Learning how to become a good oil painter is a difficult undertaking. In fact, it is more than likely one of the most difficult painting mediums to master. Things like color mixing & theory, perspective, techniques and materials can really intimidate a beginner artist.

So how do you get the most out of your oil painting and become a more accomplished artist?

You must make it a point to learn the fundamentals of oil painting, practice often and have an enormous amount of patience.

You must start with the fundamentals of oil painting first. You cannot expect to produce Rembrandt quality paintings in the beginning. In fact, the first paintings you produce will probably be a lot worse than you may have anticipated. Frustration will more than likely come into the picture (pun intended). They key is to learn from your mistakes and do not let them defeat you.

So what are some of the fundamentals of oil painting? What information should you study and learn first?

Below are some topics of interest that you should definitely study further when you have time:

LEARN HOW TO DRAW

You will be amazed at how much learning how to draw will help improve your oil paintings. In fact, years ago art students were not even permitted to pick up an oil painting brush until they learned the fundamentals of drawing. My advice would be to find a few good books on drawing fundamentals and start there. Drawing is an art form all by itself and you should not be expected to master drawing as an art form, unless you want to of course.

Here is an excellent book to help you learn drawing fundamentals:

“The New Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain: A Course in Enhancing Creativity and Artistic Confidence” by Betty Edwards

COLOR THEORY

You MUST learn about color theory if you plan on producing quality works of art. If you don’t understand how colors work, then you might as well hang up your brushes now. There is much to learn about colors like temperature, hue and intensity and how colors interact with one another. This is a very important aspect of oil painting and must not be overlooked.

Here is an excellent book on color theory:

“Exploring Color: How to Use and Control Color in Your Painting” by Nita Leland

PERSPECTIVE

Learning about perspective will teach you how to translate a 3-dimensional world onto a 2-dimensional canvas or other support. Learning perspective is a necessary ingredient toward producing convincing oil paintings.

Here is an excellent book on perspective:

“The Art of Perspective: The Ultimate Guide for Artists in Every Medium” by Phil Metzger

MATERIALS

Materials to an oil painter are like what a guitar is to a guitarist. A guitarist cannot play without his instrument nor can he play without understanding how his instrument works. Your painting materials are your instruments. They are what enable you to express yourself, so learning more about them is pretty good idea. Get to know the different kinds of brushes and what they do. Know your paints. Not all colors behave the same. Some are more transparent or opaque than others. Know your supports and the difference between them. The list goes on.

Here is an excellent book for learning more about oil painting materials:

“The Oil Painting Book: Materials and Techniques for Today’s Artist” by Bill Creevy

TECHNIQUES

There are a myriad of oil painting techniques that you can utilize to create your paintings. So much so, that it is beyond the scope of this article. Techniques like wet on wet, glazing, alla prima, knife painting, etc. should all be explored. Working with various techniques will help you develop your own unique style.

Here is a great book on oil painting techniques:

“The Encyclopedia of Oil Painting Techniques: A Unique Step-by-Step Visual Directory of All the Key Oil-Painting Techniques, Plus an Inspirational Gallery Showing How They Can Be Put into Practice” by Jeremy Galton

LEARN FROM THE MASTERS

Masters like Claude Monet, Vincent Van Gogh, Rembrandt van Rijn , Johannes Vermeer and many more, were all able to successfully translate our 3-dimensional world onto a 2-dimensional surface in such a way that it grabs the viewers attention and keeps it there. Their paintings engage the viewer and bring them back time and time again to look some more. Why? What is it that these paintings have that make them so popular? Well, one way to find out is to study them. If at all possible, make it a point to visit a museum as often as possible and study the works of the masters. Find paintings that grab your attention and draw you in. Then, when you have time, try to find books and other resources on those artists so that you can learn more about them and their techniques. When you are ready, pick a painting that you are quite fond of and try to reproduce it.

Here is a great book on learning from the masters:

“How to Paint Like the Old Masters ” by Joseph Sheppard

The search for better ways to use green products, methods and technology leads facility managers to painting strategies that not only consider the welfare of the environment and incurs lesser costs, but at the same time still maintain high quality paint performance.

