Greg Mrakich Painting, Indianapolis: Exterior Paint Jobs – What “Lurks” Beneath?

October 3rd, 2015
Greg Mrakich Painting

Hot, summer day in Fletcher Place

About a week ago, Greg Mrakich Painting started a new exterior project in Carmel, Indiana − a suburb just north of Indianapolis. The house is located in a neighborhood that is less than twenty years old. This in itself is quite a change after working on much older homes this past summer in the Fletcher Place and Meridian-Kessler neighborhoods. To do it right, older homes tend to require a lot of prep work and potentially –  carpentry work. You just never know what you are going to find when you start a new project.

On the hundred plus year old Fletcher Place house, not surprising, I found rotted wood around and under windows that had to be replaced before painting. Being an older house, the replacement wood had to be custom fabricated to fit into place, not a job for a novice! Thankfully, the homeowner wanted his paint project − including all the prep work and repairs done right. I knew just who to call for the carpentry job!

Getting back on the subject of the Carmel house. Surprisingly, 12 out of 17 window sills had rotted wood. This should not happen on a house of this age, but unfortunately, it does. After delivering the homeowner the bad news, I was given the “green light” to “fix it right”; adding dollars to the cost of the project. The homeowner was also fortunate that I have a master carpenter, and jack of all trades, contractor buddy that would “fix it right”. Upon taking apart the window sills, the carpenter found that the wood used to originally build the sills was cobbled together with scrap wood. Clearly, we were dealing with poor construction that would never hold up in areas that experience inclement weather.

Note: A good trades person will know other good trades people to address needs outside of their trade. I’m always asked for referrals for plumbers, plasterers, HVAC technicians, carpenters, carpet cleaners, etc. and I’m always happy to refer.

Carmel IN Painting Project

These sills need replacing!

While the carpenter got to work rebuilding the window sills, I was busy prepping the wood siding for painting. It was good that the homeowner scheduled the house for painting this summer. To wait another year could have added the extra cost of replacing some of the wood siding, and also cause interior damage as a result of the damaged sills.  I patched up the areas that were bad, did all the required prep work which included spot priming, caulking and cleaning surfaces to be painted … and started putting on two fresh coats of paint on the siding. Between the window sill replacement and painting of all the wood siding and trim on this two story home, the completed job will take about three weeks.

Why so long? To do it right, you’ve got to do the prep work. There is no point in doing painting at all if you are not going to address the home’s issues. Plus, Greg Mrakich Painting does not run paint crews. The work is done the old fashioned way, with brushes and rollers. It takes longer, but the results are worth it. You get a much better finished product that will last for years. We are skilled tradesmen.

Which brings me to another related subject. While working on this Carmel house, a large painting company franchise vehicle pulled up to a house down the street. A crew of eight laborers got to work masking off the house (also a two story). At nine the following morning, a guy with a sprayer showed up. He painted the entire house by himself in five hours. Painted might not be the right word. The house was lightly misted with paint. It was finished in less than two days!

I have to wonder… the house is about the same age as the one we are still working on, and was probably built by the same developer (although I don’t know for sure). There was virtually no prep work done. What do their window sills look like beneath the painted surface? How long will that paint job last? Does anybody really care (besides me)?

Interested in learning more, click here to contact Greg Mrakich Painting LLC

Greg Mrakich Painting LLC is an EPA lead-safe certified firm. For more information about Greg Mrakich and Greg Mrakich Painting. Or, if you live in the metropolitan Indianapolis area and would like to contact me, click here

Greg Mrakich Painting, Indianapolis, IN: Why do Painting Estimates Vary So Much?

March 7th, 2015

Greg Mrakich Painting

 

It’s just painting right?

Well, remember the old adage, “you get what you pay for.”  That saying is never more true than when it comes to painting estimates. There are many factors that come into play when writing up an estimate. Painting is a learned trade, the same as plumbing, electrical and carpentry. So who is going to be doing the painting? Chances are, if you hire a big company, they will send a crew out to do the work. Usually there is a crew leader with a few years of experience and the rest of the crew will be less experienced.  The more experienced painters command more money, and so to keep their prices down and their bottom line up, painters with less experience make up the bulk of most crews. These are the people who will be moving your furniture (and everything else around in your house); as well as working over your hardwood floors and carpeting.

