Exterior Painting in Oshkosh, WI

Roughly 60% of a good paint job happens before any paint comes out of the can. That is where the hours go, and it is the biggest difference between two quotes on the same house.

We wash the whole exterior first, because paint will not bond to the chalky film that UV leaves on old paint, and it certainly will not bond to the mildew that grows on north and shaded elevations. On lakefront and heavily wooded properties that mildew is usually the real reason the last job failed.

Then we scrape, by hand, with carbide scrapers and 5-in-1 tools. Everything loose comes off, and on a house like the screened porch in our gallery that is a substantial share of the total hours. Feather-sanding the edges matters too. Leave a hard ridge where sound paint meets bare wood and you will see that line through two coats of finish.

Bare wood and previously peeling areas get Peel Bond Primer RX before any topcoat. It is a specialty adhesion primer that seals the wood fibers and stops the new film lifting where the old one let go. Then every gap, crack and seam around windows, doors, trim and siding joints gets caulked. Moisture kills exterior paint. Caulk keeps it out.

100% acrylic, water-based paint. This is what we typically use: Sherwin-Williams Duration for adhesion and weather resistance, Emerald Exterior where maximum fade resistance matters, and SuperPaint Exterior as a reliable all-rounder. If you would rather we used a particular paint, tell us at the estimate and we will price it.

The work is warranted on labour and materials both: one year on a single-coat application, three years on two coats. If something fails inside that window, call us and we come back out.

This climate runs a full freeze-thaw cycle through wood siding every year. Boards take on moisture, swell, freeze, and dry out again, and the paint film has to move with all of that. It is why exteriors here fail on the south and west elevations first: sun on one side, weather on the other.

It also compresses the season. We begin producing work in the middle of May through the start of October. Exterior coatings need surface and air temperatures to hold above roughly 50°F, including overnight, and we would rather book you into the right window than get a coat on that never cures.

Wood lap siding, cedar shake, board-and-batten, stucco, fiber cement, aluminum and vinyl siding, trim, soffit and fascia, porches, railings, doors, shutters, and detached garages and outbuildings.

Vinyl can be painted, with a caveat worth knowing: going substantially darker than the original color makes the panels absorb more heat, and vinyl expands when it heats. There are vinyl-safe formulations built for exactly this. We will steer you to those rather than let you buckle your siding.

A single coat over primer covers. It does not build the film thickness that makes the difference between a paint job that lasts four years and one that lasts twelve. Everything we quote is two finish coats unless you specifically ask otherwise.

Beds and shrubs get covered, and windows and fixtures get masked as needed. We clean up at the end of each work day and do client walk arounds. If you have kids or a dog, tell us and we will plan around where the ladders sit.