Some of these paints and coatings practices are the application of a second coating that not only requires little surface preparation, but guarantees longer life to the building and stronger protection against daily wear-and-tear. Another is proper paint storage and disposal to extend usefulness of paint for future projects. Another is the careful measurement of the area to be painted so that only the right amount of paint will be purchased, eliminating the cost of extra and unused paint. Lastly, there is the use of recycled paint as a greener option.

Recycled Paint

Recycled paint offers cost-saving opportunities and lesser dangers to the environment while still providing quality finish to buildings. Any water-based and latex paint can be recycled. For latex paints, recycling is done either through re-blending or reprocessing.

Re-blending involves re-mixing the paint and screening to eradicate any solid materials to improve consistency. Only neutral-colored paint and coatings can be re-blended, hence they are more appropriate to projects such as undercoating, graffiti removal, or exterior painting — where aesthetics is not an issue.

Reprocessing includes the addition of new components to the recycled paint, making the paint available in more tints and a wider range of applications.

For recycled paint sources, facility managers often turn to paint and coatings dealers who have passed certifications standards. The Master Painters Institute offers certification programs to recycled paint manufacturers.

Benefits of Recycled Paints

Some of the major benefits of using recycled paint and coatings are lesser hazards and zero waste disposals that lessen the danger to the environment. Another benefit is lesser costs due mainly to lower expenses, zero waste disposal costs, and lower transportation costs (because recycled paint is produced locally).

A performance and price comparison of recycled and non-recycled paints confirmed the economic and environmental viability of the former. The case of the Portland Water Bureau who used 100% recycled paint to re-paint their water tanks resulted to 75% lesser costs and generated cost-savings of $3,500 for the project.

Challenges in Adoption of Recycled Paints

One of the main problems in the adoption of recycled paint and coatings is the linkage gap between recyclers and users. To strengthen this link, the Internet has been used as a medium to bring recyclers and their markets together. Governments like the state of Michigan also sponsor an online directory listing for recycled materials.

To market recycled paints and coatings further, the EPA allied with environmental agencies and conducted a performance comparison of recycled paints and ordinary paints. The results for recycled paint were generally positive, such as its good performance in metal surface applications, user satisfaction and willingness to reuse, strength and resistance to various environment conditions, and cost benefits. Minor constraints such as wood surface non-adherence and color match problems were encountered.

Painting contractors know that paint and coatings play a crucial role in the green building trend sweeping the nation today. Because of the decline in construction brought about by the financial crisis, the green building idea is taking root and getting wider attention from construction stakeholders who not only appreciate a non-polluting and environment-friendly method of construction, but also welcome the significant cost reductions to construction projects.

The construction industry’s interest in green building projects challenges paint manufacturers and their raw material suppliers to ingeniously produce environment-friendly paint products and materials that comply with environment standards without sacrificing quality performance. The products are now populating the market, ready to be used by painting contractors in many facility projects.

Environment-Friendly Paints and Coatings

The result of paint manufacturers’ paint reformulation efforts is apparent in the wide array of green paints that painting contractors can chose from. One product is a result of many years of polymer research leading to a new and improved latex paint that eliminates the use of toxic solvents. Without the inclusion of such harmful solvents, air quality is maintained during and after painting application projects, protecting painting contractors and building tenants at the same time.

The presence of VOCs or volatile organic compounds is also a major environmental problem in regular paints. VOCs are harmful materials to the environment, polluting the air and causing health risks to humans. To address this problem, paint manufacturers make it one of their stringent goals to develop new products that contain little to zero VOCs.

Another coating innovation is the infusion of water-repellent characteristics to external coatings, resulting in a “self-cleaning” feature wherein dirt and water particles simply slide off the painted surfaces, leaving the building surface clean and impervious to soiling and the effects of the weather. The building surface remains dry and maintains its color over longer periods of time.

Green Raw Materials

Raw material suppliers have also been busy researching and formulating green materials. A new line of emulsion polymers, for instance, help paint manufacturers develop low-VOC and low-odor paints without the aid of detrimental coalescents.

As with paint manufacturers, raw material suppliers are determined to lower VOC in paints, hence a wide variation of low-VOC raw materials have emerged, from zero-formaldehyde solutions and neutral-PH wet-state preservatives, to multi-purpose additives and dry films that meet the standards for green paints.

Suppliers take VOC compliance to innovative levels with green ingredients designed for all types of coating applications, as well as shorten the application and drying time of paints, to the benefit of painting contractors and building residents. Biocidal products that contain almost zero organic solvents are also another area of enhancement, allowing paint to be manufactured more safely and easier to apply by painting contractors.

