Ask the Experts

 
How important is it to pressure clean a home before we do the exterior house painting.
KR- Fort Myers

It is extremely important to have your home pressure cleaned before the painting starts. But be sure and use bleach and rinse it off when your are finished.  If you paint your home without pressure cleaning first the mold and mildew will continue to grow under the paint job and eventually the paint will start to peel off.  Even though you do not see the mildew, it is there.  We do live in the tropics.  Once the home is pressure cleaned you must start painting right away.  The mold will start growning back within a short period of time.  Also be sure and rinse down your plants and windows to get the bleach film off of these surfaces.  Especially rinsce down your vegetation, as the bleach will kill the plants.   Ron R.  Ron's Painting-Fort Myers

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I just had my home pressure cleaned by Coastline Window and Pressure Cleaning about a week ago.  I am going to try and paint the exterior of my home myself.  Coastline recommended I contact you with a question that I have.  They told me you were the painting expert. There is white powder like substance on my home on the stucco when I rub up against this.  Why didn't this come off curing pressure cleaning, I thought it would.  What is it, and can I just paint over it?  JM-Cape Coral

The white powder you are referring to is called chalk.  This is from the previous paint surface breaking down over the years from the sun.  Yes, pressure cleaning does remove some of it, but now all of it. You must seal in the chalk on the stucco surface before you paint stucco. If you rub your hand on your stucco surface and you have a lot of this powder on your hand then you need to go to your local paint store and ask for a clear chalk sealer.  If you have just a little on your hand then ask them at the paint store for a pigmented chalk sealer.  The professionals at Ron's Painting always use a clear chalk sealer.  You can't always check all of the surfaces on the outside of your home, and some places might have a lot more chalk on the surface then other places.  To be on the safe side we always use a clear chalk sealer.  You can apply it by roller, but I recommend either a airless or you can use a garden pump up sprayer.  It is thin just like water and cleans up nicely with water.  Be sure and read the directions.
 Good Luck with your exterior painting project.  Ron R. Ron's Painting-Fort Myers

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I am in the process of getting painting quotes for painting the exterior of my Southwest Florida home.  I want to make sure that the paint job lasts longer that the one that I have now. Can you please  help me with this?  BB-Sanibel

Yes I would be happy to give you advice on how to make your exterior paint job last longer.  It is a very easy solution.
 1)  Hire a licensed painting contractor with a good reputation.  Once you have chosen your  painting contractor call Lee County Contractor Licensing at 239-533-8895 and ask if they are licensed in the county and ask if there are any complaints against the contractor. Also make sure the painting contractor has current Workers Compensation Insurance and Liability Insurance.
2)  Make sure the painting contractor waits that all surfaces are dry and caulking and patching have cured overnight before applying paint.
3)  During the months of Dec thru Feb/March depending on the weather make sure no paint is applied after 3pm.  The paint will not cure in time before the sun sets and the evening due can cause the paint to run.
4)  Make sure the painting contract is applying a premium quality of paint.  Check with your painting contractor to see what manufacturer and grade of paint they use and then call the paint store and ask the manager what the quality of the paint actually is.
5)  Be carefull on the color selection.  Many brilllant and deep colors fade out quickly.  Also check with the paint store manager to see what colorants are used in the color.  This is a big determining factor in how quickly your paint will fade out.  If your are having trouble choosing the color, please feel free to Ron's Painting at 239-482-1695 and we will be happy to help guide you in this process.

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I have paint peeling off of my interior doors and door casings on our Captiva home.  Everytime I touch the surface the paint seems to peel off more.  What is causing this. KR-Captiva Island

The last time your doors and door casings were painted, on your Captiva home,  they were not properly prepared. You probably have this same problem on your baseboards. They probably had oil based paint on them when they were originally painted and someone recently painted them with a latex paint.  What should have happened was to lightly sand, prime with bonding primer tinted to match your finish coat of paint, then paint surfaces with the latex paint.    You will either have to live with the peeling paint, or strip all the paint off and start over.  In some cases on some of my Sanibel and Captiva clients don't want the paint stripped due to the cost factor, I just paint over the surfaces with a premium oil based paint. This is not a cure all for the problem, but it seems to help hold back the peeling paint a little. 

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I am thinking about doing some  painting on my Bonita Springs home and I  have a door on the side of my house that goes into my garage.  It is rusting pretty bad and I noticed that the wood at the bottom of the door casings where it meets the concrete is all rotted out.  What product can I use on the rust on the door and how concerned should I be about the rotting wood on the door casings?-Connie L-Bonita Springs

The rust that you see on your door is rusting from the inner side of your door outwards.  You can go to your local paint store and buy a premium rust inhibiting primer, prime the door then paint it with a premium oil enamel.  The only problem with this is that the door will continue to rust, and bleed through the paint. This solution is only a bandaid.  I recommend replacing the door with a fiberglass door.  If you do replace your door I also recommend you have your pest control company check for termites, if you do not have a pest control company I highly recommend Keith Reubeling from Larue Pest Management.  Keith is well trained in detection of termites and has insepected many of my clients homes for for those pesky little termites.  As far as door replacement, to make sure it is installed properly I recommend Kathy Guyitt from DesignTech of Southwest Florida. 

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I had my pavers sealed by another company back in October before we got back for season and now my pavers have a white cloudy look on them.  It was never like this before.  Do you know what it is and how do I get rid of it? -Michelle-Fort Myers-Frustrated!!

Yes Michelle this can be fixed, as long as the last time they were sealed was with a Xylene based paver sealer.  There is a product out now that is made to remove the cloudiness.  We have to pressure clean your pavers again, let them dry for a minimum of 4 days.  During this time the sprinkler system must be kept off.  We will then apply this new product to the pavers.  This should remove most of the cloudiness.  The next day we have to seal the driveway again with a coat of Wet Look Paver Sealer that is Xylene based.  Once it is dry your pavers will be a lot better looking and the only maintenance that you will have to do on your pavers is have them pressure cleaned once a year for at least the next 5 years.

I have a older home in Fort Myers that has formica kitchen cabinets.  The cabinets are still in pretty good shape, but the formica is a wood grain formica.  Kind of out dated  for my kitchen.  I can't afford to have new kitchen cabinets installed but would love to have them painted. Is is possible to paint the cabinets, doors and drawers.  Lorain W.-Fort Myers 

Absolutely.  Whether the kithen or bathroom cabinets are formica, or wood they can still be painted.  The most important steps in painting kitchen/bathroom cabinets is cleaning the cabinets thoroughly to remove grease.  Then  sand the surface to scuff it up and wipe down with a tack rag, then apply a good coat of oil based XIM Bonding primer to all of the surfaces.  Once the bonding primer dries then the cabinets can be painted. But remember once the surface is painted it can still be chipped just like a car finish can be.  You need to be careful. Here are some pictures of a bathroom Ron's Painting just finished.

 Bathoom Cabinets Before Paint and Faux Finish...                                   Bathroom Cabinets After Paint and Faux Finish