4 Reasons to Hire a Residential Exterior Painting Company

You may have noticed that your home's exterior is a little bit shabby looking. Maybe you have found some places where the pain is chipping or peeling or maybe you have spotted some water stains or streaks that suggest water might be soaking parts of your exterior walls. This might be a time to call a contractor to see if you can schedule your house into their residential exterior painting jobs.

Residential exterior painting jobs do more than spruce up the appearance of your home. They can protect your investment in your home and produce long term value. Here are four reasons to paint your home's exterior aside from appearance:

Check for Structural Damage

Very few homeowners check every square inch of their home's exterior for leaks, bent or broken siding, or water and insect damage. However, residential painting companies can do just that as they prepare your home for residential exterior painting jobs. This is an opportunity for your painting company to determine if your exterior suffers from rot, water leaks, or insect damage that must be repaired before the residential exterior painting job can be completed.

Water leaks, rot, and insect damage can compromise the structural integrity of your home. Water can corrode nails and screws, dissolve drywall, and cause fiberglass insulation to collapse. Wood rot can essentially cause wood to turn to sawdust. Insect damage can weaken structural supports and cause those supports to sag or, worse yet, break. Inspecting and repairing exterior damage can help avoid collapse.

Increase Value

Residential exterior painting is a home improvement that can produce a positive ROI. According to surveys, exterior painting can increase your home's resale value by 2% to 5%. While this might seem small, for a home valued at $300,000 before residential exterior painting jobs , this means an increase of $6,000 to $15,000 to your selling price.

There are a few reasons that explain this increase in value.

• Increases curb appeal: You only get one chance to make a first impression. Improvements visible from the road, such as exterior paint, help you to establish the value of your home before a home buyer ever steps inside.
• Shows you care: Homes with shabby exterior paint jobs appear to be run down. New exterior paint reminds home buyers that you took care of your home.
• Improves the neighborhood: A home buyer looking at your fresh coat of paint will have a higher impression of the neighborhood.

Weather Protection

The primary purpose of exterior paint is to weatherize the exterior of your home against water. If you have ever been on a boat or ship, you will see that every surface is chromed or painted. This is because ship owners and operators know that water can cause serious damage to the ship without the protective coating of paint. If paint can protect ships from salt water damage, it can certainly protect the exterior of your home from sun, rain, hail, and ice. Without exterior paint, wood can rot and metal can corrode.

Exterior paint is different from interior paint. The latex paints used for interior painting are formulated to give off less dangerous vapors and resist abrasion. They are also designed to dry quickly. Latex paint is usually dry to the touch within a couple of hours and is safe for a second coat in four to five hours.

Exterior enamels use different binders and pigments to resist sun damage and seal the painted surface from water and humidity. Exterior enamels repel water to protect wood surfaces from rot and metal surfaces from corrosion.

Pest Control

Exterior paint also reduces the risk of insect infestation and pest invasion. This occurs through a few different mechanisms.

• A painted surface is more difficult for termites, carpenter ants, and other wood-eating pests to chew through.
• The chemicals in exterior paint taste bad to insects and rodents.
• Insects and rodents are attracted to the smell of wood rot. By sealing the exterior wood surfaces, they are less likely to rot and attract pests.

Exterior paints for particularly vulnerable buildings, like log cabins, can even include an insecticide additive to repel insects from entering the home through cracks or gaps.

Exterior paint is more than just aesthetic. Exterior paint functions to protect your home, maintain or increase its value, and improve its curb appeal.