Green Building from Green Paint

Almost-zero VOC solutions that are less-harmful during paint manufacturing, application, and post-application are of paramount importance not only to paint manufacturers and raw material suppliers, but also to painting contractors, building owners and tenants. Even minute traces of VOCs must have no place in paint solutions to comply with green standards and ensure the building’s viability and sustainability.

The demand for green buildings is driving painting contractors to use only green paints and coatings. In response, paint manufacturers and their suppliers develop eco-friendly paints made out of environmentally-safe materials. These layered responses allow for a successful implementation of the green building trend to most commercial and residential facilities in the country.

As a painting contractor for many years, I have witnessed many blunders by well meaning homeowners who simply don’t understand just how unpredictable gloss paint can be on interior walls. In an effort to achieve durability and scrub ability, many sprint off to purchase satin or gloss paint without taking into account the hurdles that will shortly become very noticeable. With their dreams of rich color tones that gloss paint affords and the scrub able persona of the paint, some homeowners reason they simply can’t go wrong.
Most painting contractors would agree that one could certainly make a suitable line of reasoning for using paints with sheen; then again most homeowners are not aware of the problem to using glossy paint on their walls.

Below are problems coupled with using gloss paint.

1. One of the most widespread problems with using gloss paint is it causes minor defects in your walls to become detectable. Defects that are veiled by flat paint suddenly come alive when using satin or gloss paint. If you receive a fair amount of sunlight through windows in the room, it will be even more perceptible. Sheetrock tape joints that are faintly raised or depressed can become evident. Uneven texture in the walls can become visible, etc.

2. Paints with a sheen are notorious for causing a halo effect around trim. When walls are rolled in a room, the roller nap leaves a different texture than what a brush leaves when cutting in wall paint around doors, windows, baseboard, and crown moldings. Light reflects differently from the texture left by the brush than from the textures left by the roller nap. This is a very annoying problem that can ruin the appearance of your freshly painted room.

3. If you are planning to paint gloss over existing flat walls, you really need two coats of paint to avoid flashing (unevenness of sheen throughout the wall). Two coats improve consistency of sheen and enhance color tone. This of course, increases your cost.

If you must have sheen on the walls, then follow these suggestions

1. Use very low sheen paint. The use of eggshell, or satin sheens will help minimize the above problems associated with gloss paints.

2. Prepare your walls very well. Some of the problems may be beyond the scale of what you or the painter you hire can do. A sheet rock contractor may be your best preference for major wall repair.

3. Always cut your walls in first using a brush. Then proceed to rolling the walls. After the walls have been cut in with a brush, then roll the wall paint with a roller and nap within a quarter of an inch of your trim. Alternatively, you can apply blue tape to all your trim which will allow you to roll up to the trim. This will go a long way in reducing the halo effect. Additionally, obtaining a smaller roller frame and nap will allow you to reach tight areas a standard size roller can’t reach. If you touch your trim with the roller, then clean the paint off the trim with a cloth immediately.

4. Be sure and budget for two coats of paint to achieve the look and feel you want.

Low sheen paint can give you the richness and dept of color with reduced problems in particular in rooms that do not get a lot of light. If you are going to use flat paint, then understand not all flat paints are alike. Top of the line flat paints will clean with much less damage to the wall than lower quality paint. Make sure it is a scrub able paint. When you wash flat paint you should use a sponge with water and soap. Never use a cloth. Cleaning with a cloth will polish the surface, causing sheen to appear at that spot. My suggestion as a painting contractor is plan your project well. Consider the quirks of gloss paint and budget in view of that. Weigh the pros and cons of using sheen on your walls.

When I first starting using faux and decorative painting techniques on the walls in our home it was a financially motivated action. We didn’t have a lot of extra money. I couldn’t afford new furniture or flooring for a room but I could afford to buy some paint. But just painting the walls a solid color seemed boring to me so I started exploring faux and decorative painting. It didn’t take me long to get hooked. Why do I like faux and decorative painting on walls so much?

1) It’s an inexpensive way to change the look of an entire room. Paint is the most economical way to change the look of a room.

2) A painting technique on the walls minimizes and hides cosmetic flaws such as surface cracks and less than perfect patching jobs.

