PREPARATION

FULL PREPARATION is Imperative for Every Commercial or Residential Paint Job

There’s no question about it - full and complete preparation is fundamental to every successful paint job. At Berkshire Painting, Inc., we're fanatical about proper preparation. If you want a surface to look it's absolute best after it’s been painted - and obviously that’s the goal - first it has to be thoroughly prepared.

New construction…
Careful preparation is important even with new construction. Often, seams need taping and sanding. Painting makes any seemingly minor flaw in a sheetrock joint painfully obvious. It's far less expensive to make repairs before painting. Even if the construction crew did a top-notch job and there are no flaws to be repaired, new walls should always be carefully dusted before they’re primed or painted to be insure a smooth job and good paint adhesion.

…or old
Interior surfaces that are being repainted need careful attention to preparation too. Interiors pick up dirt you may not even be aware of. In the city, soot and grime accumulate in hard-to-clean corners. Black carbon emissions from car and truck exhaust can be a problem in the city or the country. In homes, all surfaces in rooms adjacent to, or even above the kitchen can pick up oily cooking residue. Add normal, everyday dust to that residue, and you get a bumpy, uneven texture that you don’t want to make permanent with a coat of paint. Therefore, all surfaces must be thoroughly washed and rinsed before paint ever touches them.

A clean job is a good job!
Exterior surfaces should be scrupulously cleaned to remove accumulated dirt and mildew. Power-washing is our preferred method for this because it does a very thorough job. With our high-quality equipment, the amount of pressure is easy to control. Any power washing, regardless of the pressure, should be done before beginning to scrape paint. Not only will the power-washing save time by removing some of the old paint, the remaining paint will prevent the siding from absorbing too much moisture, which could lead to paint-adhesion problems.

Sandblasting is another efficient way to clean some surfaces. On decks, outdoor metal furniture, walkways and some siding, power-washing may not be sufficient. Sandblasting can remove rust, pitted paint and ground-in dirt or oil, leaving a surface that will take and hold paint with little other preparation.

A neat job-site - before, during and after!
Before power-washing or sandblasting, we protect all adjacent surfaces and landscaping. Since both cleaning methods require the worker to concentrate on the surface being cleaned, it would be easy for "collateral damage". We take care to prepare the area to prevent accidental damage. When the job is done, we leave the job-site as neat and tidy as we found it.

Repairs too!
For outside work, once the cleaning is complete, wood clapboards are scraped and sanded down to bare wood, if possible. If new paint or stain is applied over a bumpy, ill-prepared surface, the siding will have the texture of alligator skin. The paint and stain may adhere fine, but the texture will detract from the appearance of the job. As part of the preparation process, we also do necessary repairs, such as replacing rotted window sills and cracked glass. We re-glaze window panes, repair or replace rotted or broken clapboards and shakes, and repair stucco walls as required. We can even repair concrete walkways.

In summary, every surface to be painted or stained is cleaned, repaired or replaced before paint or stain touches it!