What about the cost of materials? Unless specified, most companies will use a low to mid grade paint, with a low to mid grade price.  They get the paint for $15.00-20.00 a gallon,  but will charge you the retail price of $45.00-50.00 a gallon. These paints are formulated to meet a certain price point (not for quality) and to be easy to use.  They provide great coverage but poor durability because of the ingredients they contain.  These paints cannot be washed and will not hold up well to everyday living.  However, they are very easy to apply and even a novice homeowner can get a good looking result. On the other hand, high end top of the line paints are a little harder to use, and will require two coats. But with the high end paint, you get a surface you can clean when necessary, and if ever needed, get an invisible touch up. These paints retail at $60.00-70.00 a gallon retail and a painter can get them for $40.00-55.00 a gallon. You always want to use the high end paint. The labor is the same, and the payoff is long lasting. You would not tell the plumber to use the cheapest materials possible, would you?

When you hire Greg Mrakich Painting LLC of Indianapolis, Indiana, this is what you will get:

A painting contractor…

  • who has over 30 years experience in the trade
  • who was formerly licensed by the California State Contractors Licensing Board in Painting and Decorating
    • Indiana does not license painting contractors. This means, anyone can call themselves a painting contractor, anyone at all – caveat emptor let the buyer beware!
  •  who is is certified by the EPA for lead paint remediation (very important if your home was built before 1978)
  • who specializes in residential repainting projects.
    • New construction painting is very different than repainting projects. A new construction painter does not have to worry about carpeting or other flooring, furniture and protecting the homeowner’s belongings

And a painting contractor…

  • who focuses on customer satisfaction and has received national recognition for quality work and service

Are my prices higher? You might be surprised that they are usually not higher than other painting contractor estimates. That being said, my material prices may run higher because I use the good stuff, and apply two coats using brush and roller.  It is important to note that  I do not mark up the price on materials, and I always pass along my contractors’ discounted price to my customers. Not all painting contractors will do this. 

Interested in learning more, click here to contact Greg Mrakich Painting LLC

Greg Mrakich Painting is an EPA lead-safe certified firm. For more information about Greg Mrakich and Greg Mrakich Painting. Or, if you live in the metropolitan Indianapolis area and would like to contact me, click here.

Eliminating Cigarette Odor and Nicotine Residue

February 23rd, 2015

Greg Mrakich PaintingThis past year Greg Mrakich Painting LLC, Indiananapolis, Indiana; was hired for a complete house repaint (walls, ceilings and all wood work) that presented special problems. One of the homeowners who had lived in the house for over twenty five years was a  chain smoker.  All the painted surfaces were covered in smoke and nicotine residue, as were the floors and the carpets.  It was a given that the carpets were going to have to go, but what about everything else? The new owners wanted to make sure that there would be no lingering smells after I was done painting. I told them that, yes, this could be done, but that it would also be very labor intensive and would not be cheap. They said that they knew this going in, and I was award the job.

The first thing that had to happen was the removal of the carpets. The company that was going to install the new carpet came and took the old carpets away revealing a 50/50 split between finished flooring and plywood sheeting. This being done,  the real work could begin.

The walls, ceilings and all the woodwork needed to be cleaned with TSP to remove the residue from the roughly 182,000 cigarettes that were smoked in the house over the past 25 years. I wore rubber gloves and a respirator. This took a few days. Some rooms were worse than others, but all the rooms needed “a bath.”

So far so good. Walls look better, and the smell, while still there, was not nearly as bad. The next step was to prime everything with oil base Kilz. The oil base Kilz is a sealer, and creates a barrier and seals the odors in the walls, ceilings and woodwork. Once this had been done, it was paint as normal.

After the work was done and the paint had time to cure, I went back over to the house, and there was still a faint odor of cigarettes. I put my nose against the walls in a few rooms and noticed nothing. After a few minutes, I looked at the floors and a light went on. The floors needed to be sealed too. The plywood floor is a soft unfinished surface that was perfect for holding in odors. I primed the floors, and put a thin coat of varnish on the finished hardwood floors and that solved the lingering problem.