3) It’s easy to change when you’re sick of it. Repainting a room that has paint on the walls is a whole lot easier and much less time consuming than stripping wallpaper off walls and preparing those walls for paint.

4) It adds your own personal look and style to a space. Color and texture are fun and interesting. An entire home painted the same off-white color is dull and boring to me. A faux painting technique can evoke any mood you want in a room whether it’s a Tuscan look, retro 70′s look, a country look, something elegant, a cheery bright look for a child’s room, or any other look you want.

5) The choices of techniques and paints are nearly endless. Some of the more popular technique choices include: sponging, ragging, dragging, color washing, stenciling, crackling, marbling, gilding, wood-graining, spattering, feather-dusting, and stippling. You could also use one of the specialty paint products on the market today such as Venetian plaster to create the look you want or buy a faux painting kit such as a Woolie painting kit to help make your project as fun and easy as possible.

While I highly recommend faux or decorative painting, there are a few things I’ve learned since I’ve started faux painting that I’d like to share with you. Some of these items are things to “not do” that I’ve learned the hard way. Others are tips and suggestions that were helpful to me.

1) Go to your local paint store or decorative painting store and look at the samples they have. For example, Home Depot has lots of different booklets and paint chips with faux paint finishes on them for you to look at and even take home to look at in your lighting. That pretty metallic finish on a paint chip in the store make look garish when you get it home and look at it in your home’s natural lighting.

2) Consider taking a class before doing your first project. Some paint stores and home improvement stores, such as Home Depot, offer free faux painting clinics and workshops. You can also find some very good faux painting classes for a reasonable fee by looking in your local paper or doing an Internet search.

3 Practice your technique on a piece of scrap wallboard before doing it on your wall. This is especially important if you are blending colors. A few years ago my son wanted his bedroom painted. He wanted me to use a Woolie (a great faux painting tool available at most paint supply stores) to blend together a burgundy and a caramel color. Each color looked great by itself, but when they got blended together too much a dark fuchsia color emerged. And anything resembling pink was not something my son wanted on his wall!

Because I had been faux painting for years I didn’t listen to my own advice about trying the technique on a piece of scrap board first nor did I buy sample sizes of paint to try out. I bought gallons because I wanted to save time. Luckily the store agreed to exchange the paint for me free of charge but we did have to paint over a wall and wait for it to dry before starting over with new colors.

4) Remember that the texture of your walls will dictate, to some extent, what faux painting techniques you can and cannot use. If your walls are smooth you can do just about any technique you want. But textured walls are very common, especially in newer homes. You may see striped walls in a brochure or on a sample wall and decide that’s what you want to do in your home; but if your walls are textured it’s going to be nearly impossible to achieve straight lines for your stripes. Keep in mind that faux finishes on paint chips from a store are done on a smooth surface. They will look a little different (but may still look very nice) if you do that same technique with the same colors on a textured wall.

5) If you’re going to do a faux technique in an entire room don’t start on the wall that people will first look at when they walk into the room. That means don’t start on the wall directly across from the doorway. Unless you’re a professional, it takes a little while for you to get your technique perfected in a room. Put that less than perfect start in the least noticeable part of the room.

6) If you get tired while painting and need a break, don’t stop in the middle of a wall. Stop at a corner. If you stop in the middle of the wall and don’t come back to work on the project again until after the paint is dry, you’re going to have a noticeable line on the wall. It won’t be pretty.

7) Think twice about mixing your own color with paint you have at home unless you are absolutely positive you’re going to have enough paint to do the entire job. If you mix your own color and run out of paint before you finish it will be time-consuming and challenging to match that color. You might be able to match it because many paint stores have specialty machines that can match a paint chip you take in, but if you’ve mixed together two different sheens of paint (for example let’s say you mixed a flat paint and a satin paint together) you’re going to have a hard time reproducing that same sheen. In some cases it may not be noticeable; but in other cases it will.

Home painting is not everyone’s cup of tea. But all of us should give it a try because it gives immense pleasure while doing so. Here are some useful tips that would help you give your walls a proper finish.

Do the preparation

• The very first thing you need to do is to wash down all the walls, which you want to paint. You can take the help of a pressure washer. It can be taken on rent from any store. After completing the washing process, take a scraper and remove all the chipped areas and loose paintings. No need to scrap the whole wall. But the uneven areas need to scraped as they create problems while painting.
• Next thing to do is to calculate the area of the wall by square footage so that you can determine the amount of paint required. Buy paint in 5-gallon pails, rather than gallons to save more money.

