color flows into the next without it looking uneven.  Or cutting in the wall color against white trim and making the line crisp and clean.  Knowing which surfaces need to be primed and what the correct primer would be as each primer serves a different function.  All this boils down to the final product and a professional paint finish.    These are the types of paint jobs you come to and say - wow - ths is the nicest paint job i have ever seen.. but you don’t know why it is different - you can’t really put your finger on what makes this paint job look so much more lovely than the other homes or buildings you go into.    In short - it is because the home or building was painting by a true painting professional - an old school craftsman - if you will.

Exterior Painting with Metro Paint

I want to also mention that Metro Paint is an excellent choice for Exterior Paint jobs.

Again, we deal with the issue of custom color selections in that they do not offer tinting services because the paints already come in a color.  But, you can mix 2 colors together and end up with another color and they have a color chart for some examples.   The stock colors they offer are a very nice selection of off white, tan, blue, red, green and so forth which offers a good selection for basic colors to paint the exterior of a home.   Also, with mixing the colors you gain many more choices.

I think a major benefit to the homeowner is the savings.   If a home required 40 gallons of paint for the exterior at $8.00 / gallon versus $28.00 a gallon   that is a huge savings.  Our painting company passes the discount along to the homeowner.  So, when we bid a job if the homeowner chooses Metro Paint we simply deduct the difference between the more expensive paint and the cost of metro paint.  (based on our wholesale price rather than retail price).   It’ s still a big savings.     So, if we estimate a paint job to take 40 gallons than we would take our normal paint cost per gallon of a similar quality product and subtract the metro paint cost per gallon and deduct that difference from the estimate thus saving the customer money on their paint job.

So, this is a plug for using Metro Paint on an exterior paint job.  However, there are many many instances when Metro Paint will not be the right choice.  For instance when you are seeking a custom color scheme and the colors are not available at Metro Paint.    Suppose you find a color on the Behr color chart from Home Depot and you want that exact color - well than Metro Paint probably won’t be the correct choice for your paint project since there are no white,  clear, deep, ultra deep, neutral, etc…  bases to work with for custom tinting to get the desired color.

While I advocate Metro Paint for exterior painting on homes and commercial buildings I realize sometimes it is not going to work due to color or sheen choices.   But, do keep in mind that for rental homes or homes sale it might be the right choice and a way to save lot’s of money.  i.e.: on homes that basic standard colors are acceptable for.

Interior Painting with Metro Paint

Metro Paint  is recycled paint.  They are able to mix together various paints and end up with a bunch of really nice colors. What you would think of as standard house colors.  Off whites, tan, brown, blue, red, green, etc…  You might think it is some type of garbage and would only be good for sheds. That’s not true. If you read on their website it helps explain the process better of how the paint is recycled.

I have found the quality of the recycled metro paint to be equivalent to a higher end paint from paint stores.  It dries with a low sheen and offers excellent coverage. Our company will only settle for high quality finishes and paint jobs so when I first used Metro Paint was naturally a bit skeptical.  But, after the 1st 5 minutes I could not believe how well it covered in one coat as well as how easy and smooth it rolled and brushed on.  Another nice feature is  it is low splatter.  So,  as you are rolling it really does not splatter very much. You might get some splatter from too much paint on your roller dripping off but as you roll you won’t notice very much splatter - you know what i mean?  The little tiny drops of paint that look like a fine spray on your tape/paper or drop cloth that happens as you roll.

The price was very reasonable. By purchasing locally in Vancouver and not driving all the way into Oregon City it was only $8.00 / gallon in 5’s.  You can also purchase single gallons.  At the store that sells the Metro Paint in Vancouver, Washington they have a color chart so you can have more color options by mixing together 2 different colors.   They don’t custom tint.

So, if you have an interior paint job that needs 1 coat coverage and  you would like to have a high quality paint and save a lot on the cost of paint than I think Metro is a good choice.  Again, they don’t custom tint so this does not work for many projects.  Many homeowners want a special custom color to match or go with furniture, draperies, carpet, etc… and in those situations when a custom paint color match is needed the Metro Paint line probably won’t be the right choice.   That’s when you would be looking into Miller Paint and other local leading paint stores such as Sherwin - Willians, Behr from Home Depot, Parker Paint, Rodda Paint and so forth.

