08/20/2026
40+ years of just cover it up paint jobs... yeesh.
I get asked a lot if I can paint. Shoot... anyone can paint. Anyone can work a brush or roller or buy themselves a sprayer and call themselves a painter. The question is, can you do it right? Paint isn't just for looks. It's the armor protecting your house. If it lets the weather in, than it's not doing its job.
This house was painted at least five times without stripping, sanding, or proper sealing. Grinding off that paint was like removing dragon scales... coats of paint just slapped over each other and blistered wide open, separating from the wood, letting water through, making it worse every year as the paint held in moisture, slowly rotting the siding away.
Older wood siding takes extra care. Newer composite siding not so much. You can just keep spraying on coats and it won't rot. This was a monster to recondition every wall, tighten boards, seal every crack, tighten and seal all of the trim around every window, 3-4 coats of paint. Bullet proof. It could look a bit better, more time could be spent sanding, but working within a budget. The paint's going to do it's job now for a long time. Next summer will be an inspection and touchups, looking for any cracks or nails popping through the paint. Some surface sanding and another coat will make it look almost new. Only so much you can do with old siding like this without replacing it. Thanks for getting to it on time, it shouldn't have to.
No sprayer... No tape. Everything up close and personal.