When painting a room or home of a smoker, you can not just paint.  The moisture of the paint and the chemicals that paint contain will activate the nicotine and smoke that is on the walls. Walls and ceilings must be cleaned, sealed with an oil based primer/sealer before painting. Also depending upon the severity of the smoke residue, soft surfaces such as drapes and carpets may need replacing if professional cleaning does not do the job.

Greg Mrakich Painting is an EPA lead-safe certified firm. For more information about Greg Mrakich and Greg Mrakich Painting, click here. Or, if you live in the metropolitan Indianapolis area and would like to contact me, click here.

Greg Mrakich Painting Indianapolis: Indianapolis Home Sales Up 28%

March 27th, 2013

A story in the March 26 Indianapolis Star about existing home sales caught my attention. We are seeing positive signs in the Indianapolis area housing market. According to the Metropolitan Indianapolis Board of REALTORS® (MIBOR), existing home sales for February 2013 are up 28% compared to a year ago February and six percent over January 2013. Coupled with the increase in sales, the F.C. Tucker Company Market Watch reports that housing inventory in the 9 county region (Boone, Hamilton, Hancock, Hendricks, Johnson, Madison, Marion, Morgan, Shelby), was down 15.3% in February.  So if you’ve been waiting for the housing market to improve before putting your home on the market, now might be a good time to start thinking about what you need to do to get your house ready for sale.

Indianapolis Brick & Wood Tri-Level

It's been a long winter!

It’s amazing what a fresh coat of paint can do to improve your home’s appeal to prospective buyers.

Starting with the exterior, make sure that your front door and the areas immediately around it look good. Scratched or dinged up doors should be painted (or stained), cobwebs and any insect nests removed from the porch area, and the landscape around the front of the house be well maintained (bushes trimmed, flower beds weeded etc.)

On the interior, as a good general rule, you want to keep things neutral. You might like that red accent wall as soon as you walk through the front door, but potential buyers of your house may not. You do not have to paint the whole room, but getting the red out would be a good call. Touching up the few battered and worn areas that all houses seem to get  on certain doors and walls will go a long way to making your whole interior look good, and show better to potential buyers. A good Realtor® can offer other tips on preparing your home for listing.

Greg Mrakich Painting is an EPA lead-safe certified firm located in Indianapolis, Indiana. Every year since 2007, he has received the Angies List Super Service Award for Interior Painting.  If you have questions for Greg Mrakich  or would like to schedule  an estimate  for your exterior or interior painting projects, click here.

 

 

Greg Mrakich Painting Indianapolis – Spring is Around the Corner – Is it Time to Paint Your Home’s Exterior?

March 17th, 2013

In just a few days it will officially be Spring, regardless of what the thermometer says. As I sit here writing this post, snow is in the forecast for central and southern Indiana. Living in central Indiana, you can never depend on the weather in October (or March for that matter!) It could be warm during the day but drop down into the 30s at night. Yet, every year, I get calls in late October from homeowners asking if it’s too late to paint the exterior of their homes.

Craftsman Painted in Spring 2012; Decked for the Holidays!

I like to have my exterior painting projects completed by late September. In most cases, if the temperature falls below 45 degrees, paint won’t cure properly and loses some of its long-term durability to protect your home from the elements. Most high quality high-end paints require a minimum of 54 degrees to cure properly to give you the finish you expect. Now is the time to get the estimates and get on the paint company’s schedule for exterior as well as interior painting.

One last word of advice – if your house was built before 1978, the EPA RRP Rule (Renovate, Repair, Paint)  must be followed by the paint company you hire. If the painting company representative does not explain the EPA RRP Rule to you during your estimate, he/she is in violation of federal law –  find another painting company.

Greg Mrakich Painting is an EPA lead-safe certified firm located in Indianapolis, Indiana. Every year since 2007, he has received the Angies List Super Service Award for Interior Painting.  If you have questions for Greg Mrakich  or would like to schedule  an estimate  for your exterior or interior painting projects, click here.

