Lehigh Valley Exterior Painting

 

Don't Let Your Lehigh Valley Home Lose Its Luster: The Importance of Exterior Painting with Ryan Amato Painting  

Living in the Lehigh Valley, we all know the importance of a well-maintained home.

Our four distinct seasons bring vibrant beauty, but they can also take a toll on our property's exterior.

Here at Ryan Amato Painting, we understand the unique challenges faced by Lehigh Valley homeowners, and we're dedicated to providing exceptional exterior painting services that will keep your home looking its best, year after year.

More Than Just a Paint Job: Protecting Your Investment

A fresh coat of paint does wonders for curb appeal, but it's about more than just aesthetics.

The exterior of your home is the first line of defense against the elements.

Sun, rain, wind, snow, and even fluctuating temperatures can cause significant damage to your siding over time.

High-quality exterior paint acts as a protective barrier, shielding your home from these damaging effects.

By regularly repainting your exterior with Ryan Amato Painting, you're not just enhancing your home's beauty, you're making a smart investment in its longevity and value.

Long-Lasting Beauty and Increased Efficiency

We use only the highest quality paints and materials, specifically formulated for the Lehigh Valley climate.

These paints not only provide a beautiful, long-lasting finish, but some even offer advanced features like solar reflectance.

By reflecting sunlight during the hot summer months, these specialized paints can help regulate the temperature inside your home, potentially leading to lower energy bills.

Expert Craftsmanship and Unwavering Customer Focus

At Ryan Amato Painting, we're not just about slapping on a coat of paint.

Our team of skilled and experienced painters takes pride in their craft, meticulously preparing surfaces and ensuring a flawless finish that will stand the test of time.

We understand that your home is your biggest investment, and we treat it with the respect it deserves. That's why we offer free, no-obligation consultations and detailed estimates so you can make informed decisions about your project.

Our focus is on clear communication, exceptional customer service, and exceeding your expectations throughout the entire process.

The Ryan Amato Painting Difference

• Local Expertise: We're a locally owned and operated business with a deep understanding of the specific challenges faced by Lehigh Valley homeowners.
• Free Consultations and Estimates: Get expert advice and a clear breakdown of project costs before you commit.
• Meticulous Preparation: We take the time to properly prepare surfaces, ensuring a long-lasting and beautiful finish.
• High-Quality Materials: We use only the best paints and materials designed for the Lehigh Valley climate.
• Skilled and Experienced Painters: Our team takes pride in their craftsmanship and delivers exceptional results.
• Unwavering Customer Focus: Clear communication, transparent pricing, and a commitment to your satisfaction are our top priorities.
• Warranty on Workmanship: We stand behind our work and offer a warranty on all workmanship.

Investing in Your Home's Future

A well-maintained exterior not only enhances your home's curb appeal and value, but it also protects your investment, potentially lowers your energy costs, and gives you peace of mind knowing your home is well-protected. Don't let your Lehigh Valley home lose its luster.

Contact Ryan Amato Painting Today

We're here to help you breathe new life into your home's exterior. Call us today at (484) 821-7112 or visit our website at www.ryanamatopainting.com to schedule your free consultation and estimate. Let Ryan Amato Painting transform your Lehigh Valley home with the quality, expertise, and customer service you deserve.

Price Alone Does Not Make A Great Epoxy Floor

Why Simply Getting A Price Is Wrong 

When getting information and pricing for your epoxy floor project we sometimes simply have people tell us " I have a two car garage"How much will my floor be?

While we wish it was this easy and many companies will simply throw pricing around this is not a professional or accurate way to give a proposal for your epoxy floor.

There are many factors such as what's currently on the floor? How much patching will you need on your garage floor? Thue products and look you want? 

This is not your typical paint job , anyway even if everyone used the same products, same application the prices would never be the same. Your forgetting about level of service, a real warranty for your epoxy floor. Are they local?

