It’s what inside that counts is a good mantra for dealing with people, but when it comes to houses, the outside is just as important. Routine exterior maintenance makes a world of difference to a home’s look and quality, not to mention the homeowner’s wallet. Severe weather, sun exposure and moisture buildup wreaks havoc on a home’s exterior. Pinpointing and repairing damaged areas before they escalate into major problems preserves the home’s value and saves the homeowners from much more costly repairs down the road.

Annual spring or summer “checkups,” are a great way to preserve the beauty and value of your home. These are ideal times to identify weather damage and complete any needed repairs before cooler weather sets in. Some professional painting contractors provide this service to their customers free of charge, such as Hester Painting & Decorating’s Exterior Maintenance Program.

You can also follow these simple steps to assess the health of your home:

1) Walk around your home’s exterior and look for any paint or caulk that has cracked, peeled or blistered. Properly painted areas not only look better, they also protect the home as exposed wood is especially prone to weather damage. Any break in the exterior finish of the house is an opening for moisture to enter, eventually leading to mildew and rot.

2) Examine your gutters and clear out any debris. Roof damage occurs when water gets backed up and leaks in, so clearing out any leaves and dirt will help prevent internal wall and ceiling damage.

3) Check all flat surfaces, such as window sills, thresholds, steps and decks for wear. Identify vulnerable areas and watch for water pooling up on the surface.

4) Pay particular attention to areas of intense sun or shade. Harsh sun can fade sections of paint finish, while portions of a home that are in deep shade may be subject to mildew and mold.

5) Be sure to protect all painted or stained outside furniture by covering or storing it before winter hits. The minimal effort involved in covering patio furniture will reward you many times over.

Routine, preventative maintenance keeps your home looking its best while dramatically reducing the cost of repairs. Whether you do it yourself or schedule an inspection with your local painting contractor, give your home’s exterior an annual checkup and identify any minor issues before they develop into major problems. You’ll preserve the value and beauty of your home – one of your largest assets, and you’ll save money by avoiding extensive repairs that could have been easily resolved by early detection.

This article is provided courtesy of www.hesterdecorating.com and may be reprinted provided this courtesy notice with the author name and URL remain intact.

About Author

Jeff Hester, a.k.a. Professor Paint, is an expert on high-end painting, faux finishing and wall covering. He has 28 years experience in the field and is vice president of Hester Painting & Decorating. Visit www.hesterdecorating.com.

You will be surprised to see just how to spray car paint really can be easy. That doesn’t mean that you can just grab a tin of paint and go at it. There are some basics you need to know. Both in the preparation and application.

Step A:
Prepare by gathering all of your items that you are going to need. Make sure your surrounding area is protected against any possible over spray. Any parts that do not need to be sprayed and that can be removed then do so. For other areas cover well with paper and masking tape.

Step B:
You will have to examine the car carefully for any rough spots. These will need to be sanded with 300 grit sand paper. This will smooth out the rough spots. It also allows the spray car paint to adhere better. Once you have finished sanding, make sure all of the dust dirt and debris are removed from the vehicle. It’s imperative that the car be perfectly clean.

Step C:
You will need to apply a primer. This will make sure that you get an overall even coat of your colored paint plus helps the paint to adhere well. When you spray the primer, make sure you apply light coats and allow for drying in between. How to spray car paint takes a little getting used to.

Step D:
Now you are pretty well to the point where you are about ready to spray the color. You may have decided to use the spray car paint that comes in aerosol cans, or perhaps you have opted for the spray gun. In either case, make a few practice strokes on an object before you start with the car. Once you are ready, start the passes with the paint without hesitation. If you hold the spray can or gun in one spot, you will end up with uneven coverage and possibly the paint will run. If this happens you have a major repair job on your had. You will most likely have instructions as to how to spray car paint using the equipment or spray cans.

Step E:
It’s up to you whether you want to wet sand between coats of primer and color paints. You may want to research this option on the web, or check with someone that is familiar with how to spray car paint

Step F:
Once you are totally satisfied with the color, you are down to the finishing touches. You will now want to apply several clear coats. This will give the gloss and finished look to the car as well as protect the finish. Probably two coats will be sufficient but it will be up to you. Make absolutely sure it is dry in between coats.

Step G:
Once again, you have the option of wet sanding if you prefer. Again, I suggest you ask the advice of individuals that are familiar with how to spray paint a car. If you decide to follow this step then you need to wet sand with the following grits in this order. Use 800, 1000, 1200, 1500 and the finally the 2000. This will remove spots that may be too heavy in the clear coat application.

Step H:
Now you will want to using a rubbing compound to buff the surface so you can use a 2000 grit to remove any scratches.

Step I:
You should now buff the surface. To do this simply use a medium cut polish. Once you have done this, you should have a perfect glassy look to the finish.

