House painting in Pleasanton can be a costly thing to do. While one day you may do necessary upkeep of your home’s exterior, there some ways to cut back the expense without sacrificing the quality work that is done.

Maintaining your home’s exterior — which also includes painting and repairs — is a key to maintain the high value of your home’s property as well as to reduce future expenses. The fewer issues that your home’s exterior has to be repaired before starting on your paint, the less you will spend on preparing the surfaces.

A lot of homeowners choose to have the professionals do the work of exterior house painting in Pleasanton. For the budget-conscious homeowner however, this may not be a feasible option — but this may be possible if you discuss the matter with a professional painting contractor and make arrangements regarding the job to be taken. For instance, you may have to split the tasks between the two of you — you doing the prep work and the contractor doing the painting part. This will save the contractor time and you money. The paint contractor, as well as you the homeowner, will want such any agreement to be expressed in writing, because that paper will serve as protection for the both of you. However, it is likely that the contractor will not give any warranty since he will not be doing all the work himself. So it’s important that you discuss this matter with your contractor before arriving at the final decision.

Now that you and your contractor may have reached an agreement, you should know how the prep work on the surface should be done. It usually includes washing the surface, getting rid of mold and mildew, removing dirt, grease and grime, scrapping old peeling paint, repairing damage (if any), filling any gaps with caulk, and sanding.

But if you have decided to do the entire project by yourself, you will definitely save money. You will want all the surfaces to be prepped properly. Buy only good quality paints that your budget can afford, as the quality of the paint has much to do with the “finished product.” If you choose to buy cheaper paints, you may save a lot more money at the beginning of the project — but you should be aware that cheaper paints also mean cheaper and inferior quality. If you use cheaper paints, it is highly likely that you won’t be satisfied with the end result — colors fading, thin coating, etc. — considering the hours and the labor you’ve spent on the job. Buying premium quality paints may not be cheap, but at least it will last for more years before you will be required to paint again. This means that the price of buying expensive paints will be lower in the long run.

To make the paint last even longer, you will also want to use a good-quality primer. A primer is a preparatory coat which applied on prepped surfaces. This will help the paint adhere better to the surface and thus will give it an even result. It will also help reduce the number of coats of paint necessary to achieve the desired color and finish. These are just a few of the many ways you may be able to save money when doing exterior house painting in Pleasanton.

One of the things that no one wants to encounter while house painting in Pleasanton is blistering paint on the exterior walls. Knowing what factors cause paint to blister is a vital part of discovering solutions on how to prevent it from happening again.

A blister refers to a paint problem where the top layer of paint raises above the layer beneath it. Have you seen these “bubbles” on the surface? Those are blistering paints. Unfortunately, there is no way for us to predict when the blistering will happen but there are ways to make it less likely to happen.

Moisture is the number one cause of blistering paint. Did you paint the exterior walls while it’s a bit rainy? Did the paint dry properly? Was the surface still wet as you started to paint it? Any of these may be the source of moisture which causes blistering paint. So the key solution to avoiding possibility of blistering paint is a thoroughly dry surface. It is important to make sure that all areas are completely dry before applying paint. Some areas like the basement and bathroom tend to be quite humid. If you’re painting in these areas, it’s important that you should take careful steps that will remove as much moisture from the area while you’re painting.

Mixing different paints types is another culprit of blistering paint, particularly on the exterior walls. For instance, the current paint on the walls is oil-based and you’re trying to coat a latex paint over it. Since heat leads to expansion and oil and latex respond to it differently, the blistering or bubbling occurs. It’s better to apply an a new coat of oil-based paint over a surface already painted with an oil-based paint, and a new latex paint over a surface already coated with a latex paint.

When you paint layers rather quickly, you may be encountering problems with heat which will cause the paint to bubble. The top layer may be dried before the lower layer, which will lead to solvents turning into vapors beneath the top layer. This results into blistering paint.

Dirt is also one of the common causes of blistering paint. When you apply paint on a dirty surface, the paint will change as it dries. It will shrivel just enough that areas that aren’t painted properly due to dirt will pull up off the surface below.

When you discover that the exterior walls have blistered paint, first scrape off the affected areas, and then sand. Make sure the surface is completely dried before painting. If blistering paint still reappears, inspect behind the wall (inside the room or the basement) to make sure that there isn’t a moisture problems that causes blistering.

These solutions may not be the sure-fire ways to prevent blistering paint in when house painting in Pleasanton, but they are a beginning place. At least knowing what causes it will give you an idea on how to avoid them as best as you can.