On the other hand many homeowners are simply looking for a creme or tan or off white to paint their walls, ceiling and trim and I would recommend Metro Paint or at least put it on your list of paints to consider.  Drive down and look at the available color choices and see if one of Metro Paint colors will work for your project.

Metro Paint for Rental Houses.. That’s a no brainer.  The creme / off white color is very nice and covers very well in 1 coat.   I just finished a 3 level townhome that is a rental and the walls were very dirty. 1 coat was all it needed.

Can you imagine this true scenario.  A home in Detroit, Michigan was purchased in 2006 for $65,000 and than foreclosed upon 1 year later for $1.00.

The bank became so desparate to sell the home they lowered the price to only $1.00 and it took 14 days to sell..  By the time they sold it - the home had been stripped of it’s siding, fencing, copper plumbing, kitchen sink and it’s light fixtures.

The home had been boarded up and someone stole the boards to board up a home down the street…

An investor bought the property!

Vancouver House Painting

This lovely home had a difficulty factor in that the rear side of the house was 3 stories with a steep pitched aluminum roof. The aluminum roof would dent very easily and the painter was on the roof using a harness holding onto the harness and a bucket of paint and paint brush at the same time while trying not to slide down the slippery aluminum roof which dents easily and in the hot sun! Seems like this would take about 3 or 4 hands but I know he only has 2 like the rest of us.

This home was a 1 color paint scheme and the homeowner requested that each and every seam of the cedar shakes be caulked. This procedure is not recommended as it can cause the shakes to bend and warp. Prior paint jobs on this home had caulked the seams and in fact some of the shingles were warped.

There was plenty of loose paint to scrape on the fascia boards and around the windows which were primed before applying the finish coats.

Vancouver Painting Project - Sherwood Neighborhood

This painting project was a 4 tone color scheme. The walls were a light yellow and the window trim was white. The gutters and shutters were ultra deep blue and the front door was a burgundy red color. Miller Paints were chosen for this painting project.

As this home was painted by a local professional painting contractor it required brushing along the bottom edge of the LP siding in order to fill in the little hairline cracks. Some of the lp siding on this home was replaced but the vast majority of the lp siding was not replaced. Because of the problem that occurs with LP siding in the Vancouver area the moisture wicks up from the bottom of the siding and begins to deteriorate the siding. The beginning of the process leaves hairline cracks at the bottom edges of the siding and than moisture keeps wicking up continuing the decay of the siding.

When we sprayed the siding it was clear that the paint project would not look good nor would it have helped seal the wood as the cracks in the edges of the siding were clearly visible after spraying 2 coats of paint (in a text area). So, we tried backrolling. That did not work either. The cracks at the front side of the bottom edge were sealed but the edge of the siding nearest the house did not get covered by the roller because the siding edge had a bevel and the 1.25″ roller sleeve did not adequately seal the edge.

So, the decision was to take along a large brush and the person spraying the home brushed all the bottom edges of the siding to ensure that the cracks were filled and sealed. This is not a cure all solution for siding because the cracks will eventually re-appear, however, it will slow down the process of siding deterioration for awhile and in the meantime the homeowner has a beautiful new paint job and can postpone the expense of new siding for several more years.
Eventually, this LP siding will need to be replaced by the homeowner or a siding contractor.

We recommend consulting with a Vancouver Painting Contractor before proceeding with repainting your siding. You may find out that the siding is still in acceptable condition for a repaint or that the siding needs to be replaced before repainting it. In other words - don’t hire a local painting contractor because of a cheap or low bit but make sure to consult with a professional painting contractor who has your interests at heart and will steer you in the right direction about the condition of your siding before you paint it. Don’t throw your hard earned money down the drain by painting your home if in fact it the siding does not qualify for a new paint job.

Vancouver Painting Project - located in Salmon Creek

This project was a 2 story home and had a 3 color paint scheme using Miller Paint products. The prep was minimal as the siding was Hardie Plank siding was brand new. However, we did pressure wash the home and protected all surfaces not intended to be painted. Also, the trim at the windows and corners was new un-primed wood so we sealed that wood before applying the finish coats.

Here is a nifty little video on How To Paint Walls for those brave enough and willing to tackle the home painting project themselves.

Dry Rot Repair of Kitchen, Pantry and Heater Closet Floor and Walls
new pier pads.

Than, replaced the rotted joists and also added cross bracing joists to stiffen the floor since we were going down over 4′ oc 4′x6′ floor joists. Than, fixed up the walls and put it all back together.

Take a look at the pictures.