Step J:
As a final touch, you may want to apply a few coats of wax.

About Author

If you want to learn how to spray paint your car easily, visit: www.SprayPaintSecrets.com Discover how the professionals spray paint and perform bodywork repair – in an easy to follow, step by step DVD video. SprayPaintSecrets – Visit the official site and claim your free car spray paint videos now.

Being a “Go-To” Painting Company: The Bull in a Bear Market

Much to my wife’s chagrin, I willingly and somewhat credulously engage with some of the more far-flung segments of popular culture—to wit, more often than not I fall asleep listening to a late-night radio host she charitably refers to as “Alien Man.” I won’t bore you with received conspiracy theories or musings from this or that gassy knoll, but I would like to use one of the outer limit’s more interesting fields of endeavor as a jumping point for this article.

Predictive linguistics is, in a nutshell, the belief that within the unknowable magnitude of collected human chatter we might dig out kernels of future events, most often along larger-scale trend lines such as shifts in political climate. The governing logic at work within this study holds that humans both intuit and shape future happenings through language; in other words and on a smaller, cruder scale: get a group of 30 farmers together and give them a few hours to kill in a room miked for sound and by the end of the day, you’ll probably have painted a decent picture of next year’s harvest through careful notation of repeated phrases and tonal patterns.

So, the chicken or the egg? To a predictive linguist, the answer is “both.”

On that note, we’ve all worn our eyes to the quick–and likely lost a few winks as business owners–reading about the economy these last few months. Whether or not the credit crunch leads to further fiscal deterioration, the language concentration centered around ‘downturn’ is unmistakable, and it’s smart business to bet that a relational turn towards ‘value’ will take on a gathering intensity as Wall Street makes its uneasy peace with Main Street.

Indeed, to the savvy business, this fog of uncertainty represents a very real, tangible opportunity for growth: how might a successful painting company watch its billable hours climb out of the ashes of recession?

By adding…value.

Keep in mind that most residential customers see their painting projects as component parts to the greater aim of ‘home improvement’ or ‘beautification,’ and slap a double nickel on that relationship during times of economic hardship. They’re hiring for quality, finish, aesthetic, to be sure; as fingers tighten around purse strings it’s unavoidable that they’re also hiring with an eye on a quantifiable improvement to their initial investment in the residence—in short, they are hiring to add value!

And as surely as your customers will be hiring to add value$, they’ll also be hiring to add valueZZZ…consider how much proverbial—and sometimes literal!–sleep you save your customer by doing all the little things well, by covering all of their bases where possible. Time is always money, remember, and the surest way to add value across the board is by becoming a ‘go-to’ business, increasing your customer’s bottom line by decreasing his bottom time:

• ‘Go-to’ businesses hire, train, and employ go-to guys: Encourage your painters to develop and build upon small home repair skills whenever possible. A ‘handy’ painter might well save a customer the trouble of finding and locating an electrician, joint man, plumber, etc.
• ‘Go-to’ businesses use their network of contacts to provide their customers with solutions: Let’s say that during the walkthrough, your customer mentions they plan on an addition to the west wing at some point over the next six months. A ‘go-to’ business checks its contact list for a general contractor in that area and is happy to save the customer extra legwork by making an introduction at the right time.
• ‘Go-to’ businesses take the extra step, every step of the way: your painters are onsite to beautify and fortify your customer’s home; to that end, why not ask that your painters bring in empty trashcans or recycling bins on trash day, take in the customer’s mail or the paper as a courtesy, dust a coffee table that needs dusting? A ‘go-to’ business treats its customers’ homes as its own, and it holds its painters to that highest standard, seven days a week.

As the old saying holds, the list might well go on, and on–these are but a few examples of ‘go-to’ business practice. But for the most potent distillation of ‘go-to’ philosophy, take a good, long look at the telephone: a ‘go-to’ business functioning at its highest capacity is constantly challenging itself to be that first call for every one of its customers–at every point of the decision-making process.

Are you a ‘go-to’ business? If not, why not?

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On any car, truck, or SUV, you have 4 layers that the scratch can go into. The Clear coat being the first, second is the color layer, third is the primer, and fourth is the steel.

No scratch is the same, each are different and unique in their own way. Sometimes a scratch is not really a scratch. If the object that has rubbed up against your car is softer than the paint on the car, it will put a special material on the paint surface. Leaving a mark that is raised above the paint, it is not gouged in to the paint itself. If the item is harder than the paint, the paint goes onto the item that hit the car.

