Interior Finishes
What the work involves
Paint is the cheapest material on a job and the one everybody evaluates. It goes on over whatever it is given, so the hours go into masking, caulking, patching and priming. The colour is the fast part.
- Interior walls, ceilings and trim
- Exterior stucco and wood
- Surface prep, patching, caulking and priming
- Cabinet and door finishing
- Masking and floor protection in occupied homes
Paint goes on over whatever it is given
It does not fill, it does not hide and it does not fix. It magnifies. A wall with a shallow dent gets a wall with a shiny shallow dent. A joint that was called good enough gets outlined.
So the hours go into masking, patching, caulking, sanding and priming, and the colour is the fast part at the end. A painting bid that is mostly labour is a painting bid that intends to prepare the surface; one that is mostly material is telling you something.
Exterior work in this climate is a different trade
South Florida exteriors take sustained UV, driving rain and, near the water, salt air. Stucco develops hairline cracking as it moves, and a standard exterior coating bridges that for a while and then does not.
Elastomeric coatings exist for exactly this — they are thick, flexible and formulated to span hairline cracks, which is why they are common on block-and-stucco buildings here. They are not a universal answer; they need a sound substrate and proper preparation, and applied over a wall with moisture behind it they will trap it. Which coating is right is a decision that should follow an inspection of the wall, not a preference.
Humidity and dry times, again
The same climate that slows drywall compound slows paint. Recoat windows stretch, and a second coat applied before the first has properly cured can stay soft, block against itself at door jambs, or cure to an uneven sheen.
That is a scheduling constraint rather than a technique. It gets built into the programme honestly, because the alternative is a finish that looks fine on the day and disappoints in a month.
Questions
Common questions
Do you paint occupied homes?
Yes, and it changes how the job is run rather than whether we take it. Floors get protected, work gets sequenced room by room so you keep the use of the house, and materials get chosen with the fact that somebody is sleeping there in mind.
How many coats do you apply?
Two over primer is the normal specification, and it is what we bid unless the colour change demands more — deep or saturated colours over a light base frequently do. The number of coats is written into the scope so there is no argument about it later.
Should I use elastomeric paint on my stucco?
Often a good call on block-and-stucco in this climate, because it bridges the hairline cracking stucco develops. But it needs a sound, dry substrate — over a wall with moisture behind it, it traps the moisture and makes things worse. It is a decision to make after looking at the wall.
Related
Also on the job
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Send us the drawings, or just tell us what you are trying to do. We will walk the job and come back with a written, line-item price.
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