You have to answer many questions and much more than how much will the floor be.

Please listen to our weekly show where we went deep into this topic

Listen Here

So You Want An Epoxy Floor For Your Garage

You walk out to your garage each morning, stepping on oil, a dirty floor and concrete that is cracked and decide you would like a shiny new epoxy floor installed but have no idea where to start.

Maybe you had a friend or family member had theirs done or you have seen them on YouTube or Facebook and now you want one too.

But how much are they, how long will it last and where do you start?

Where To Begin

Finding a reputable contractor you can trust is your first step, this is not a project for your typical painting contractor so that should not be your first step. A reputable epoxy installer or a painting company who has a dedicated epoxy department is the way to go. Epoxy can be very tricky, no two applications are the same, epoxy is very finiscky with the surrounding temperartures, moisture in the air and also surface temperatures. Only an experienced epoxy installer will know what to do and make adjustments along the way.

Even a slight difference in the normal dew point can drastically change cure times, dry times and recoat times of a floor. Not knowing these and what to do can be disaterous for your garage floor. What could go wrong? The sheen could be blotchy, the color could be off, the epoxy could eventually fail and peel off not to mention the cosmetic issues you can have.

Finding Your Contractor

Finding your contractor won't be an easy one, there are not that many fully trained and experienced companies out there or some only do commercial epoxy floors. Steer clear of a painting company who says sure we also do floors, if they are a painting company they should have a totally seperate crew who only does floors to be assured they are trained on new applications, products and the issues that come along with them to fully get the results you want. 

The Right Products

Everyone will look to Google as their go to source of information and see buzz words such as high solid, polyaspartic and more but remember even though a company is using those "type" of products there are many inferior formulations from one epoxy manufacturer to the next. You could be using all the "right" products but they could be cheap brands giving you a much lower quality epoxy floor.

From thinner applications due to poor training of the crews or thinner coating due to low quality products you won;t know this until its too late and you are recoating your garage floor way to soon.

Stick to a professional epoxy floor company that can manage all of this for you.

The Application Process

Most professional epoxy installers will be grinding your floor, this does not mean it needs to be done each and every time but to achieve the proper surface for your concrete and the new epoxy it is usually determined it needs to be diamond grinded. The company should have a full seperate hepa vacuum attached to the grinder sucking up all that nasty concrete dust leaving your home and their workers safe.

Proper set up of the area should be noted, keeping all other areas clean that are not being done is professional and important, it is not easy to get cured epoxy off surfaces it should not be on.

After cleaning all the grease off of the floor with specialized products, the company will most likely be grinding and cleaning once more. After cleaning there are a couple routes a company may go.

If it is determined you don;t have a vapor barrier a liquid (primer) vapor barrier may be used.

If you do have one already they may go direct to the concrete with the epoxy, remember each and every step costs money so any added coat or step will be additional costs to your final bill.

After the epoxy is put down now is the time to add flakes or anti slip additives, this can be a very unique and custom installation process and you may get a different look for whoever is installing (throwing) the decorative flakes. You want one installer applying your flakes to make sure it is uniform.

The Clear Coat

Another term you will hear so much is polyaspartic, this is a type of coating that is not vulnarable to the uv light like epoxy is, is hard and a terrific top coat.

However it is difficult to apply, the life once mixed is very short and it is not inexpensive.

This is what I would choose for my house though.

You do have some other options, but they will effect the longevity of the coating, the amount of time you have before having to coat it again.

Depending on the use of your floor will also determine what type of clear coat you will be using.

Expectations

At the end of the day the proper expectations are needed, if you have concrete that is moving or water pressure coming up from underneath your floor you could have some issues, this would not be a failure of the coating itself. If you drop something very heavy it could chip the coating no matter what you have down on the concrete. Remember the floors are extremly tough but nothing is bulletproof.

Proper Maintenance

Properly maintaining your epoxy floor and coating is important but not hard at all.

