House Painting Services Concord, Sudbury, Lincoln, Winchester, Weston, Wellesley, Arlington, Woburn

Looking for a Massachusetts painting contractor in Concord, Sudbury, Lincoln, Winchester, Weston, Wellesley, Arlington, Woburn?  Fitzgerald Painting Services provides top quality performance and years of know how to those MA towns and many others from Greater Boston to Cape Cod. Our staff is highly skilled in all phases of painting and wall covering, including preparation, application and clean up. We also provide a wide variety of custom services including hand rubbed, faux finishes, staining and refinishing.

At Fitzgerald Painting Services, we strive to give you the highest quality performance and the least disruption to your home environment. If you’re planning to repaint a room or your entire home, call Fitzgerald Painting Services. You’ll be glad you did. (781) 696-1686.

Enhance Your Home Cosmetically and Structurally

Now that Spring has arrived here in Massachusetts, you likely are looking around your home to determine what projects are needed to repair or maintain it. And, if you’re thinking of putting your house on the market, you know that you’ll need to prepare it to compete in this market. As most people know, a fresh coat of paint can make all the difference not only cosmetically, but also structurally. After all, paint protects your home from the elements.

For many, hiring a professional painter to tackle the job is well worth the price considering the non-financial costs of the job. Consider the physical risks of hanging out on ladders, juggling heavy equipment, and dodging hornet’s nests. Think, too, of the environmental issues of mold and mildew, and, if your home was built before 1978, lead and other contaminants. Indeed the biggest cost may be the time the work takes away from your preferred activities like ballgames, picnics and social gatherings.

Ultimately, though, the main reason to hire a pro is to help make sure that the finish lasts for years to come. A professional knows exactly how to prepare the surface – whether wood, vinyl or stucco – to allow proper adhesion. Professional painters also know that what type of paint to use and at what time and temperature to apply it. Done incorrectly, your paint job could need to be redone way too soon.

Many people are surprised to learn that preparation can take as much as 75 percent of the time needed to do a quality paint job. It’s that critical to the long-term success of the painting project.  A professional will spend time examining the house before starting the surface preparation looking for cracks, chips, peeling and fading. These factors could indicate standing water or constant sun in certain areas, and those areas might need extra attention. Water issues must be addressed because surface variations could indicate damage to the underlying wood or other material. And continuous moisture will damage the new paint, too.  After the examination, the work process is basically three-fold: repair damage, prepare surfaces, and then paint.
A professional painter starts by repairing damaged areas – typically fascia, wood trims, window sills and doors. Light damage can be repaired easily with the proper tools, but split or rotten wood may require the services of a carpenter.

Next comes the critical step of cleaning the surface. Soap, water and elbow grease can do the job, but pressure washing often is the preferred method for clearing surfaces of dirt, grime, oil and other air-borne pollutants.  The main thing is to understand that damage can result if done incorrectly. It’s much better to use very low pressure (less than 1000 pounds per square inch) and lots of water. Let the cleaners do the work, not the water pressure. To protect plants, animals, family and friends, be aware of the types of cleaners being used and where runoff from those cleaners is going. They can be toxic, corrosive or irritating.
The most labor intensive part of the process follows, as it involves scraping, sanding or wire-stripping any loose paint or wood. If your house was built before 1978, this process could be dangerous because of the use of lead-based paint prior to that year.

After all the repairing, cleaning and preparation is completed, the house is finally ready for its new face. Be sure your painter uses only good quality, exterior paint from a leading manufacturer.  Since your home is likely your most valuable asset, you’ll want to protect it.  And a fresh coat of paint can help to protect it from sun, snow, rain and hail for years to come.  Besides, it’ll make it look good, too.

