7 Money-Saving Ideas For Exterior Painting in Denver Metro, CO
Painting the exterior of your home can, at times, be quite a costly thing, and if you can find ways to save on doing it without having the quality of the work go down, you absolutely should do so.
The problem lies in the fact that sometimes you will come across what seems like a money-saving idea that will actually cost you in the long run, but you don’t find out about it until after it has hurt your bottom line.
With that being the case, here are seven money-saving ideas for exterior painting in Denver Metro, CO.
1. Planning Well In Advance
Though it may not seem to make any sort of difference if you plan your exterior painting in advance or not, there are a lot of ways to save you money by planning well before you start your painting project.
When you take steps to plan your exterior painting project, you will need to know for example how much paint you’re going to need as well as how much time you will need to do so — and if you don’t have a good plan for the house painting project, it’s going to be much more difficult to get it done in a timely manner — and the longer it takes you to do it, the more it will ultimately cost you.
2. Borrow Equipment
When you are painting the exterior of your home, there is some equipment that you will absolutely need in order to get the job, but just because you need the equipment doesn’t mean that you need to buy it.
It’s entirely possible that you will be able to borrow such equipment from friends or if such a thing is available to you, and their equipment library.
3. Use Better Quality Paint
Though better quality paint generally will cost you a little more than lesser quality paint, it actually lasts you a lot longer than the lower quality paint and will be considerably easier to apply.
Do yourself a favor and don’t go cheap when you are getting paint, and you will, in the long run, benefit from the investment.
4. Properly Clean The Exterior
It may be difficult to imagine, but one of the most problematic parts of painting the exterior of your home has to do with making sure that the surface is as smooth as possible.
When you do not clean the exterior of your home prior to painting it, you run into numerous problems ranging from the house just not looking good after painting it to having paint issues thanks to the underlying dirt and therefore needing to repaint — which costs you money in the long run.
5. Paint Before It’s Obvious You Should Paint
Ironically, the longer you wait between paint jobs, the more the paint job is going to ultimately cost you.
The reason that this is the case is that when you hold off on painting the exterior of your home, lots of little things build up that will cost you big in the preparation of painting the exterior of your home, such as how long the cleaning and sanding and priming will take you.
If you paint your home more often, you might see it as costing more, but ultimately it will really cost you less per paint job.
This will save you money in that you are not throwing away your paint down the drain every night when you choose to wash your brushes instead of saving them.
7. Be Careful While Painting
It likely seems like the most obvious thing, but when you are hasty while painting, you are likely to waste paint.
It is far better to paint carefully and therefore not waste any.
Don’t settle for just any painter when you can get the attention to detail and professionalism from Imhoff Fine Residential Painting in Denver Metro, CO. Call us today to speak with one of our professional color consultants.
How To Decide Between Paint And Wallpaper in Denver Metro, CO
When you’re redecorating or even just decorating your home, one of the things you will come to decide is how to make your interior walls look as good as possible.
You will be able to either paint the interior walls of your home, or you could always use wallpaper, and the difference between the two is quite stark.
The question is going to be the elements that go into the decision of choosing one versus the other.
With that in mind, let us discuss how to decide between paint and wallpaper in Denver Metro, CO.
Paint Advantage: Variety
When it comes to variety, you’re going to be hard-pressed to find a medium that has quite so many choices as paint.
It’s true that you will find quite a number of kinds of wallpaper, but as many wallpapers, as there are, it simply does not compare to how many colors of paint are out there, on top of the fact that you can take that paint and create new paint tints by mixing two or more paints together.
There’s also the fact that with paint, you can go not just for a flat application but also patterns and shapes that will make your paintwork stand out.
Wallpaper Advantage: Texture
Though some people might find it to be curious to bring up the issue of texture when it comes to how you are decorating the interior walls of your home, to some people, it is actually somewhat important, and for the most part, wallpaper is the big winner when it comes to texture.
There are fabric wallpapers, foil wallpapers, the sort of wallpapers that have embossed textures as well as those made of actual suede, and more — this represents quite a variety of different textures from which you can choose.
Paint Advantage: Ease Of Application And Updates
If there’s something that is generally true, it is that people do not like to have to struggle when it comes to remodeling their homes, which is why often times they will find themselves hiring professional contractors to do it for them, because they would rather someone do it for them than them possibly making an error and the project having to be done all over again.
If you think about it, it’s significantly easier to paint your wall than to apply wallpaper — the application of wallpaper can be prone to so many errors that, should they happen, require you to tear the wallpaper off of the wall and start from the beginning with that section of the wall.
Paint, on the other hand, should you make an error — you generally will not have to go back and spend as much time to correct them — you might have to sand and re-paint some small areas of the walls that could have a need for it.
Wallpaper Advantage: Durability
When you look at an average paint job, you are looking at something that could last you anywhere from three to five or six years, possibly seven years if it is done well and there is much preparation done beforehand — cleaning, sanding, applying primer properly, and then applying a coat or two of paint.
