exterior | Crestwood Painting

Top 3 Things to NOT Caulk

Caulk kansas city painter crestwood — Sealing moisture out is perfect around doors and windows but sealing moisture in can grow mold and rot.

Caulk is, in terms of aesthetics, the most important part of prepping for exterior painting. It makes for a smooth, seamless appearance – no gaps between trim boards or hairline cracks in stucco. Caulk also protects from moisture infiltration.

Crack sealing (wood or stucco) should not be very noticeable. It’s often done poorly and looks like a finger dragged across a blob of caulk. Which is exactly the cave-man type of repair that is so common. Ideally, a detail-oriented painter will remove excess caulk with a damp rag for a neater appearance.

If you can seal moisture out you can also seal moisture in. So here are the top three places you do not want to seal:

Storm windows
Bottom edge
Soffits

Storm Windows

Sealing storm windows in solves one problem (heat loss / convection) and creates another, far worse problem (trapped moisture). Plus, there’s a much higher risk of damage on removal (say, for painting) of both the storm window itself and the window opening. There are usually weep holes or slots at the bottom edge of a storm window; they’re effective for water run-off but don’t help much with condensation. Sealing storms in leaves no path for condensation to escape. Please, be kind to your home and don’t caulk your storms in.

Bottom Edge

We’re talking about the bottom edge of clapboard siding and shake shingles. When (not if) moisture gets behind your home’s exterior sheathing it will need an outlet path or it will become a breeding ground for mold, mildew and wood-eating fungi. Yes, some siding boards may cup and warp; do not yield to temptation and caulk recklessly for the sake of appearance. You’ll solve one problem and create another – leave an outlet path.

Soffits

Your roof and gutters should be doing their job and directing water away. But sometimes they don’t and water goes where it shouldn’t. If you seal the bottom edges and joints of soffits and fascia trim you’ve effectively created a bathtub. Water will then travel where you don’t want it to or, maybe worse, it will fester and grow mold and mildew. As a general rule it’s best to follow the old adage “think like a raindrop” – if a raindrop continues its downward path will it wind up where you want it? Many contractors tout that they caulk “everything”, now you know that’s not quite the best policy. Want to know more about what not to caulk? Give us a call – we’d love to help.

Painting Cedar Shake Shingles

Cedar shake shingle painting — Cedar Shake shingles can split if they haven’t been cared for.

Cedar shake shingles can split and curl when not properly cared for. While replacing damaged shingles sounds straightforward, here’s what to look out for.

Shingle Thickness

This is pretty easy – shingles are either thin (~3/8″) or thick (~5/8″). And you don’t mix them – unless you’re in a real pinch. You can get away with using thin shingles in a thick shingle installation (it will be noticeable) but you really can’t go the other way around – your neighbors will talk.

Shingle Texture

There are two considerations here: texture of the entire wall and texture of individual shingles. If the shingles on the face of a house are all generally cupped (curled) you’ll want to be aware that installing a new, flat shingle may look out of place. Sometimes this solves one problem and creates another; at that point you’ll have to decide what you can live with.

The other texture consideration is with the shingles themselves: older shingles have often been painted 46 times and so much of the original texture has been lost. We’ve seen grooved shingles that have been painted smooth. New cedar shingles very often have two surface treatments: one side is relatively smooth while the other is generally grooved. Easy to match grooved with grooved; a bit of a trick when new smooth doesn’t match old smooth.

A new shingle may really be smooth but it may just as easily be very rough depending on where and how it was milled. Is matching texture important to you? Important enough to sand individual shingles when necessary?

So by now you’ve thrown up your hands and bellowed “Oiy!” – can’t blame you. But as painting professionals it’s up to us to set the expectation with our customers – what you can expect and also what you can’t. That way there are no unmet expectations. Give us a call if you think we might be able to help.

Tips n’ Tricks – Vinyl Window Trim Color

white wall tire vinyl window options Vinyl windows can be kind of tricky when it comes to trim colors – they are almost always stark white and generally cannot be painted (see below). Some lean to matching trim color to the vinyl – this gives a hospital-feeling white-on-white look that lacks visual interest. It also ranks a solid “Zero” on the Warmth scale.

The other end of the spectrum is the high contrast approach. This lacks subtlety and, just like whitewall tires, isn’t suited for most homes. Both white-on-white and dark-on-white are just too harsh a contrast for most tastes.

[Read more…]

What Kind of Painting Do You Do?

There is often a pleasant laugh when the answer is “Well, we’ll paint your shoes if you stand still long enough.” But every once in a while we stumble on a nice story…

This small ranch style house was owned by a single lady on full disability. Her insurance company told her to paint or they would drop her coverage. Needless to say, when your insurance company calls your home is usually in some kind of disrepair. She called several painters and finally chose Crestwood for her exterior project.

[Read more…]

Why are Exterior Paint Colors Important?

Exterior paint colors Here is this year’s final exterior color update from Kansas City’s best color consultant – Diane Stewart at Color Sense Consulting. We routinely hear high praise from customers that have worked with Diane. She’s pleasant, knowledgeable and really listens to what’s important to her clients.