Local Exterior Project: How to Prepare Your Exterior For Painters
When you hire a painter to paint your home’s exterior, you might think there is nothing left for you to do apart from booking the project. That is not the case though! The more non-paint related things you can do to prepare your home and save your painter time, the more you do to save yourself money! If you have an exterior paint project coming up soon; here are some helpful things you can do to get your home ready for the painter!
Prepare Before The Pressure Wash
Mow Lawn and Trim Plants
When you book an exterior paint project, your home will be scheduled for a pressure wash. Before the painter comes to pressure wash your house, mow your grass and trim any plants that are touching your walls. The painter needs about 18 inches of space between the wall and the leaves.
Move Patio Furniture and Decorations
Move lawn ornaments and patio furniture away from the house. Things like barbeques, picnic tables, wall hangings and frog figurines in your plant bed should all be taken well out of range. Any woodpiles or garbage bins also need to be moved. If you need help moving larger pieces of outdoor furniture, make sure you talk with your painter about it beforehand!
Close All Windows
Don’t forget this one! You definitely want to have all your doors and windows closed before the pressure washing begins! If you find that any of your windows leak even though they are closed, make sure you tell the painter. This way they can add caulking to those places to prevent water damage in the future.
Prepare Before Painting
Cars and Campers
Make sure you park your cars, campers, boats etc out in the road or inside your garage! The outdoors has a breeze sometimes. Even paint aimed carefully at your home can sometimes be blown a few feet over onto your car in the driveway! It is best if you can have all these moved the night before the painter arrives. This saves time in the morning and the painter can park in an efficient place with their tools. Bonus- you do not have to run around in your robe while you park vehicles all over the street! 😉
Sprinklers
This is another one you will want to turn off the night before! You want your home to be dry in the morning for the paint to adhere properly. And you definitely do not want the sprinkler to turn on mid paint job! On a hot day it might be refreshing for the painter…but it will not help your project get completed any sooner. 😉
That pretty much sums it up! If your dog is like my dog, they will instantly find a freshly painted wall and go lay against it…so you probably want to keep them inside too! 😉
To book an estimate with Sir Paints A Lot, click here! If your paint project is for your interior and you’d like to know how to prepare for that, check out this blog!
Information is out there everywhere you look! We all absorb information differently. Videos are just one way out of many that we can learn about a product or service we are interested in. While it sometimes feels quicker to simply read over written reviews; there is just an authenticity with video reviews that makes them stand out! Let’s talk about why!
The Five Senses
Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes…. Wait….That isn’t right… And many reviews you read over don’t seem right either! How many times do you come across a 5 star review just raving about something that everyone else seems to hate? (It’s not a conspiracy..people do get paid to do this… ) And how often do you notice that many of the 5 star reviews listed beneath the product you are considering are not even about That product?!? How many times have you ordered 2 sizes up (based on many reviews that the item runs small) only to receive an item 8 times too large? It is safe to say that we as humans have learned to take written reviews with a grain of salt. And Pepper.
Sight
When you watch a video review, you are not just reading words on a screen and wondering who wrote them. You are usually seeing real people reviewing a real product that is most likely visible in the video. Their expressions are visible while they speak and you can tell if they are actually happy with their product or service. It’s true that some people are good actors, but our eyes are good at picking up on that when we really look! Take this review for example- we just love the body language!
Hearing
Hearing real people talk about their experience adds an element of relatability. Our ears also have the capacity to pick up genuine tones and fakeness. When we are able to hear what people are saying, and how they say it; it is easy for our brains to decide if they really believe it or not. It’s true that some people are good liars…but our ears are good at picking up on that when we really listen! Especially when we can Also watch them 😉
Here is a good one you can listen to (especially since some of the visual cues are limited 😅 )
Smell, Touch, Taste
Eyes and Ears and Mouth and Nose….errr Technology is not quite so advanced yet that we can smell or touch or taste a product through a screen. 😉 But being able to see and hear about something at the same time does help our brain to fill in the gaps. There are less gaps to fill when we watch a video review than when we simply read a review. This is why a commercial showing a juicy cheeseburger covered in cheese makes us think we can almost taste it! When you read those words, you may have pictured it…but when you watch it, you get to skip a step!
As you can see, there are several things about video reviews that help others learn about our services in a meaningful way! If we have the opportunity to work for you, your feedback is very valuable to us. We appreciate your willingness to be vulnerable for a minute to share your authentic experience with others! Hopefully at the very least, you have a song stuck in your head for the day! Thank you for taking the time to read about video reviews and why they matter! Check out our interactive video review map to see what others in the area had to say about their experience with us! https://sirpaints.com/review%20map/
Click here if you would like to book an estimate with Sir Paints A Lot! Thank You!