Wallpaper, on the other hand, can last as long as fifteen years if it is applied well — and that’s not even something that is going to need all that much touching up, though of course, it will need a bit of warm water and soap to get it clean.
The caveat here is that if you have wallpaper, there is a possibility that you will get a tear in the wallpaper, and if you do, it is quite difficult to repair it in a manner that doesn’t make it obvious that there was a tear there.
Don’t settle for just any painter when you can get the attention to detail and professionalism from Imhoff Fine Residential Painting in Denver Metro, CO. Call us today to speak with one of our professional color consultants.
5 Tips For Renovating Your Living Room in Denver Metro, CO
As you’re making your way around your home looking for ways to improve it (both for just the general desire to make your home a nicer place as well as improving its market value), you might come to your living room and think of what you can do there.
The living room is a place where people spend evenings and weekends and can enjoy reading a book, watching television, and it’s nice to have a comfortable as well as aesthetically pleasing place to be.
With this in mind, here are five tips for renovating your living room in Denver Metro, CO.
1. Improve The Windows
The windows are among the first things that people see when they look at your house from the outside, and they can also be one of the most important elements of a living room, allowing you both access to light from the outside as well as a good way to look at the world outside.
That being the case, you may want to consider improving the windows in your living room, should you have any to be improved of course — some living rooms are entirely closed off from the outside world.
There are several benefits to getting newer windows, particularly if the age of your windows matches the age of your house, and your house goes back a couple of generations.
The problem with older houses and therefore older windows is that the older the window, the more likely that it will be not so good for keeping in the heat during the winter and keeping your home cool during the summer.
Moreover, you’re going to want new windows just because newer windows can have a better look at them than older windows.
2. Consider A New Color Palette
When you look around your living room and see the various colors that make it look the way that it does, you can think about if they are the best colors for the room considering how you want the room to look as well as if that particular color palette is even suitable anymore.
For example, if you have certain shades of orange and green, you may very well have a living room that was painted while The Brady Bunch was still on the air and could use an update.
It’s also possible that the colors in your living room were painted there by someone else, and you would want to repaint the living room to be more like something that is your own style.
3, Add Extra Space Without Expanding It Physically
When you have a living room of a certain size, you can, of course, look to see how you can physically expand the living room literally by adding to the room, perhaps by adding to the room from other rooms in the house.
On the other hand, you may want instead to add to the size of the room by doing many things to make the room appear to be bigger.
The color white, for example, when painted on the walls and ceilings, gives a certain increase in size.
The proper use of area rugs as well can add to the appearance of the size of your living room.
4. Update The Flooring
If you look down and you see shag carpeting on the floor, you know that it is very likely a good idea to update your flooring.
Replacing your poor carpeting with wood laminate or even vinyl flooring can be a great way to get your floor to look better.
5. Add Some Plant Life
The last suggestion for today is to incorporate some plant life into your living room.
It doesn’t have to be a large plant, either — and if you’re feeling particularly creative, you can bring in certain plants that are not only good looking but can offer you things like herbs and vegetables.
Don’t settle for just any painter when you can get the attention to detail and professionalism from Imhoff Fine Residential Painting in Denver Metro, CO. Call us today to speak with one of our professional color consultants.
7 Exterior Paint Problems And How To Fix Them in Denver Metro, CO
Exterior paint problems can arise under a number of situations, many of which are entirely beyond your control and just are a result of the passage of time.
Other problems that you will find come as a result of poor decisions that were made previously in earlier paint jobs, things that the painter or painters may not even have realized were so bad for the exterior of the home.
With that being the case, here are seven exterior paint problems and how to fix them in Denver Metro, CO.
1. Peeling Paint
There are a number of things that can cause peeling paint, including paint that was applied to a damp exterior surface and even caulking that isn’t done properly.
To correct peeling paint, you’re going to have to sand and clean the area and then prime and paint it once more.
You will of course want to make sure that you don’t apply the paint to a damp surface so that you don’t see peeling paint down the road.
2. Bubbling / Blistering
The sight of bubbling paint is fairly unmistakable — you’ll know it based on what appears to be small bubbles or blisters on the surface of your exterior paint.
There are various reasons that you can have bubbling paint including painting the exterior when you are under direct sunlight, and possibly even new paint that has been exposed to some level of rain or humidity.
When you find yourself dealing with blistering, the best thing you can do is to first see if the bubbles were caused by heat or moisture — popping bubbles and finding no paint underneath, it likely is related to moisture and therefore you should figure out what caused the moisture and try to resolve it before removing the bad paint, sanding, priming, and painting.
If on the other hand you find the previous layer of paint you will know it was more likely heat related, and you can just scrape the previous paint and then sand and prime and only paint if you are not doing so under similar direct sun conditions.
3. Chalking
Chalking is almost always a sign that the wrong kind of paint was used to paint the exterior of your home.
It could be that a low quality exterior paint was used, or a paint that was meant to be used on the interior was used on the exterior.