We would love for you to use just a simple combination of dawn and soem warm water, this is all you should need to fully clean anything off of your floor if you get it right away. Do not allow solvents to sit on your floor and wipe those up right away just to prevent any discoloration.

It's that easy, do this and you should have years to come of your new epoxy floor.

Proper Expectations When Painting The Exterior Of Your Home

 

Its exterior painting season and one of the main things that are important to an ex terior painting job is proper preparation of the surfaces. 

When planning to paint the exterior of your home or business it's very important to check and inspect every surface around the house whether it's siding wood trim aluminum or other materials

Painting on top of damaged wood or metal can significantly lower the long Gemini of the paint job however  Sometimes a budgetary restraints can significantly reduce the preparation of a surface

It's a balance between budget and proper preparation on some projects especially historical homes.

 What is proper preparation of a service proper preparation of a surface for a paint job is clean dull and dry notice I did not say smoothed a surface does not have to be smooth to be properly prepared and paint it especially on older homes were you've have many many layers of painted surface chipped paint paint the has been painted over over the years and multiple layers of other a paints.

When we discuss these types of jobs we like to give clear expectations on what the customer is going to receive what the customer wants and what the customer can pay for again it is a fine balance between budget and a properly painted surface.

When preparing a surface it's very important that the customer clearly explains what they want the surface to look like after the job is done because the number one issue on any paint job is failed and missed expectations.

The few issues we've had on paint jobs have been surfaces where a customer thinks that a home that has been painted countless times over should be completely smooth where in the real world that service needs to be completely stripped and that is a whole different job than a repaint

A properly painted surface for us at a normal job is preservation techniques with preservation techniques we one remove any failed paint that is clearly chipping we want a feather sand that area notice I did not say fill it in or make it smooth we want a prime any bear would typically using an oil based exterior primer and then a top quality exterior paint on top of that 1 coat 2 coats it depends on the job itself.

As long as the customer has clear written expectations that are also put into their contract and proposal and you fully walk them through the job and explain what can and what can't be done 

You should have no issues on your painting project.

Why does a customer feel a surface should be smooth even if it has not been for the last 50 years these are questions that we ask ourselves all the time and I guess that's that's part of the issue now with Google with Yahoo with being able to go on to YouTube and watch other preparations and home shows.

The issues with the shows are their perfect conditions and there are very compressed video where a job may have taken weeks they put it down into less than an hour of show.

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In the real world these types of preparations time frames and applications are impossible, Although maybe I shouldn't say impossible it is certainly possible with the right budget.

In our area Pennsylvania we're lucky if we get a few days a year with ideal conditions to paint from rain to snow to sleet to to Hi of humidity the dew points never correct we have very limited time to actually paint if you went by the specifications from the manufacturers.

The manufactures are very aware that these conditions can never be met so they do give broad ranges and better explanations on the local level with your sales rep.

Knowing that if you have an area that is currently peeling or failing that it is likely it could peel and fail again what we see are issues with moisture expansion and contraction causing pain failures locally correcting these issues and putting the new coat of paint on May not correct the the moisture or expansion and contraction movement issues.

Doing your best diligence to properly prepare these surfaces goes a long way in making a great paint job.

It's Exterior Painting Season

It is that time of the year again, the flowers are coming up, trees blooming, allergies are back but the best time of the year is exterior painting season is upon us.

There are a few things to deal with this time of the year, weather is the biggest concern as temperatures will greatly fluctuate as well as the humidity and rain. Managing all of these things takes patience and experience on your part and your contractors. 
You will need to understand some days it may be impossible to put a paint coating on due to humidity or rain on the way. Your contractor will (should ) have vast knowledge and experience dealing with these issues and have his or her tricks of the trade ready to go when things arise.

