As the saying goes - "the prep work is the most important part of painting." As cleaning specialists, we take surface preparation to great lengths.
We believe that wood-sided houses should be stripped to get maximum life for the paint job. At the very least, the next five years of likely-peeling paint should be removed. The extra cost can be recouped from the savings in future painting work.
To remove the most possible existing paint, we power wash using rotating nozzles, which do a better job of loosening paint than stationary nozzles do.
At the same time, we conserve water by using specially-designed pumps that put out a lot of pressure, not a lot of water.
And in order to avoid damaging the wood, we match the size of the nozzle to the hardness of the wood underneath --- it really makes a difference.
When working on decks, we use oil-based wood sealers, which we've found to be superior to water-based ones. We never use wax-based sealers, which don't let the wood breathe and also wear off quickly.
Painting decks? We don't recommend it. Paint shows foot traffic wear much more quickly than clear finishes do. There are a number of excellent clear finishes that we can recommend.
