Exterior painting in New Castle, Indiana
Wood, aluminum and fiber cement siding, trim, porches and painted brick.
Signs it is time to paint
Paint is what keeps water out of wood. Once it lets go, the wood is next.
Peeling on the south and west walls
Those sides take the afternoon sun and the weather. If they are peeling and the north wall is not, the paint has simply reached its age.
Chalk on your hand
Rub the siding. A white powder means the paint’s binder has broken down in the sun. Old aluminum siding does this more than anything else.
Cracked caulk at the windows and corners
Caulk shrinks and splits after ten or so years of freezing and thawing. Each open joint lets rain into the end grain of the trim.
Bare gray wood
Wood left bare for a summer turns gray and its surface goes soft. Paint will not hold on it until it is sanded back to sound wood.
Soft spots in sills and bottom boards
Window sills, the bottoms of trim boards and the lowest course of siding rot first, because that is where water sits. Those pieces get replaced.
How a painting job goes
Six steps. Four of them come before the finish coat.
You call, text or send the form.
Tell us what the house is sided with and which walls are the worst. You get a reply within 5 minutes.
Shawn walks the house.
Usually within two days. He checks every wall, probes the sills and bottom boards for rot and notes what needs replacing.
You get a written price.
It lists the preparation, the wood repairs, the primer, the paint by name and the number of coats. You pick the colors, and we brush a sample on the wall if you are torn.
We wash and let it dry.
Dirt, chalk and mildew come off first. Then the house dries for a day or two, because paint over damp wood blisters.
We scrape, repair, prime and caulk.
Loose paint off, edges sanded, rotted wood replaced, bare wood primed, joints caulked.
Two coats.
Brushed and rolled, or sprayed and brushed in, depending on the surface. Then we walk the house with you in daylight.
What the days are like
Most houses take four to seven working days, and the weather has a say. We paint when it is above 50 degrees, the wall is dry and no rain is due before the paint has set. In Indiana that means roughly late April to mid-October.
Plants along the house are covered with cloth, never plastic, which cooks them. Light fixtures, house numbers and downspouts come off or are masked. Please keep windows shut on the wall we are working on and move cars away from the house on any day we spray.
Wet paint signs go up where people walk. We leave the leftover paint with you, labeled by color and where it was used.
The warranty
All work is backed up by our workmanship warranty.
Who does the work
Shawn Tabor walks the house and writes the price. The scraping, the carpentry and the painting are done by Tabor’s own crew. Because the same crew does our siding, soffit and gutter work, a rotted board or a leaking gutter gets fixed properly and not just painted.
Painted houses we have worked on
Questions about exterior painting
How long should an exterior paint job last?
On well-prepared wood siding in this climate, seven to ten years. Trim, sills and anything flat that holds water wear out sooner.
How long it lasts depends more on the scraping and priming than on the brand of paint.
Can vinyl or aluminum siding be painted?
Aluminum, yes. Once the chalk is washed off it takes paint well and holds it for years.
Vinyl can be painted, but only in a color no darker than the original. A dark color soaks up heat and the panels warp. If the vinyl is faded and brittle, new siding is the better use of the money.
What time of year do you paint?
From about late April to mid-October. Paint needs a dry wall, a temperature above 50 degrees and a few hours before the evening dew. A warm week in March does not count, because the nights are still too cold for the paint to cure.
Do you spray or brush?
Both. Large flat walls are often sprayed and then brushed or rolled while wet, which works the paint into the surface. Trim is done by brush.
Related work
We do exterior painting in New Castle, Muncie, Anderson, Indianapolis, Carmel and Fishers. See where we work, or everything under Roofing & Exteriors.
Get your free estimate
Shawn calls you back the same day. The estimate is free. Prefer to talk? Call or text (765) 465-1208.
Don't Labor. Call Tabor!