About exterior painting
Exterior paint is doing a harder job than interior paint: it is the barrier between weather and the material underneath. When it fails, the failure is usually traceable to a surface that was not clean or not sound when it was coated.
It starts with washing
Exteriors carry pollen, chalking and mildew, and paint will not bond to any of it. The house is washed and allowed to dry before anything is coated — which is why exterior painting and pressure washing so often go together, and why a quote that skips the wash is quietly quoting a shorter-lived job.
Scrape, prime, caulk
Any paint that is lifting has to come off, because new paint over failing paint fails with it. Bare wood is primed so the topcoat is not soaking straight into timber. Gaps around trim, windows and joints are caulked, since those are where water gets in. This stage is invisible in photographs and it is most of what determines how long the result lasts.
Why one wall always looks worse
South and west elevations take the most sun, and UV is what breaks paint down. It is completely normal for those sides to be chalking and fading while the north side still looks acceptable. Spot-repainting one elevation is possible, though matching weathered paint exactly is difficult and the repair often remains visible.
What moves the price
- Square footage, number of storeys and how much trim there is
- Siding material — wood, fibre cement, stucco and brick all differ
- How much scraping, priming and repair the surface needs
- Whether soffits, fascia, shutters and doors are included
- Access: slopes, landscaping and height
This is why a photo prices most jobs without a visit.