Greg Mrakich Painting Indianapolis: Repainting Trim When Oil-based Paint is Not an Option

February 3rd, 2013

In Indiana, as well as many other states, oil-based paint for  residential use has been taken off the market primarily due to its impact on the environment. Over the past 20 years, the EPA kept changing the specs for oil-based paint to make it less harmful to the environment and people. However, in the process, it was rendered a lesser quality product.  Eventually, water-based glosses and oil-based glosses became almost equal in finish appearance and  durability.  The big advantage to both professional painters and DIY-ERS is that water-based paint dries much quicker and easily cleans up with soap and water.

Water based paint has a hard time sticking to oil based paint.  “Never put water over oil” was the rule.  Since the oil-based paint molecule is much smaller than the water-based paint molecule, water-based paint cannot penetrate oil-based paint to bond with it.  Additionally, water-based paint applied over oil-based paint can scratch off easy. It can also be accidentally scrubbed off  with a paper towel when trying to remove scuff marks.

To repaint trim or any surface that was previously painted using oil-based paint, there are a few steps that need to be taken to assure good adhesion and wear:

  1. Lightly sand the area that you will be painting with 120 grit sand paper.
  2. Wipe down the sanded areas with a de-gloser like TSP or other like product.
  3. Now apply a coat of 100% acrylic primer and let it dry overnight. There are ingredients in the acrylic (water-based) primer that will create a bond with a properly prepared surface. Those ingredients do not work in finish coats, and that is why there is not a finish coat that is a primer and paint in one for trim.
  4. Now apply the first finish coat – after four hours, apply second finish coat

If you follow these steps and use a top of the line product, you will have a finish that will hold up as well as oil-based paint.

Greg Mrakich Painting is an EPA lead-safe certified firm located in Indianapolis, Indiana.  For more information about Greg Mrakich and Greg Mrakich Painting. Or, if you live in the metropolitan Indianapolis area and would like to contact me, click here.

Greg Mrakich Painting Earns Angie’s List 2012 Super Service Award

December 15th, 2012

Greg Mrakich Painting Receives Angie’s List 2012 Super Service Award

Greg Mrakich Painting Indianapolis, Indiana: Painting Kitchen Cabinets

July 15th, 2012

Greg Mrakich Painting, a professional painting company in Indianapolis, Indiana, receives calls all the time from homeowners asking about painting their kitchen cabinets. The question I hear most is “I have stained wood cabinets. Can my cabinets be painted?” The answer is, usually, yes.  The hardest part of painting kitchen cabinets is the prep work.  The stained wood has a coat of varnish on it that paint will not stick to unless properly prepped and primed with a special primer.

If you are a do-it-your-selfer and want to tackle painting your kitchen cabinets, follow these steps:

  1. Sand the wood  to remove as much of the varnish off as possible.
  2. Wash down the cabinets with an industrial deglosser, such as TSP.
  3. If you are going to change hardware, now is the time to fill holes and drill new ones for the new hardware.
  4. Prime the cabinets.  For best results, use an oil based primer that is made for “problem surfaces” and apply with a foam roller.  TIP: If the door hinges are hidden, it is not necessary to remove doors from the frames.  If hinges are exposed as they will be on older homes, you should remove doors to keep paint off the hardware.  It is important to let the primer dry overnight so it has a chance to cure 100% and bond to the sanded and cleaned surface.
  5. Apply the top coat with either brush or roller – use a water-based alkyd modified acrylic paint. This type of paint will stand up to oil from hands, can be wiped clean and hold up to the heat and humidity of a kitchen.  Two coats is advised, again with 24 hours between coats. TIP: Use a semi gloss or gloss finish. This will allow you to clean the cabinets and not hurt the paint. NEVER use flat or eggshell finish on cabinets.  These finishes will not stand up to the demands put on cabinets.

It would take a highly skilled professional painter a week to do an “average size kitchen.”  As a homeowner, you need to ask yourself if you have the time and patience to prep and paint your kitchen cabinets, or is this one project that is better left to a professional painting contractor.

