I have a rowhouse in Washington DC. Currently, the paint on the front of the House is peeling from age and sun exposure. I recently had the front porch which had been added on in the 20s or 30s ripped out since it didn’t match the style of the house and was in bad shape.
I have a quote from a contractor to use a power washer on the house to remove any dirt and the remnants of the Ivy which the previous owner had let grow all over the house. They will sand the parts that are peeling, have a guy come in and do some pointing, and sand the part where the paint is peeling and give it one coat of primer and two coats of paint. They will replace the fascia boards and caulk up the windows and doors. They will also paint the railing leading to the front door and the back stoop as well as all the trim. All told there will be three different colors. One for the trim around the roof, one for the windows and the color of the house itself. Their price is for labor only as materials are extra as is the equipment rental for the power washer, the sander, the angle grinder and the pointing machine.
The price is $3,700.00. It seems like a good price to me.
Sounds about right. I just got two estimates to repaint my house which is both very small (under 700 SF) and has been recently painted so it needs very little prep work. I got one quote for $1600 and one for a little over $1900. And this is in an area with lots of cheaper labor.
I’m glad I saw this thread… well, I guess I am. My house needs to be repainted, and I’ve been kind of afraid to see how much it’s going to be, as I’m going to Belize this summer, and I’d hate to feel guilty for using the money on the trip rather than on the house.
The house is a 1600sq ft. rowhouse. I share one common wall with my neighbor. They would be painting three walls which are two stories. The guy said it would take about a week, but they tend to be imprecise with time frames.
That’s about right, what initially threw me off was the fact that it is a row house. I thought the quote a little high. I’d go down to the local Sherwin Williams or other such paint supply place and ask for references on another quote from a different guy. But 3700 sounds about right. And a week is a good time frame, especially when getting the kind of prep work you are talking about done, and done right.
I assume you check their licenses right? Or is this a local painter with 5 High school kids working for him. I know it seems excessive, but I’m a “better safe than sorry” kind of guy when it comes to home repairs.
That does include paint and a three color scheme although it doesn’t include the doors (three) which will be about $150 more. My house is a melange of T1-11 siding, vinyl siding, cement backer board (make-shift skirting), hardisoffitt (ditto), aluminum (ditto), and genuine wood. The house is single story and relatively uncomplicated other than the porch railing. Most guys here do everything with sprayers, they just mask everything off real well. And, as I mentioned before, the house was just painted a year or two ago, I’m just having repainted 'cause I hate brown…
Sounds kind of neat. What color are you going to paint it?
I talked to the guy this afternoon and the price includes the necessary pointing so I think that I am going for it. He is a contractor that I’ve used before and that colleagues of mine have used before. He usually works as a sub for another contractor that I know.
My house is currently red and from the looks of what was underneath the section of removed porch, it has always been red . We are trying to decide what color to paint it but we are going for something lighter.
I am sitting here, recovering from painting my house today. I got two friends, and we did the back (stucco, cream) yesterday, and the front and eaves (wood, green) today. I’ll be doing the trim (white) on my own over the next few days, but today was the big effort–about twice as much work as yesterday. We had a lot of fun, and now we’re exhausted. But the house looks beautiful. And I need a shower and a nap now.
(For those who wish to know, I spent about $850 on a sprayer, good paint, and supplies for a 2000 sq. ft. house. And $100 for babysitting for our kids. But it’s only a single story house.)
You’re gonna cringe but I’m painting it hot pink with mango and dark olive trim. I always wanted a pink house and I figure, hey, it’s just me so I can paint it anything I want.
It sounds kind of interesting although I am having trouble picturing how it is going to look.
My wife and I are torn between what colors to use. We are thinking a light mineral green and painting the trim yellow but we aren’t sure, and we still need another color.
Did you rent the sprayer? Was it easy to use? I’ve been thinking of trying one to paint some interior rooms, but I am afraid that by the time I prep and tape everything and cover up all the furniture, it will have taken as long as using a roller and tray.
We decided to buy the sprayer ($300 for a medium-grade one) instead of rent ($50/day), because we figured we would like to have one “in the family.” My dad borrowed one last summer when he painted his house, and was sorry he didn’t just buy one. And we have a couple of family members who will also be thinking of painting soon–including my in-laws, who will not get around to it themselves and can’t afford to spend much on it.
It was quite easy to use, and a lot of fun (until we got really tired of spraying the eaves toward the end). Rolling it would have taken far more time, esp. on the stucco, where the paint just got sprayed right into all those little holes and dips.
They say you can use it inside, but you would have to mask and dropcloth every single inch of the room, and I am planning to use my SIL’s power roller instead when I do the interiors. She says it’s easy to use and also easy to clean (whereas it takes quite a while to clean the sprayer–it’s easy but you wind up spraying water out of the thing forever, so it’s not worth it to use it unless you have a pretty big job).
If you go to Sherwin Williams or Benjamin Moore, they both have color visualizers that put the color on a model house (you pick the style) that you can use to play around with differnt color combos. It pretty fun and very helpful for the trim.
I’ve looked at the ones on their websites and my wife and I even drove around Capitol Hill looking at houses like our to see what looks good and in what trim options. Now we need to settle on a color scheme. I’m leaning towards painting the house a grayish blue color with white and burgudy trim. We have a lot of decorative brickwork which was covered up by the porch which I hope the new paint brings out.
Dangermom, I’ve used one of those power rollers and I wasn’t impressed. It struck me as more trouble than it was worth. A friend of mine swears by them so your mileage may and probably will vary.
Ok, this is weird. My house is mango orange, with hot pink trim that I will paint green if I stay here much longer. I can’t speak for the other shades, but Home Depot has a color chip called “Tangerine Glow” that is probably the right shade for mango, and yes, it glows in the morning and evening light. At least the flat version does.
The house was originally painted by the last guy who lived here. He grew up in the Rio Grande Valley and these were popular colors where he was raised.
Hmmm, does “Bubbaville” mean South Austin? And do you live on the street that’s the second exit past the river (it’s Wood-something, I always forget)? And you bought from Green Mango Realty like four years ago?