Collect your tools

• You will need painting brushes and rollers during painting. What type and how many brushes you need can be best decided by consulting your local paint store. For oil based paints, you can opt for natural or synthetic bristles, while you can use synthetic bristles with latex paint. The same rule applies while selecting rollers.
• Don’t forget to purchase some painter’s tape. It is a blue tape that comes in different widths and can be easily removed without messing up your paint job.

Precautions before applying

• Don’t start painting out of the paint cans. Because during painting it will remain open and come in contact with air, that would dry it out, thus making the paint difficult to apply. Also the brush or roller will take foreign particles like dirt into the paint that will enter your paint and can change the color as you go long.
• Painting should be started from the edge of the wall and move towards the middle. Most of us do just opposite and face problems. If you start painting with a new can of paint in the middle of the wall, then there are chances of differences in the color and that will look more prominent in the middle of the wall. Therefore with each new can of paint, start painting from the edges.
• Before starting painting, dip you roller in water for latex paints and in solvent for oil based paints. Either you use a pan or a 5-gallon bucket, roll it out a little to make sure it isn’t dripping. You don’t need to go all the way from the top to the bottom as you paint.

How you should apply?

• It is good to apply the paint in a N or Y pattern. Then apply in columns up and down smoothing out all the edges or ridges. Don’t try to stretch the paint, and make sure you have enough amount of paint on the paint roller to give it a good coat. In case of applying more than one coat, the first coat should be completely dry before applying a new coat of paint.
• It is always difficult to paint the corners. If you are careless you light see paint dripping from corners later. Get close to the corners but but don’t scrape the roller against the corner. It will cause drips. Always keep a paintbrush ready for taking care of any drips or ridges you leave behind. It is better to do this rather than trying to fix it later.

Many beginners who are new to the oil painting medium, generally have the same questions. So let’s cover those questions now so that you can begin your painting journey right away.

Oil Painting Supplies

The first thing you will need to do is purchase a few supplies. You need not spend a ton of money on expensive oil painting supplies. Start with the basics as you are only a beginner right now. The goal at this point is to get used to working with your support, brushes, paints and other materials. So expensive supplies will be wasted during this stage.

Supports

You are going to need a support to paint on. There are a number of different supports that can handle oil paint, but for now, start with canvas. Many beginners often ask if a canvas needs any special coating or priming for oil paint. The short answer is yes, but you need not worry about that either. Any local art supply store or online art supply store will have canvases that are already primed and ready to be used.

Oil Paint

Next, you are going to need paint. You do not need an expensive brand of paint. That would again be a waste for beginners. There are less expensive, good quality paints on the market that will work beautifully for your painting needs. Here are a few oil paint brands to test out: WINSOR & NEWTON Winton Oil Colours, GRUMBACHER Academy Oils and DALER-ROWNEY Georgian Oil Colours.

For those of you who may be concerned about the potential hazards associated with oil paints, have no fear. Introducing water miscible oil paints! These paints are fantastic. They can be thinned with water as opposed to using dangerous solvents like turpentine. Here are two brands to try out if you are interested: GRUMBACHER Max Water Miscible Oil Colors and WINSOR & NEWTON Artisan Water Mixable Oil Colours.

Oil Painting Brushes

Having good quality brushes is important. While a good quality brush will not make you a better painter, a cheap brush will only wind up frustrating you. When you use cheap brushes you will see why. Cheap brushes have a tendency to shed hairs that get stuck in the oil paint, which is extremely annoying. Good quality brushes should have stiff hairs and snap back into place when you run your fingers through them. They should be well crafted and sturdy.

You do not need that many brushes for oil painting. I personally only use two types of oil painting brushes: flats and filberts of various sizes. I do have a few rounds and a fan brush on hand, but I almost never use them. I would also recommend that you use hogs hair brushes as opposed to the softer synthetic hair brushes. The synthetic brushes are just too flimsy to handle the oil painting medium in my opinion.

Cleaning your brushes is important, so don’t be careless in this area, especially if you are working with high quality brushes. Many artists recommend turpentine for cleaning brushes, but I simply cannot bring myself to use this stuff. I use a much safer brush cleaning product called “The Masters” Brush Cleaner and Preserver.