Greg Mrakich Painting is an EPA lead-safe certified firm. For more information about Greg Mrakich and Greg Mrakich Painting. Or, if you live in the metropolitan Indianapolis area and would like to contact me, click here.

Greg Mrakich Painting: RRP Rule Exclusions

May 9th, 2012

It is exterior painting season in Indianapolis.  Greg Mrakich Painting has already done five estimates for exterior work.  The other day I did an estimate to paint the exterior of a house located on the northwest side of Indianapolis. It happened to be in the same neighborhood that my wife grew up in. The house was in very good shape – with almost no peeling or chipping paint. When I gave my estimate to the homeowner, she was very pleased with my price and shared with me what her other estimates had been running.  These other painting companies had stressed the fact that because they had to follow the EPA Renovation, Repair, and Painting (RRP) Rule, it would cost more to paint her house.  She asked why my price was so much less.  I explained to her that because of the condition of her house (minimal peeling and chipping),  it fell under the “Minor repair and maintenance activities” RRP Rule Exclusion:

  • For exterior work – disturbing less than 20 square feet per side of painted surface is exempt from the work practices requirements in the Rule.
  • For interior work – disturbing less than 6 square feet per room of painted surface is exempt from the work practices requirements in the Rule.

This homeowner was smart. By keeping up with home maintenance, she saved herself, with my quote anyway, the added expense of the EPA Renovation, Repair and Painting (RRP) Rule. The other two painting companies were adding a 30% surcharge to the price of the project to follow a rule that did not apply.

If your house was built before 1978, make sure your painting contractor not only understands the EPA RRP Rule, but also knows that there are exclusions to the rule. It will save you money on the price of your painting project.

Greg Mrakich Painting is an EPA lead-safe certified firm. For more information about Greg Mrakich and Greg Mrakich Painting. Or, if you live in the metropolitan Indianapolis area and would like to contact me, click here.

Greg Mrakich Painting Indianapolis: Painting Brick Exteriors

May 2nd, 2012

Lately, Greg Mrakich Painting in Indianapolis, Indiana has received multiple inquiries from homeowners interested in painting ‘raw’ (non-painted) exterior brick.

If you are thinking about painting your brick exterior, it’s important to understand that once you paint brick, you will need to maintain it. Whereas, if you leave the brick in it’s natural state, there is minimal maintenance required.

So Why Paint Brick?

There are basically two reasons for painting brick:

  1. To change the look of the home
  2. The brick is beginning to show its age

In most cases,  it is a little of both.  When brick is manufactured,  it is dried before being baked in large ovens (kilns) to harden. During the baking process, a natural protective ‘coating’ is formed that will repel water.  The coating is very durable but will not last forever.  When it does wear off, the brick is vulnerable to the elements.  Bricks without a protective coating will deteriorate quickly, especially at ground level where they are exposed to standing water and depending on your geographic area, snow. If caught early,  a clear waterproofing material can be applied (and should be repeated every three to five years.)

For do-it-your-selfers who choose to paint the brick instead of waterproofing it, make sure you follow these steps:

  1. Use a soft bristle brush to clean the surface of the brick and the mortar line.  You never want to use a pressure washer to clean the brick as it will force water deep into the brick and mortar and will take several days to dry.
  2. Any loose mortar and cracks found during cleaning should be addressed (masonry caulk  or tuck pointing) If extensive tuck pointing is required, you might want to call a masonry contractor to do the work. If you do it yourself, be sure to refer to the label on the masonry primer for cure times. It could take up to 30 days of cure time to insure proper paint bonding.
  3. Apply masonry primer (after sufficient cure time)
  4. Apply two finish coats of a high quality satin exterior paint

I am old school and only use brush and roller to apply the paint. You get a heartier coat of paint that way and it should last a minimum of ten years. If you are going to use a sprayer, the paint would need to be thinned down. If you hire a painting contractor who uses a sprayer, make sure they apply two coats and guarantee the paint job (material and labor.)

Greg Mrakich Painting is an EPA lead-safe certified firm. For more information about Greg Mrakich and Greg Mrakich Painting. Or, if you live in the metropolitan Indianapolis area and would like to contact me, click here.