Choosing and matching colors

Choosing and matching colors

Choosing and matching colors can be the best and worst part of your painting project.

Some people love and look forward to choosing new colors for their home while others this process brings great stress and anxiety.

With the investment of getting your home painted and feeling the pressure to get it just right can make for a miserable experience for some, typically for us this can delay some projects, we like to have the colors to our office at least two weeks before the project starts to properly prepare for your job. This certainly doesn’t happen all the time and this process has delayed the start of jobs.

It is a lot better to be prepared for your project then show up the first day not having any paint, having to run to the paint store, the delays could cost you more money in delays.

Choosing colors doesn’t have to be a difficult or frustrating experience at all. In the grand scheme of things it’s only paint, nothing in this world will be perfect although we try like heck to make it as close as possible. For these people that need that perfect color, a color consultant is exactly what will make this process go smoother.

Open floor concepts

With today’s open floor concepts,  can see multiple rooms at on time when your standing in one room, color selections are vital to create a smooth transition into each room.

Benjamin Moore does make this quite easy with there Affinity color chart, it is exactly what I used in my home, any color  in this color fan deck will coordinate with any of the others. However even with this chart , I would of probably chosen other colors after I was complete.

Colors will change from wall to wall, room to room even when using the same can of paint, we have had clients swear up and down we used a different color in the same room and it was the light, depending on the type of lighting you have in the room can dramatically change the outcome and look of your paint colors. We know this is hard to understand but it is in fac the case, we recommend bringing a sample of your colors home and put samples on boards in the room they are going, pleas do not put them on the wall as they can change the app rearrange of the top colors as we try to cover all the samples you did on the wall.

At Ryan Amato Painting we are here to make this a simple process and can help in anyway possible, we highly recommend commend our color consultant for the more choosier of clients, for others you can certainly select your own colors and create an awesome space that match’s your style ,taste and personality.

Painting in cold weather

When is it time to stop painting in the Lehigh Valley?

The Fall is on the way and that means leaves changing colors and falling, Halloween, Thanksgiving and yes cold weather.

We are asked each year when is it too cold to paint and that is a great question and it depends on a few different things.

Typically in years past you would need to stop painting around 50 degrees which really limits the season in the Lehigh Valley to paint exteriors but with the new paint formulations Sherwin Williams has many pints that can be used down to 34 degrees. This means we can extend the exterior painting season possibly months ahead. We actually painted well after Christmas a few years ago.

We do have to remember a few things, when we say the temperature needs to be 35 degrees we are referring to the surface temperature of the material you are attempting to paint. So if that is metal such as aluminum siding the surface temperature may be a lot lower thence  the air temps. 

We use the information from the local weather channels and temperature and surface temperature gauges. This is very important to know, you may be able to push it a few degrees but much more than that and you could risk paint failures such as peeling, flaking, discoloration and more. Plus you would void your manufactures warranty from any of the manufacturers and trust me they will go back and look at the dates and local weather reports.

So what happens in the Fall is there is no guarantee an exterior painting project can be done, so we typically tentatively schedule these projects with the risk it may need to be done in the next Spring.

For instance we had approximately 10 projects push into 2019 from last Fall, although they are the first projects to be done it still takes time to go through those jobs, not every person can be the first job.

The Fall can be a great time to paint and do exterior projects, you don’t have the direct sun to contend with much or as much rain as we see in July and August, it’s cooler so we have longer work days as we are not contending with higher temperatures and the paint doesn’t instantly dry which makes it easier for the painters .

Most painting companies will be very experienced dealing with the weather and there is no need to micromanage this or delay the project because of a few degrees here and there and can actually add additional costs because of delays. Trust who you hire and remember in most cases they have been doing this a long time.

How to properly prepare your concrete for epoxy

Proper preparation of your concrete for an epoxy coating

Properly preparing your concrete floor for epoxy is serious business, without doing this step absolutely perfect you may have coating failures such as peeling, hot tire pickup or a ruined floor.

This step is not one for the average house painter, it takes a lot of training, knowing and using the products on many projects. Sometimes you have to make quick changes on a job site to deal with surface conditions, access or the unexpected. Without having come across these before there isn't much that can help you.

Typically a diamond grinding or acid etching is needed. These are two totally different processes and each has their up and downsides.

Grinding a surface can be dusty even with the best of equipment, leading to dangerous silica thrown into the air as well as much more cleanup.
Acid etching can simply be dangerous from the fumes and the burns that can occur.

the goal of each is the same, rough up the surface for the coating to adhere to it better.

In recent years even special primers may be used in lieu of these two preparatory processes. Special primers for hard to bond surfaces can and have been used successfully, they are not inexpensive but in comparison to the other ways,they are similar in cost.

We have seen too many times homeowners and contractors take the chance by not prepping the surface due to either cost or laziness and it always ends the same, we come in and see sheets of epoxy that can be just pulled off of the floor.

Taking the time to properly prepare your floor will actually cost less in the future because you will be eliminating the repeated prep or removal of the failed coatings because once it starts to fail it needs to be removed before applying another system on it in many cases.

Once you take the time to do this concrete work and prep you can be assured your epoxy has the correct surface to be applied to and will last for years to come.

How to find the best painters

How to find the best painters for your project.

You have a project coming up in your home or business and you have never hired a painting company before and you have no idea what your about to get yourself into.

With every company so busy in the summer and an overfill of work you have a lot of new companies that have sprung up and older companies who are struggling to keep up with their schedule.

When you first start calling around this is the first time you will see who gets back to you in a timely manner, who doesn’t answer you at all and who makes their process an easy one for you.

Next is the estimate, although I would ask on the phone what their time frame is to take on new work.

Will they show up on time or at all for your estimate?  From our experience not many will.

When they are on the estimate at they listening to you or just trying to tell you how great they are and how awesome the paint work will be? You want someone who will listen to all your concerns and expectations not just blab about their great painting work. 

Here is a secret: Most every company will give you the same quality

The quality of the work should be a given and that is not what you should be looking for, you want the un said to be said.

• How long will the work take?
• What paints will be used and why
• Have they done this type of work before?
• What is the warranty  something goes wrong, do they take care of it
• Ask about the painters who will be onsite
• Will theirs be a foreman or supervisor to contact?
• Will someone at the office be available with any questions I may have?

As you can see it is much more than putting paint on a surface and that is typically why you cannot just call up three painters and judge them off of the price , heck you can put three estimators in the same room at the same time and the prices will all be different.

Don’t treat your contractors like a commodity 

Contractors are not a commodity to be bought and tossed out,  most good contractors want to develop a relationship with their clients so when more work comes in there is no question who is doing it. Wouldn’t it be great to just have to call one person, no questions asked and you already know what to expect with pricing and quality?