How long will my exterior painting last in Andover?

How long will your exterior painting project last on your home?  You are making an investment to beautify and protect the exterior of your home and you want it to last.

We find in the greater Merrimack Valley area, (Methuen, Andover, North Andover, Haverhill) the areas we generally work in, a exterior paint project will usually last at least 5 years.

We also find in most cases the exterior paint on the home will last years beyond that with proper maintenance and occasional touch up painting.

The troubled areas to watch are:

• Any place where you receive large amounts of water splash back onto siding. Water carves thru boulders in time, image what it will do to paint after a couple of years.
• Any siding above a roof line of shingles.  The intense heat radiating from shingles makes it to hot to touch with your hand. imagine what this intense heat over a period of time does to paint.
• We often find any surface water might sit on in all forms (Ice, snow and rain) will break down the paint and once moisture can penetrate these areas paint failure is soon to happen
• trim boards touching the ground or in close contact with the ground.  Most often we find garage door trim to peel and rot at the base.  One of the reasons is that water wicks up from the under side closest to the ground and failure is caused by moisture presence.

Maintenance painting solutions:

1. Window sills are usually one of the first areas to need painting maintenance. light sand, apply oil primer and then a finish coat of trim paint.
2. Garage trim boards.  We often suggest when they are in need of painting and more often replacement, change over to a PVC Azek type of composite trim and then paint.
3. Exterior decking.  We find decking in New England is usually a yearly refinishing project due to our weather.
4. If you have one side of the home that receives harsh weather with the sun.  Often we suggest just paint that side of the house from corner to corner.  Colors fade over time and just touching up will look like your home has spots and most people do not want to live in a spotted home.
5. When painting your home we often suggest to purchase the best paint you can afford.  An additional $20 per gallon of paint for a quality paint will usually gain you a couple of years of additional time on your exterior paint project.

Low cost paint   vs Quality house paint

10 gallons at $30 per gallon =  $300  Labor to paint house $4,500 total $4,800 last for 3.5 years
10 gallons at $50 per gallon = $ 500  Labor to paint house $4,500 total $ 5,000 last 5 years

Cheap House Paint

In the next 10 years you will paint your home approximately 3 times at a total cost of $14,400 (if material and labor stays the same)

Quality House Paint

In the next 10 years you will paint your home approximately 2 times at a total cost of $10,000 (if material and labor stays the same)

if you have any questions when painting your home if you are going to paint it yourself or would like an estimate on your next project, please feel free in contacting us at 978-683-9119