Weather

Weather plays a very important part of every exterior project, we do not want it to rain on the paint coating we are putting on for a few reasons. One we "may" have to do it again, rain can cause marking on an uncured paint coating , that is the moisture being mixed into the coating, not the end of the world just added time and expense.
Number two is we certainly do not want our surfaces taking on even more moisture then it needs to. Moisture is a big cause of paint failures, have your contractor do some moisture testing around your home if you have bare wood or decks your about to paint or stain. However be prepared for the bad news you may not be able to have your project done right now.

The Schedule

It never fails, we all wait until the last minute to plan our projects around the home and then expect contractors are standing by to tackle these and have no other work to do or an unlimited amount of painters to do these projects.

You snooze you lose

You snooze you lose is never more true when you need something done, you haven't planned ahead and all the good contractors are booked solid. Repeat A GOOD CONTRACTOR SHOULD BE BOOKED

I would tread lightly when someone is available right away unless they perhaps had a cancellation or surprise opening, it should not be out the question that a qualified contractor is booked out 4,8,12 weeks or more. It is not worth it to me to get someone to do it now who may not be the most qualified of contractors.

Plan Ahead In The Winter

The winter months are the best times to plan and schedule your exterior work, contractors are usually more than happy to get you competitive pricing and know the schedule a bit better at this time before the chaos of the busy Spring and Summer months hit. It is not uncommon to see specials, discounts and deals at this time.

If you need exterior painting please reach out to us at 484-821-7112 or email bidrequests@ryanamatopaintingllc.com

How To get The Perfect Painting Estimate

How To Get The Perfect Painting Estimate

When you think about painting your home or business, the first thing you need is a painter to call.

You ask around or you may Google search or look on social media to find the perfect one.

Once you make your call and a few call you back you make an appointment and that's it.

But in reality, this is the start of a little bit of work you should do to be prepared
for your estimate as a client.

Be Prepared

The painter and estimator also have their work cut out for them, you cannot just show up.
You must be prepared and also prepare your client for this estimate.

Sending information out before the estimate prepares the client for the perfect estimate.

By answering questions before arrival,  you avoid any confusion, while showing
you're an expert.

What questions are asked? Answer them in an email, blog or video

As a client, you must know what you want to have done and be able to
either express it on the estimate or have it written down. 

Not expressing your expectations to the estimator is problem number one
that can come back to bite you. 

Whenever we have an issue on a project is typically comes down to
missed expectations that were never expressed to the estimator.

No Two Are Alike

Do not assume each painting company is going to offer the
same level of service or the same quality.

Do not assume you're receiving the top of the line level of work if it
was not discussed or paid for.

Let me say that again, you cannot expect to receive a new BMW when
your paying for a used car with 200,000 miles on it. 

A budget should be discussed, no one wants to talk about money but why?
It's the perfect time to discuss a budget, you can both agree on what will be done
and not done and how much it will cost.

Once you have met, discussed the budget and expectations of the project,
the best time to make a commitment is now.

Do It Now

It makes no sense to not take care of this now, especially if you have
pre-planned and know how much you can afford.
You do not want to be pressured however and this goes back to be comfortable
with your estimator.

Discuss the price openly, it is not a bad thing to discuss pricing at all,
if you can’t discuss pricing with the person you want to hire, maybe it isn't the
right person to hire?

Once your budget is discussed and the price is agreed upon making
sure everything you discussed is written in the proposal.

This is important for us because our painters get a copy of that wording
and this is what they will do on a project, no more or less, again you want this
to be clear now, not when you have painting happening inside your home.

Once everything looks great, sign the proposal and a copy is typically emailed right over
to you,
now you are set to go on to the next step which is scheduling.
We will review that is another video

Kitchen Countertops or paint the cabinets first?

We are asked this question all the time and it is a great one.

In a perfect world, everything goes as planned and this is a simple answer.

