Exterior Painting

The paint is the last ten percent. What happens before the brush decides everything.

Exterior paint in Houston has a hard life. Intense UV, long stretches of high humidity, dramatic surface temperature swings between a sunlit wall and the same wall an hour after a thunderstorm, and a wet season that keeps everything damp enough to grow mildew.

Which means the difference between a repaint that lasts and one that is peeling in three years is almost entirely prep, and prep is the part that is invisible in a quote.

Why we do this at all

We did not set out to be a painting company. We ended up here because we kept repairing rot, and the reason for the rot was almost always failed paint that nobody had dealt with. Painting over rot is the standard Houston move, and it is why the same boards fail twice.

What proper preparation actually is

Wash. Removing chalking, dirt, mildew and the pollen film that coats everything here. Low pressure, because high pressure drives water behind the siding and gouges soft wood. Anyone bringing a pressure washer up to full strength on an old wooden house is causing your next problem.
Treat mildew, rather than painting over it. It grows back through the film otherwise, and on north-facing and shaded elevations here it always does.
Scrape and sand back to a sound edge, feathering so the transition does not telegraph through the new coat.
Repair the rot. This is the step that gets skipped. It is a real job and it comes first.
Prime every bare surface, and spot prime every knot and stain. Bare wood under topcoat is a peel in waiting.
Caulk the joints that should be sealed, and deliberately leave the ones that should drain. Sealing every gap on a wall traps moisture inside it, which is worse than the gap.
Protect everything else. Windows, roof, beds, drives, the neighbour's car.

Then the paint

100 percent acrylic latex for most Houston exteriors. It stays flexible through thermal movement, breathes enough to let trapped moisture escape, and holds colour against our UV.
Two coats. One coat over a repaint is a colour change, not a paint job, and it will not carry a film build that survives here.
Colour and heat. Dark colours on a west elevation absorb enormous solar load and age faster. They also look superb. Know the trade-off before you choose.
Mildew resistant additives on shaded and north-facing elevations, which are where it always starts.
Watch the weather and the dew point. Painting late in the day in a Houston autumn means the film is still curing when dew falls on it, and that is how you get surfactant leaching and a blotchy wall.

What we paint

Siding, trim, fascia, soffit, eaves, porch ceilings, columns, garage doors, front doors, shutters and wrought iron. If we have just replaced your fascia, soffit or siding, painting it in the same visit means the cut ends and the back faces get sealed while they are still accessible, which is the difference between a repair that lasts and one that rots again.

How often, realistically

Houston exteriors need repainting sooner than most of the country. Wood trim on a sun-facing elevation goes first, and it is normal to touch up individual elevations on different cycles rather than repainting the whole house at once. Fiber cement holds paint considerably longer than wood. The honest guide is to watch the south and west elevations and act when the film starts to dull or chalk, not when it starts to peel, because by the time it peels the wood underneath has been exposed.

What it costs, and how you can check

Every job on this page is priced Cost Plus. You see the supplier invoice for the materials, the crew hours at our published rate, the permit and disposal at what they actually cost, and one service fee of 20 to 30 percent set by job complexity and locked before anything starts. There is no second number and no change order conversation after the fact. The full breakdown is here.

Common Questions

How often should I repaint my house in Houston?

Sooner than the national guidance, because of UV and humidity. Watch the south and west elevations and act when the film dulls or chalks rather than waiting for peeling, because peeling means the wood has already been exposed.

Do you pressure wash before painting?

We wash at low pressure. High pressure drives water behind siding and damages soft wood, and it is one of the most common causes of paint failing early on an old Houston house.

Can you paint over rotted wood?

No. It will peel and the rot continues underneath. We repair the rot first, which is why this service and our wood rot repair usually happen together.

What kind of paint holds up best here?

100 percent acrylic latex, two coats, over properly primed and repaired substrate. The product matters far less than the preparation underneath it.

Get a Cost Plus quote for exterior painting

Free inspection, photographed and written up, with a line-by-line quote inside one business day.

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Or call (281) 305-8669