Interior Painting Season has officially arrived in the PNW! Getting a fresh application of paint is always exciting; both for the crisp clean feel and for the change of color! You’ve had your home measured and you’ve signed the estimate! What happens next?!? Here are 5 things you can do to make your paint project go as smoothly as possible!
interior painting
1. Respond to Calls and Emails from your Painter
In many cases; your painter will have a calendar that they will want to schedule you into as soon as possible. The better you are at keeping in communication with them; the more quickly you can move through the interior painting process! If you work with Sir Paints A Lot, one of the first things you will need to schedule (if you want it) is your color consult! Making the time to have one of our color specialists come out and help you choose a color scheme can really help you feel confident and happy with the paint you choose! Also: the sooner your painter knows which colors you are using, the sooner they can order paint and get your project started! If you’re curious about the color consult; check out this blog: Pros and Cons of a Color Consult!
2. Mark Your Calendar!
Once you get the estimated date for your interior painting project, Mark Your Calendar! Paint companies do their best to keep in contact with you to let you know whether they are on schedule for your project or if they are ahead or behind. It is important that you also keep track of when your project is supposed to happen so that you don’t plan other events too close to the time of your job. Allow a little wiggle room before making plans to host a family dinner, for example, so that you do not end up disappointed if the painters run into a little setback. Even though the date may not be “exact”, keeping track of it will help you be more prepared.
Keeping track of your appointment time also prevents most complications where you would end up needing to reschedule. Not only does last minute rescheduling ruin other customer’s plans and schedules; but you also may end up having to wait longer than you expected, depending on how busy your painter is. No fun 🙁
3. Make Plans for Pets
Once you have a good idea of when your paint project will happen; make plans to keep your pets out of the area that will be painted. If your whole house will need painted and your pet cannot stay outside; ask a friend to help watch them or find an animal kennel you can bring them to. We have heard great things about Willamette Valley Dog and Cat Motel! No matter how friendly your pet is; paint is one thing you don’t want them getting into! The painters cannot be efficient at getting their work done if they are trying to keep your pets out of the paint. Or worse; cleaning up paint messes of cute paw prints tracked all over your floor! 😉
4. Remove Knick-Knacks and Pictures
To help us save time (and you money), you will want to remove all the pictures from your walls and any shelving or knick-knacks from the room. Also remove rugs, TV’s and other electronics. Large furniture should be moved to the center of the room, at least 3 feet away from each wall. The painter will cover it with plastic and drop cloths. Do not pile *all* of your things into a mountain in the middle of the room though; bring your things somewhere safe and make your walls ready for paint! You also need to remove clothes and other items from closets that need painted. You can expect painters to move large items for you like refrigerators, washers, dryers, couches etc… But please remove all your other belongings before the painters arrive. If your ceiling is being painted as well, the room will need to be 70% empty.
5. Go Enjoy A Vacation!
Not to be rude— Painters love to chat with customers and get to know you! If you only are having one or two rooms painted and you don’t need to be in them all the time; that’s different! We would love for you to stick around and tell us about your life and your adventures!
But!I If you have scheduled a full interior painting project, join me on this imaginary journey…
The painters have been in your house all day and you just return home from work.
You’re feeling like you need a snack so you try to get into your masked off freezer for some pizza rolls. You glance at your oven and see it is also covered in plastic. A moment of irritation passes… You decide to leave and get some food somewhere else. Your fingers peel at tape so you can make your way through the doorway of plastic.
You return with your food. The daylight has faded away and you need to turn on the light. The switch is covered in paper. The light is dim and covered in plastic. The drive-through forgot to give you a fork…You complete the obstacle course of getting into your silverware drawer.
Now you want to relax and watch some TV. Then you remember that your TV is in another room covered in a drop cloth and so is your couch. You decide to go to bed. If you are lucky; that won’t be covered yet… You stare into the hazy paint dust and wonder what you are doing here….
That was enjoyable right?! 😉
Your house is not the place you want to be when you are having interior painting done! Trust us! Once your appointment time is confirmed; make plans to go anywhere but home! Stay at the coast or in a fun air-bnb or even just a hotel or friend’s house for the duration of your project! Almost everyone loves coming home after a getaway! Imagine how much fun coming home will be after a fresh paint job!
Keeping these steps in mind will make your interior painting experience much more pleasant! Don’t stress! Just remember to stay in contact with your painter so that you get updates regarding your project. Put your possessions somewhere safe and out of the way, and plan a fun getaway for yourselves and your pets! 😉
Thank you for taking the time to read this to be prepared for your upcoming interior painting project! If you have not scheduled with us yet and would like an estimate, click here, or call 541 600 2025! Have an Awesome Day!