Either way, you’re going to want to basically giving the house a good power washing, or washing with a good trisodium phosphate solution to get the chalking off, allowing it to dry, and then painting with a high quality exterior paint.
4. Sagging
Sagging paint is when your paint looks as though it’s literally sagging down off of the exterior walls and can be pretty bad unless you’re looking to go for a sort of bizarre artistic effect.
It can come about if you lay the paint on too thick when you are painting the house or even worse if you try to water down the paint in an effort to make a little go a long way — a good pro-tip is that you should never water down your paint.
What you’re going to need to do if you find sagging paint is to sand all of the areas where the paint is uneven and then gently and lightly repaint, preferably with paint that has not been watered down!
5. Mildew
Mildew can be rather unpleasant and of course doesn’t just go away by itself — it can come about by mildew being underneath the paint surface.
You’re going to need to clean it up properly and then make sure to sand well and prime and paint the exterior of your home.
6. Efflorescence
Efflorescence looks a bit like looking at a salty pretzel — and that’s not good for anyone.
It’s possible that there was efflorescence on the exterior of the home that wasn’t removed as well as could be and it made a comeback as it were.
It could well take a stiff wire brush and a trisodium phosphate solution to get rid of such a thing, which will then allow you to to seal in the exterior of the home with a good sealant and then repainted.
7. Rust Discoloration
When you see rusty colored stained on the surface of your paint work, you know you may have a problem with rusted nails that attached the siding to the house.
When this is the case you will need to replace the rusted nails with nails that won’t rust and then you will apply a rust inhibiting primer and properly paint, confident that the rust should not return.
Don’t settle for just any painter when you can get the attention to detail and professionalism from Imhoff Fine Residential Painting in Denver Metro, CO. Call us today to speak with one of our professional color consultants.
5 Common Mistakes People Make When Removing Wallpaper in Denver Metro, CO
When you are in the process of remodeling your home, more specifically, the interior of your home, you may find yourself looking at painting the interior walls of a room and then encounter a stopping point — wallpaper.
It’s only natural to wonder if it would be better to paint over the wallpaper or to first remove the wallpaper that is there and then to paint the walls that are left behind.
If you do go with the latter option, it’s important to be careful not to make any of a number of mistakes that might get in the way of your wallpaper removing endeavor.
With that being the case, let us look at five common mistakes that people make when removing wallpaper in Denver Metro, CO.
1. Moistening Without Scoring (Wipe Clean Wallpaper)
Of course, it is the case that when you’re looking to remove your wallpaper, you will need to get the wallpaper moist — the reason being that you want to get the glue underneath the wallpaper sufficiently wet that the glue underneath would allow you to pull off the wallpaper.
The issue comes about when you have a wallpaper that wipes clean, meaning that it is meant to be sprayed with a liquid and then wiped clean — it should be pretty evident that spraying such wallpaper would not be useful in trying to get the underlying glue moistened.
This is not to say that it’s impossible to remove such a wallpaper — just that it’s a bit more difficult.
What you need to do first is to score the wallpaper first so that the water or solution you use to get the glue loosened underneath can actually reach it — you will need to use some sort of a scoring tool, which will make holes through the surface of the wallpaper big enough to allow through the solution.
2. Not Checking If It’s Easy To Remove Wallpaper First
There are certain wallpapers that are easy to remove — all you really need to do is give them a really good tug at the top, and you will find yourself pulling down without any problem.
When you go through the trouble and effort of acquiring the hardware and solution that you want to use to remove harder to remove wallpaper, possibly even the sort of steaming equipment that people can use on particularly stubborn wallpapers only to discover that the wallpaper is easy to remove — to call it a waste would be putting it mildly.
Do yourself a favor and check that the wallpaper isn’t easy to remove before you make the investment in more complicated solutions that are not necessary.
3. Presuming You Only Have One Layer To Remove
The interesting thing about wallpaper is that it can be layered on a wall, but it cal also go on top of a different wallpaper, which may be on top of a different wallpaper, which possibly could be over the top yet another wallpaper… the depth of the wallpaper really changes the difficulty of removing it.
The best thing you can do is to make an incision first to see just about how deep your wallpaper goes before you hit the actual wall and adjust your plans accordingly.
4. Not Planning Out The Removal
You certainly can’t just go charging into a room and start spraying and pulling everywhere.
You need time for the wallpaper and the glue underneath to get moist, and only then can you pull it off.
You also need to make sure that you don’t allow too much time to pass between when you moisten the walls and when you pull off the wallpaper because given too much time, it will dry again and make it hard to remove.
5. Not Having Sufficient Trash Bags
This may seem like a minor thing, but when you are removing wallpaper from the walls, it tends to make a tremendous amount of trash.
With as much trash as you will be making, it behooves you to have enormous trash bags on hand to capture the wallpaper and everything else you will be getting off of the wall.
Don’t settle for just any painter when you can get the attention to detail and professionalism from Imhoff Fine Residential Painting in Denver Metro, CO. Call us today to speak with one of our professional color consultants.