I clean my brushes right after a painting session with this product and it works wonderfully. It may take some time to really get your brushes clean, but it is worth the effort. If the brush cleaner does not remove all of the paint, then I use a bit of odorless mineral spirits. I find this a much better alternative to turpentine.

Oil Painting Mediums

What about mediums? Do you need to mix the oil paint with anything or can you use it straight out of the tube? This is another common question amongst beginners. The answer? You do not need mediums to paint with. They are not a requirement, but I find them to be quite helpful.

Most oil paints that I have worked with are simply too stiff right out of the tube for my particular style of painting. Mediums will help dilute the oil paint and make the paint flow better, which means you will be using less paint. Using less paint, means you will save money.

There are many different kinds of mediums that are used for different reasons, like speeding up the drying time of paint, improving gloss, etc. Do not be overly concerned with mediums right now.

I like to start my painting using thinned down acrylic paint. I first tone my entire canvas with a neutral color. I then draw in my composition using different values of the same color. I let this initial drawing dry over night. I then apply the oil paint using the fat over lean oil painting method.

Lighting

This is a very important part of oil painting. Without proper lighting, you will not be able to accurately see your colors. The best kind of lighting is natural sunlight, so if you have the opportunity to paint in a well lit room or outdoors, that would be ideal. Of course not everyone is blessed with this type of situation, so the next best thing is to use lighting that mimics natural sunlight.

This type of lighting is referred to as “full spectrum lighting”. There are number of different full spectrum lighting products available. Just do a search on google for “full spectrum lighting” and you will find a number of websites on the topic.

Safety

Oil painting for beginners can be hazardous if you are not careful, so it is important to take the necessary precautions. Make sure you work in an area that has good ventilation and airflow. Wear disposable latex gloves while painting. Read all manufacturer warning labels carefully.

Some Final Words

As you sit down to start your first painting, remember that you are just a beginner. Your main goal right now is to have fun and get used to working with your oil painting materials. Do not be overly judgmental about your own work. If you do so, you will only wind up getting frustrated. Your first, second, third or even tenth painting may not turn out the way you wanted it to. This is completely normal so do not get discouraged. Oil painting is a difficult medium to master. It takes perseverance so hang in there. I wish you all the best! God Bless.

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Repair or reinvent your home with our custom home services. The skilled professionals at Jose’s are ready to undertake any home improvement task you might have, so look no further than Jose’s Painting for any of your needs!
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Much to my wife’s chagrin, I willingly and somewhat credulously engage with some of the more far-flung segments of popular culture—to wit, more often than not I fall asleep listening to a late-night radio host she charitably refers to as “Alien Man.” I won’t bore you with received conspiracy theories or musings from this or that gassy knoll, but I would like to use one of the outer limit’s more interesting fields of endeavor as a jumping point for this article.

Predictive linguistics is, in a nutshell, the belief that within the unknowable magnitude of collected human chatter we might dig out kernels of future events, most often along larger-scale trend lines such as shifts in political climate. The governing logic at work within this study holds that humans both intuit and shape future happenings through language; in other words and on a smaller, cruder scale: get a group of 30 farmers together and give them a few hours to kill in a room miked for sound and by the end of the day, you’ll probably have painted a decent picture of next year’s harvest through careful notation of repeated phrases and tonal patterns.

So, the chicken or the egg? To a predictive linguist, the answer is “both.”

On that note, we’ve all worn our eyes to the quick–and likely lost a few winks as business owners–reading about the economy these last few months. Whether or not the credit crunch leads to further fiscal deterioration, the language concentration centered around ‘downturn’ is unmistakable, and it’s smart business to bet that a relational turn towards ‘value’ will take on a gathering intensity as Wall Street makes its uneasy peace with Main Street.

Indeed, to the savvy business, this fog of uncertainty represents a very real, tangible opportunity for growth: how might a successful painting company watch its billable hours climb out of the ashes of recession?

By adding…value.

Keep in mind that most residential customers see their painting projects as component parts to the greater aim of ‘home improvement’ or ‘beautification,’ and slap a double nickel on that relationship during times of economic hardship. They’re hiring for quality, finish, aesthetic, to be sure; as fingers tighten around purse strings it’s unavoidable that they’re also hiring with an eye on a quantifiable improvement to their initial investment in the residence—in short, they are hiring to add value!

