Exterior Painters

Does my house need painting?

Your exterior paint work will get dull over time, sometimes lightly oxidised, but its original sheen should return, and stay, once washed. If it loses its surface within a few weeks of washing, it is getting due. Dirt retention, staining, and fading are also factors that may indicate it is due. If your exterior paint work is beginning to flake and peel, it is well over due for painting and needs to be removed. Paint will start showing its age around the seven year mark, and an eye should be kept on it at this point. Repainting prior to failure is cheaper than heavy prep work or stripping.
  Some paint  manufacturers offer long guarantees for paint, but they usually come with conditions, such as the paint underneath, annual cleaning and inspections, etc. 
Most houses we repaint have not been washed annually, let alone inspected and repaired regularly. Previous  coating failure and poor painter workmanship shares the biggest hand in early failure.

Monolithic Painters

Monolithic cladding  is a cladding system that creates an exterior surface without any segmentation, unlike weatherboards. E.I.F.S., Solid Plaster, Sprayed Texture, and plaster over meshed polystyrene are Monolithic finishes.  Meshed modified plaster over polystyrene panels falls under E.I.F.S. Insulation and cladding in one.  Since 2004 Monolithic finishes must be installed over a drained cavity system. Collecting quotes for the repainting of Monolithic cladding can be an eye watering experience, but this shouldn't be the case. Monolithic cladding is the easiest to paint. We have seen quotes where minor repairs were called major by some painters, who then priced for unnecessary replacement of large areas. As ex applicators of these systems we know the difference between what needs repair and what doesn't. We do not do major repairs to these cladding systems anymore, so you can trust we will not over quote. We use Resene X200 to re-coat these cladding systems. We reseal windows with MS where needed, which only takes 15 to 20mins per.  If your cladding is in excellent condition two coats of Resene  X200 is all you need. You do not want a gloss, semi gloss as walls can look a little lumpy. The lighter the color the flatter the walls will look. Chosen paint colours  should have a light reflectance value greater than 40%.

Weatherboard homes

Timber weatherboards require a high standard of preparation prior to painting in order to find weakness, and to cut back the oxidised surface of the existing paint. Rusting soakers should be replaced prior to painting.  Washing is very important and commercial house washers are not good enough for a repaint.  We wash houses on the day we start whether you've washed it or not, with a broom and low pressure washer. Washing with a broom, or brush, is far more effective than spray and blast. The 1950's house on the left was stripped back to its original sound oil coating, re-primed, and painted in a modern but light weatherboard color with white soffits and joinery. Given its age, and design, dark colors would have looked silly. Windows and weatherboards were painted in High Gloss for minimum dirt retention.
We were also asked to paint the back house, which is the modern house shown on our main page.
Some substrates painted in very dark colors, may exhibit cracking, or movement, or existing coating failure. Resene has tackled this problem with its Cool Color tinters. Clients should check that the color they want is available. We prefer heat reflective cool colors, but these will need a solid coat of white underneath.