Professional painters believe that exterior paint lasts between five and 10 years. With that in mind, it makes sense to start checking your home’s exterior paint for signs of inevitable wear and tear around the five-year mark. Here are some signs that it might be time to call a professional house painter.
Alligatoring Paint
This happens when the paint starts to crack apart into little squares, rectangles and other segments that put you in mind of an alligator’s hide. Alligatoring is often due to moisture or the paint expanding and contracting over an incompatible bottom coat. A less dramatic type of alligatoring is called checking.
Chalking Paint
With chalking, you’ll notice fading colors and a powdery substance on the surface of your home. If the paint is of good quality and the climate isn’t too sunny, chalking takes time. If your paint is inferior and there’s plenty of sunshine every day, it happens very quickly. Salty air from the ocean makes the problem worse.
Flaking Paint
Flaking occurs when the paint starts to simply flake off the exterior of your house. It is more likely to happen when the paint is applied to a metal surface.
Wrinkling Paint
This happens when heavy layers of paint are applied in direct sunlight. Wrinkling paint needs to be sanded off before giving your home a refresh.
The Paint Color Is Simply Fading
Fading paint color will inevitably occur over time. It will be especially noticeable if you painted your home a bold, primary color.
Blistering Paint
As its name says, this problem is characterized by little blisters all over the paint. Blistering is more common on wood. If blisters or bubbles didn’t appear soon after your home was painted, they’re probably caused by moisture from the inside of your house seeping into the outdoor paint.
Efflorescence
This is a problem if your home is made of masonry, whether concrete or brick. It happens when rain contacts the salts in the masonry. The dissolved salt bubbles up through the masonry and forms a crust over the paint. Efflorescence is the result of a poor paint job, high humidity in the house that leached through the walls into the outside or a basement that wasn’t properly waterproofed.
A good exterior paint job can last about a decade. If you feel it’s time to have your home’s exterior repainted, get in touch with our professional painters at QGC Professional Painting of Milwaukee, WI.
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