And as surely as your customers will be hiring to add value$, they’ll also be hiring to add valueZZZ…consider how much proverbial—and sometimes literal!–sleep you save your customer by doing all the little things well, by covering all of their bases where possible. Time is always money, remember, and the surest way to add value across the board is by becoming a ‘go-to’ business, increasing your customer’s bottom line by decreasing his bottom time:

• ‘Go-to’ businesses hire, train, and employ go-to guys: Encourage your painters to develop and build upon small home repair skills whenever possible. A ‘handy’ painter might well save a customer the trouble of finding and locating an electrician, joint man, plumber, etc.
• ‘Go-to’ businesses use their network of contacts to provide their customers with solutions: Let’s say that during the walkthrough, your customer mentions they plan on an addition to the west wing at some point over the next six months. A ‘go-to’ business checks its contact list for a general contractor in that area and is happy to save the customer extra legwork by making an introduction at the right time.
• ‘Go-to’ businesses take the extra step, every step of the way: your painters are onsite to beautify and fortify your customer’s home; to that end, why not ask that your painters bring in empty trashcans or recycling bins on trash day, take in the customer’s mail or the paper as a courtesy, dust a coffee table that needs dusting? A ‘go-to’ business treats its customers’ homes as its own, and it holds its painters to that highest standard, seven days a week.

As the old saying holds, the list might well go on, and on–these are but a few examples of ‘go-to’ business practice. But for the most potent distillation of ‘go-to’ philosophy, take a good, long look at the telephone: a ‘go-to’ business functioning at its highest capacity is constantly challenging itself to be that first call for every one of its customers–at every point of the decision-making process.

Are you a ‘go-to’ business? If not, why not?

If you don’t even know what a “soffit” IS, then chances are you’re not the best candidate to do repairs on it! Many older houses naturally start rotting at the weakness points, one of them being the soffit – or the underside of an arch, stairwell, cornice or overhang. Often times even newer houses need their soffits replaces because squirrels and birds tend to nest in the eaves, gutters or outer wall space next to the attic. The soffit, typically made of soft plywood, hardwood, or soft panels of vinyl and aluminum, routinely comes into direct contact with rain water, ice and snow from the gutters. If your gutters have been displaced or if a shingle tears, the soffit will rot out over time. Atlanta painting contractors often specialize in solving this external problem for you, thus preventing more serious damage to the interior as well.

To replace the rotted soffit, you would need to pry off the shingle mold running along the top edge of the fascia board and yank out all the nails that held the rotting board in place. Next, replace the board with a pre-measured or trimmed piece of hardwood, vinyl or aluminum. Remove any decorative trim beneath the soffit and remove the rotted soffit. Note that this part of the process is usually rather disgusting, since you never know what kind of dirt, dust, bee nest, squirrel nest, or debris will come off. Now you should be able to see the frame clearly and ascertain where the water damage and decay started. You may need to rip out additional plywood sheathing and use your saw to take out the section of rotted rafter or roofing. You’ll have to cut four or more inches from the decay, to account for stress fractures that may have left room for water to seep in. This is where the tools come in handy: you’ll need a powder-actuated nail gun with a .22 caliber blank to nail in the new section.

You’ll also be attaching a pressure-treated 1×4 or 1×6 onto the newly sawed rafter, fastening it with 2.5” galvanized screws going from the new into the old rafters. Now you can cut a new soffit from a 3/8-inch A/C plywood, first coating the front and back flat surfaces with an exterior primer and the edges with a wax emulsion sealer (like AnchorSeal) to protect from water damage. Apply sealer with a foam or bristle brush. Nail the soffit into place and replace the trim you’ve removed. Cut a new fascia board and replace it. (Warning: This requires careful measuring to get the right size!) Now prime all four surfaces of this board. Seal the end cuts and install it, then nail up the shingle molds along the fascia.

Sound like a LOT of work? IT IS! The process is extremely convoluted for anyone who isn’t a skilled tradesman. What might take a novice several days could be done in an afternoon by an Marietta Georgia painting contractor. Therefore, you may want to track down a contractor to meet your needs. Not only will your home look totally renovated and newer, but more importantly, you will be protecting your home from premature aging as a result of water and rot damage.