Exterior House Painting in Farragut, Knoxville & East Tennessee

Our exterior painting process

East Tennessee weather is hard on the outside of a house — humid summers, freeze-thaw cycles, and a lot of pollen and mildew. Exterior paint fails when it is applied over a dirty, chalky or damp surface, so most of our time goes into prep:

• Pressure washing to remove dirt, chalk, mildew and loose material
• Scraping and sanding failing paint back to a sound edge
• Replacing rotted trim, fascia and siding boards where needed
• Caulking joints, seams and around windows and doors to seal out water
• Spot-priming bare wood, patched areas and any bleeding knots or stains
• Masking windows, roofing, lights, decks and landscaping
• Two coats of quality exterior paint, brushed, rolled or sprayed depending on the surface
• Final walkthrough with you, then full cleanup and debris removal

Surfaces we coat

Wood, vinyl, fiber cement (Hardie) and aluminum siding; brick and block; stucco; soffit and fascia; window and door trim; shutters; front doors; porch ceilings and columns; garage doors; and railings. Painting brick, like the project shown above, is one of the biggest transformations available to an older home — but it has to be done with a masonry-appropriate system so it can still breathe.

When to repaint

Signs it is time: chalky residue on your hand when you rub the siding, faded or blotchy color, hairline cracking or alligatoring, peeling around windows and at the bottom of boards, exposed bare wood, or caulk that has pulled away from seams. Waiting turns a paint job into a carpentry job, because once water gets behind the film, the wood starts to go.

Best time of year to paint outside in Tennessee

Spring through early fall is the sweet spot. You need dry surfaces and daytime temperatures holding above roughly 50°F for most exterior coatings to cure the way the manufacturer intends. Very high humidity and direct blazing sun both cause problems, so we plan the sides of the house around the sun and the forecast. Rain will occasionally move a schedule — we would rather push a day than paint over damp siding.

How long it takes

Most single-family homes take three to six working days. The variables are square footage, number of stories, how much scraping and carpentry repair is needed, and the weather window.