The Power Washing Process

Prior to painting your home, it is always advisable to clean it free of dirt and mildew.  Even if you’re not painting, you should keep your wooden or vinyl sided house clean.  Think about it in simpler terms, we clean our cars how many times a week, or month?  Living in New England we all know salt eats our cars, and to keep them in good shape we must clean them, not to mention they are much more attractive when not covered in dirt!  So wouldn’t you want to keep your house clean and attractive as well?  The mildew will eat away at your paint coating or wood, and eventually you have to spend a larger sum of money to replace rotting wood or failing paint.  Not to mention the car that costs $20,000 plus, is much less expensive than your home at $400,000 plus!  So shouldn’t we keep our larger investment clean and maintained as well?  And this is but a yearly issue, not monthly or weekly concern! 

So now that we know we should clean our homes, much like a car there are several ways to do so. Typically, a power washer can be used, but do we really need 3000 PSO to do so? No, of course not- work smarter, not harder is my motto.  We prefer to apply our cleaner either through a downstream injector (adds chemicals to hose after the pump, so it mixes in downstream so to say) or we apply via a separate smaller pump.  Both systems use lower pressure, as the tip and pressure must be dialed down to allow chemicals to pick up through the injectors.  Once surface is cleaned, you can turn pressure back up to rinse the house off, and then we often do a double rinse and use a fragrant detergent after our standard wash to further clean and leave a fresh aroma, once done.  We also often use a separate pump system all together; it will run thru a standard garden hose, out a standard garden nozzle, with same pressure you will get from any standard water faucet.  This is why we can confidently say we offer a non-damaging system for older, more delicate surfaces.  We also prefer this system on wooden roofs to restore, and even asphalt roofs, to remove unsightly staining with no damage or water penetrating through inside.  We are asked many questions and I will list some of our commonly heard ones for you.

Q- Can it damage my plants?  This is a very common question, and I’m sorry to say the answer is yes, it can sometimes damage plantings. We do not clean with fertilizers, but if you use care and wet down plants prior, it helps immensely.  Upon completion, again rinse off lightly all plantings so anything landing on plants is diluted from pre-wetting, and cleaned free on completion.  There are more eco friendly cleaners on the market, but to date we have not found one we would recommend to properly clean and help out plants at same time.  Covering with plastic will bake the plants, and drop cloths get wet and crush them, so care and common sense helps alleviate most problems.

Q- Can you clean my house but not remove my paint at same time?  YES, we can use a low pressure wash to clean your home free of dirt but not remove paint in the process.  Thus you keep your home clean and free of harmful mildews and unsightly stains.

Q-Can you make my shingles, deck, or fence to look like new again?  Most homes can have the gray removed from their shingles to show a cleaner and newer look.  A wash will remove the dirt and mildew that is harmful to the wood, and it can be done with a low pressure wash to lessen damage to wood.  We also recommend a good sealer be applied after cleaning to add oil and preserve wood from drying out.

Q-Can you clean my vinyl or aluminum?  Yes.  Lets be honest here, vinyl is not as final as some would like us to believe!  It will get dirty, it will get mildew and mold growth, and yes, it will fade in the sun as well. It can be cleaned free of dirt and mildew very easily.  Some areas of aluminum may oxidize badly over time and require hand scrubbing, but when even hand cleaning does not work, both vinyl and aluminum can be painted!  Truth be told, an aluminum sided house once painted will hold the paint better than a wooden house, as there is no moisture penetration to cause coating failure!

Q- Can I wash my house myself?  Yes, there are very easy ways to clean the house, a few ladders and a hand pump can clean a house if used properly!  Ask an expert, check with the paint stores, or call us! Wouldn’t you rather spend time with your family while we clean the house for you quickly, safely, and thoroughly?  It is very inexpensive to clean your house.  Think of it as preventative maintenance.  We can clean your house, decks, fence’s, your concrete or brick walkways, pool aprons, etc. - A clean house is a happy house!  Let us make your house happy.

Fitzgerald Painting Services

Providing top quality performance and years of know how. Our staff is highly skilled in all phases of painting and wall covering, including preparation, application and clean up. We also provide a wide variety of custom services including hand rubbed, faux finishes, staining and refinishing.