HomeExterior Painting
Exterior painting that lasts because of the prep, not the paint.
Most exterior paint failures in Boone County trace back to what happened before the brush ever touched the wall: a wash that got skipped, a scrape that stopped too soon, a caulk joint left open. We treat prep as the job, and the coating as the last step of it.
Why exterior paint actually fails on Indiana trim
Central Indiana runs through wide humidity swings and real freeze-thaw winters, and wood trim moves with both. Paint does not fail because it wears out evenly. It fails at specific points where moisture or movement beat it, and once you know those points you can see them on almost any house in Boone County.
The most common one is moisture getting in from behind, not from the weather side. A butt joint in fascia board, a gap where trim meets siding, a nail head that was never set and sealed: water gets behind the paint film through the wood itself, and no topcoat is thick enough to stop it from the front. The paint blisters and peels from the inside out, which is why peeling that reappears in the same spot a year after repainting usually means a carpentry problem, not a paint problem.
South and west-facing walls fail faster than north and east walls on the same house, every time, because UV breaks down the resin in the paint film and afternoon sun does most of that work. Chalking, that dusty film that rubs off on your hand, is UV degradation doing exactly what it is supposed to do to protect the pigment underneath, but it also means the surface has to be washed before a new coat will bond to it.
The last common failure is incompatibility: a new acrylic latex coat going over an old, chalky, or oil-based surface without the right primer step in between. Latex paint needs something to grip, and old oil-based paint or bare weathered wood does not give it that on its own.
The prep sequence, and why we do not skip steps
Every exterior job runs the same order, because skipping a step does not save time, it just moves the failure point up by a couple of years.
- Wash. We pressure wash siding, trim and fascia to remove chalk, dirt and mildew. New paint over a chalky surface does not bond; it bonds to the chalk, and the chalk lets go.
- Scrape. All loose and peeling paint comes off back to a sound edge, not just the obviously flaking spots.
- Sand. Feathering the transition between bare wood and remaining paint so the repaired area does not show a ridge once it is coated.
- Repair. Rotten trim gets replaced or consolidated before anything is painted over it. Paint is not a wood repair product.
- Caulk. Gaps at butt joints and where trim meets siding get sealed with an exterior-grade sealant, which closes the entry points where moisture gets behind the film in the first place.
- Prime. Bare wood, knots, and any repaired areas get spot-primed so the topcoat has consistent absorption across the whole surface.
Coatings we use, and where
| Surface | Coating | Sheen | Why |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fiber cement or vinyl siding | 100% acrylic latex | Flat or low-sheen | Flexes with the substrate through temperature swings and hides surface texture rather than highlighting it. |
| Wood trim, fascia, soffit | Acrylic trim enamel | Satin | Holds an edge on narrow boards and resists moisture better than a flat finish, without showing every brush mark the way gloss does. |
| Bare or weathered wood, water stains | Stain-blocking oil or alkyd primer, then acrylic topcoat | Primer only, matched sheen on topcoat | Oil-based primer seals tannins and old stains that would otherwise bleed through a latex-only system. |
| Garage doors, shutters, metal trim | Direct-to-metal acrylic enamel | Semi-gloss | Rust-inhibiting formulation and a harder film for a surface that gets handled and hit with lawn debris. |
If your siding itself, not just the paint, is the actual problem, that is a different conversation. Cracked or buckled fiber cement panels and vinyl that has warped in the sun need siding replacement rather than another coat of paint, and we will tell you which one you actually have before we quote a paint job on a surface that will not hold it.
Good, Better, Best: our three paint options
Every estimate we send offers three tiers of Sherwin-Williams exterior paint. All three include the same prep and process: pressure washing, scraping, caulking with 50-year acrylic caulk, masking off what does not get painted, full coverage on every listed surface, job-site cleanup, and a final walkthrough with you.
| Tier | Product | What it offers |
|---|---|---|
| GOOD | Sherwin-Williams Latitude® | Reliable coverage, flexibility and durability across Indiana’s swinging weather, with excellent adhesion and color retention. Applies across a wider temperature range than most exterior paints. |
| BETTER | Sherwin-Williams Duration® Exterior | An upgraded coating system with enhanced moisture resistance and long-lasting performance, built to resist cracking, peeling and blistering. |
| BEST | Sherwin-Williams Emerald® Rain Refresh® | Our premium system, engineered for exceptional durability and color retention, with self-cleaning technology that lets rainwater wash dirt away and the strongest protection against fading and mildew. |
Your authorization page lets you choose among the three. If all of them are outside your budget, tell us and we will do our best to work within it.
How an exterior painting job runs
- Walk-around estimate. Every elevation, noting rot, open caulk joints, mildew, and where prior paint has already failed.
- Wash. Full pressure wash with adequate dry time before any scraping starts.
- Scrape and sand. Loose paint removed to a sound edge and feathered.
- Carpentry repair. Rotten boards replaced before priming, not painted over.
- Caulk and spot-prime. Gaps sealed, bare wood and repairs primed.
- Two coats. Back-rolled where sprayed, brushed at trim lines, with windows, fixtures and landscaping masked or covered.
- Walk-through. We check touch-up spots with you before we call it done.
Warranty
Every exterior paint job carries our 2-year workmanship warranty.
Recent exteriors
The same house, photographed from the same spot.
Two houses, four photographs. Each after shot was taken standing where the before shot was taken, because a repaint that only looks good from a new angle is not worth showing you.
Exterior repaint: the front elevation
Paint, gutters and gutter guards on one house
What homeowners ask us about painting outside.
It depends far more on prep and exposure than on the paint can. A properly washed, scraped and primed job on a shaded north wall can go a decade before it needs attention. The same paint on an unprepped south wall can start failing in a few years. We will not promise a number without seeing the house.
Every time. Chalk and mildew sitting on the surface will keep new paint from bonding no matter how good the paint itself is, and we build dry time into the schedule before scraping starts.
We stop and show you before doing anything. Rotten wood gets replaced or consolidated, never painted over, since paint does not stop wood decay and hides the problem instead of solving it.
Yes, with a 100% acrylic latex made for the substrate, washed and primed as needed. If the siding itself is cracked, warped, or failing rather than just faded, that is a job for siding replacement, and we will tell you which situation you actually have.
Most acrylic exterior paints need surface and air temperatures in a specific range to cure properly, generally above 50 degrees, without rain in the forecast for several hours after application. That gives us a working window from roughly April through October here.
Two coats on any full repaint. A single coat over primer can look fine on the day but rarely gives full, even film thickness across the whole surface, and that thin spot is where the next failure starts. If you are only refreshing interior rooms in the same visit, see interior painting for how we handle coat counts there.
If the siding under the paint is still sound, repainting costs a fraction of replacement and buys real years. Where we find rot, delamination or siding at the end of its life, paint is an expensive bandage. Since we do both, we will tell you which one you actually need instead of selling the one we happen to offer. If yours is past saving, compare vinyl and fiber cement replacement.
Within 24 business hours, and usually sooner. Calling gets you a person fastest during office hours, Monday to Friday, 9:00am to 5:00pm.
Yes to both. Projects start with 50% down, which reserves your spot on the schedule and orders material, and the balance is due once the work is finished and you have walked it with us. Financing is available on larger projects, so ask us about options when we come out.
Where to next?
We will walk every elevation and tell you what the prep actually needs.
No charge, no obligation. If a wall just needs a wash and a spot-prime instead of a full repaint, that is what we will tell you.
(765) 335-6475Monday to Friday, 9:00am–5:00pm · or text us
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