Most marks that are left on cars, only scratch the clear coat and the color layer. When this happens you can usually get the scratch out with some buffing and waxing and a little sanding. If it goes any down to the primer and steel level, the scratch then becomes harder to get out and usually has to be professionally done. Most people make the mistake of taking the car to the mechanic to see how bad the scratch is but an experience person in the car field will tell you this, if you take your fingernail and go over the scratch at a ninety-degree angle, it will defect wither or not the scratch is setting at the clear coat and color level or if it is grounded into your vehicle. If the mark comes from rubber, plastic or another color of paint, you can rub it off with an aerosol tar or adhesive remover product.

When you cannot get the mark to come out you can try to remove it with acetone or lacquer (a basic acetone; aka nail polish remover) and a soft rag will get the mark off. If that stupid mark is still there you are going to have start hand rubbing and polishing. To repair a scratch, wash your car or the side that needs it, down with soap and water. When start drying the vehicle off, make sure that it is good and dry or this method given will not work. This is not going to remove the scratch, but it will make less or not noticeable at all.

Use black shoe polish to fill in the scratch, or any other color you prefer. Once you have put the shoe polish into the scratch, sand down the remaining material on the paint surface of your vehicle. Do not use a rough sand paper grinder. Use a two thousand to three thousand grit wet or dry sandpaper, depending on your preference. Place the sand paper in a bowl of cold water and add three or four drops of dish soap to the water to give it more slip and increase the corrective-ness of the cutting action to get what you need.

While sanding use a sixty degree angle and move up and down the length of the scratch. Stop after 4 or 5 sweeps to wash off the sand paper. You are going to do this until the bl! ack shoe polish goes away. Once the scratch is removed, let the sanded area dry and then look over the area you sanded for any signs of the removed scratch. If no signs of the scratch are there, you may paint over it with a clear coat. If you did not sand down to the primer layers you can buff the area with a rubbing compound and soft washcloth. Once the polishing and no signs of the scratch are there, you can seal the car paint with car wax.

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Discover how to spray paint your car in *2 hours* or less with SprayPaintSecrets Click on the link to find out more below: SprayPaintSecrets.com – spray painting You can download *free* videos on cars spray paint techniques and bodywork paint repair tips right now…

Repairing A Rotted Soffit

If you don’t even know what a “soffit” IS, then chances are you’re not the best candidate to do repairs on it! Many older houses naturally start rotting at the weakness points, one of them being the soffit – or the underside of an arch, stairwell, cornice or overhang. Often times even newer houses need their soffits replaces because squirrels and birds tend to nest in the eaves, gutters or outer wall space next to the attic. The soffit, typically made of soft plywood, hardwood, or soft panels of vinyl and aluminum, routinely comes into direct contact with rain water, ice and snow from the gutters. If your gutters have been displaced or if a shingle tears, the soffit will rot out over time. Atlanta painting contractors often specialize in solving this external problem for you, thus preventing more serious damage to the interior as well.

To replace the rotted soffit, you would need to pry off the shingle mold running along the top edge of the fascia board and yank out all the nails that held the rotting board in place. Next, replace the board with a pre-measured or trimmed piece of hardwood, vinyl or aluminum. Remove any decorative trim beneath the soffit and remove the rotted soffit. Note that this part of the process is usually rather disgusting, since you never know what kind of dirt, dust, bee nest, squirrel nest, or debris will come off. Now you should be able to see the frame clearly and ascertain where the water damage and decay started. You may need to rip out additional plywood sheathing and use your saw to take out the section of rotted rafter or roofing. You’ll have to cut four or more inches from the decay, to account for stress fractures that may have left room for water to seep in. This is where the tools come in handy: you’ll need a powder-actuated nail gun with a .22 caliber blank to nail in the new section.

You’ll also be attaching a pressure-treated 1×4 or 1×6 onto the newly sawed rafter, fastening it with 2.5” galvanized screws going from the new into the old rafters. Now you can cut a new soffit from a 3/8-inch A/C plywood, first coating the front and back flat surfaces with an exterior primer and the edges with a wax emulsion sealer (like AnchorSeal) to protect from water damage. Apply sealer with a foam or bristle brush. Nail the soffit into place and replace the trim you’ve removed. Cut a new fascia board and replace it. (Warning: This requires careful measuring to get the right size!) Now prime all four surfaces of this board. Seal the end cuts and install it, then nail up the shingle molds along the fascia.

Sound like a LOT of work? IT IS! The process is extremely convoluted for anyone who isn’t a skilled tradesman. What might take a novice several days could be done in an afternoon by an Marietta Georgia painting contractor. Therefore, you may want to track down a contractor to meet your needs. Not only will your home look totally renovated and newer, but more importantly, you will be protecting your home from premature aging as a result of water and rot damage.

About Author

Kimberly Painting – Atlanta painting contractor and Marietta Georgia painting contractor – The best choice for professional painting services.
Discover professional interior and exterior painting services, as well as gutter installation for residential and commercial customers, when you call top-rated Kimberly Painting.