But as we all know it is never that easy

Even with the most conscientious contractor mistakes happen and small damage can occur such as scratches, dings, and dents, if you refinish your kitchen cabinets first and then have backsplashes or countertops done there is a very good chance some things can happen. 

$$$

When mistakes happen it costs money, it costs money to the painter to come back and do touch-ups and in turn that cost will be given to the homeowner to cover or put in the estimate in the first place to cover these incidental costs so we recommend doing your painting AFTER all other work is complete.

Floors can be covered, counters can also be covered and protected from any damage.

Think about it wouldn't it be great to start and complete a project without having to ask contractors to come back out?

Having your painter do his or her work after all other trades have been in is a perfect way to maintain project costs while getting a top-quality job.

Top ways to get a good painting estimate

The top ways for you to get a good paint estimate

You have decided it's time to paint inside your home, maybe it's a few bedrooms or possibly the trim or maybe your just going to paint your entire interior. 

So now what?

You will find out quickly when you start calling around, many companies will either not call back or it will take a few days if they call back at all. Once your lucky enough to get someone either pick up the phone or call you back now your issue will be them showing up at all. 

One of the comments I receive all the time is "wow you showed up on time just like you said" Sounds crazy right? People are in business but won't call back or show up.

If your lucky enough to have someone show up now the issue is they won't be honest and tell you they are not either interested in your project or capable of doing it, so they will never send a proposal over or price it very high so you never call them.

So this is why it is very important on your end to be prepared when your ready to call a painting company or any trade for that matter. Here are some things you should be prepared with.

1. Know your budget and don't be afraid to share it, when asked. A good company can generally work within any budget but without having an idea of what it may be you may receive prices all over the place. With painting there are varying levels of quality, no two companies will paint a residential project the same. 
2. Know exactly what you want to be done, are all the ceilings being done or can they be left out to help reduce costs? Is the trim being done? Again by not having all these details, your pricing will be all over the place and you may be surprised with the end result
3. What is important to you? Is quality most important or is the cost? You typically will not be able to get a low priced job with top quality work but if you're real about your expectations and budget missed expectations can be avoided
4. Be at the estimate, the person who will interact and "judge" the work should be the person at the estimate. I can't tell you how many times people don't take this seriously and leave a parent or babysitter home to show the work or even the other spouse who when the job starts isn't the person judging the work, another area where you will have missed expectations
5. Be realistic, it will rain, people will call off or be sick, other things will come up. Every company does it's best to make sure everyone works each day all year long but we will all be disappointed with workers who are not responsible, all anyone can do is make it right and move forward. Remember things can always be worse, have patience and understand everyone has a story and things going on in their life.

There are no apples to apples

When you say you want to compare apples to apples what you're really implying is every company does the exact same thing, the same quality, the same training and the only thing separating them is the rice they are about to give you.

Let me let you in on a little secret, you could put 5 painting estimators in a room, using the same paint, same application and you will get 5 different prices, don't assume each company knows what they are doing and certainly you cannot compare this with price alone.

Don't forget about the things not said, communication, the extra value they bring, will they be around if you need something down the road? Or once they are paid are they gone and forgot your name. Trust me I am involved heavily in the painting industry and there are some very questionable workers and companies out there, just as there are some great people and companies out there, but if a bunch of estimators cannot agre on a price what makes you think you're qualified enough to be able to compare them?

Things may still go wrong

Even after all of this, you may have some things go wrong, they may spill paint, or have drips or not prep as you think they should or the color may be wrong. The mark of a good company is just to correct these things if it was their fault. There is no need to yell and scream, no one wants to work for anyone like that, the painters end up trying gto go faster to get out of there, the client is upset and the office is tired of those "phone calls" Remember it's a team effort that includes the painters, the office and the client. Everyone must be on the same page for a successful project

Ryan Amato

www.ryanamatopainting.com

484-821-7112

Why You Should Be Home For Your Estimate

Why be home for your estimate:

When getting a painting estimate or an estimate for work around your home
for that matter it is important to be able to let the estimator know what you
expect when the project is done.

