So, we really need to paint the exterior of our home. It is rough. We have cedar siding and some of it is starting to crack and the paint is slowly chipping away. Also, it is just plain ugly. We asked our neighbor who has lived here since the neighborhood opened why the house was painted white with black trim. He told us that an english guy bought the home in the late 90's and painted it right away. Great, now we have to pay about $4,500 to paint and do some carpentry work.
We have got 4 quotes ranging from $3,900 all the way to $8,500. You can tell which way we are leaning...$3,900 easily. But, and the reason for the post, is that one of our quotes was for stain rather than paint. He said it would keep the features of the cedar siding (which I love) and would also penetrate the wood for a deeper protection. However, this was the $8,500 quote. Could anyone provide some guidance on staining the house? We do not have one house in our neighborhood that is stained, so I have nothing to compare it to.
I hate having to pay all of this money while we are tying to get out of debt. $4,000 is a big chunk of debt and could free up almost $60 a month for us, but I fear the longer we put off painting the home, the more money it will cost us in the long run. We are hoping to use our tax return to help us pay for this since it should be sizable amount of money.
Hope everyone is having a great weekend!
P.S~ You can see the ugly black and white exterior of our home in the halloween post.
Hi - we're in a similar situation. I'd ask for references and to see a sample of a similar home that has been stained. We purchased our first (and probably only home) just over a year ago and knew in advance we'd need a new roof, so we learned really quickly to request references and do "drive bys" to see examples of other roofs they had installed. Of course, it helped enormously that one guy was local and had done more than a dozen homes on our street through the years. Now that we're evaluating exterior painting contractors and bids, we've taken the same approach. The two bids thus far have provided photos of prior jobs and references with addresses and telephone numbers where we can drive by and see their work and call the homeowners to check on the quality of their experience. I hope that helps!
ReplyDelete-Janelle
Thanks Janelle! That's a great idea about asking for pictures... and something we definitely need to do before moving forward. It's one thing to get a verbal reference, but I bet pictures can really help you make up your mind. Thanks for reading my blog!
ReplyDeleteThanks Janelle! That's a great idea about asking for pictures... and something we definitely need to do before moving forward. It's one thing to get a verbal reference, but I bet pictures can really help you make up your mind. Thanks for reading my blog!
ReplyDelete