You may say why? Each job no matter who I use should be prepared,
painted and done the same but that is further from the truth then you would know.

There is not a specific standard of work from company to company and
most painting projects have very
different levels of service for the same thing, for instance spackling.

Preparation Of Surfaces

You can spackle a wall with many different levels of quality, from low to high
and somewhere in the middle is typical, but if you think they are doing it to perfection and they
are thinking the opposite,
it doesn’t mean they did a bad job, it was a missed expectation not explained
by the painter or asked for by the homeowner.

The same goes for exterior preparation work such as scraping peeling paint, under
most circumstances work is done by preservation techniques,
meaning loose paint is scrapped,
some caulking may be done,
usually bare wood is pot primed but then it is painted. If you're thinking the surface
will be completely smooth you
will be very upset with the final appearance. It will certainly how old levels of paint,
uneven surfaces and more, without stripping the entire surface you
will not get a level surface
under a normal repaint project.

The Estimate

I cannot tell you how many times I have gone out for an estimate and the person
who ultimately would be critiquing the work was not there,
leaving it to another person to try
to explain what they wanted to be done
or no one at all was home. These projects go bad 9 out of ten times.

Comments like bad quality, not enough prep or scrapping are mentioned when
in reality it was a mixed expectation or an expectation
that could never be met with a normal repaint.

So what to do? It’s simple be home, if you cannot be home at the least have
a conversation with the estimator and create a detailed list,
then its possible this can be matched
up with the estimator's
notes and work order. 

We have actually implemented a policy that we will not go out on an estimate
unless the decision make will be onsite, this may cost us
a few estimates opportunities
but in the long run, it is better
to have less work
than clients who are upset with the quality of the work from missed expectations. 

The number one thing that turns a new project bad is missed expectations,
it always comes down to this, when we look back at a bad
project or one that turned bad.

Why paint your home neutral when your selling it?

Why paint your home neutral when preparing to sell

It’s time to sell your home and the real estate agent comes in and gives
recommendations and the one we hear all the time is to paint your home a neutral color.

You just spent a lot of money putting custom colors and accent walls all over and you may
feel this is crazy but let me explain why this is the most important thing you could do to select
your home.

Colors invoke many feelings in people, happiness, calm, anger, when you painted that accent
wall a bright red and you love it, it may bring up a bad feeling for a prospective buyer on that
walkthrough, using a neutral color will be much more appealing and less likely to bring up any
bad emotions to any prospective buyers.

It also allows buyers to visualize a blank space where they can dream about the colors they
will add to the home.

Color Psychology

Color psychology is the study of emotional cues  (www.howstuffworks.com) prompted in humans by various colors. These can be quite strong. Bold yellow can upset young children , while light yellow is commonly used in babies rooms  These are important things to remember when preparing your home for sale.

Neutral colors will make your home the most desirable to as many people as possible and
that at the name of the game. 

It can be hard to visualize your home in a different way then you have been accustomed to.

What are the neutral paint colors?

Neutral colors are light to medium colors that can work well in the backdrop of other
furnishings and accents.

They can be a grey blend such as greige 

Before picking a neutral paint color for walls, decide if a warm or cool color matches
the ambiance of the space. Think about the neutral feel of the personality of your house.
Then look at the homes permanent fixtures such as flooring, or cabinets. What colors are they?
Are they warm or cool tones.

Is it worth painting before selling?

Is it worth painting a house before selling? (Www.listwatcher.com)

It is absolutely worth painting a house before selling. A light fresh paint job is one of the
most inexpensive, efficient and easiest ways to give a house a complete facelift, open up
space and help your house sell quicker for a better price.

Colors also have connections, good and bad. It could remind you of a bad experience or a good
one, it is better to remove these and stick to a neutral color.

If you need a color consultation please feel to reach out

Ryan Amato Painting

484-821-7112