A county seat, and the houses in it
Sherman was designated the seat of Grayson County by the act that created the county on March 17, 1846, and it was named for Gen. Sidney Sherman, a hero of the Texas Revolution. Whatever the age of your own house, the starting point for a painting project is the same: before choosing a color, know what you're painting over and how much of it you want done.
We don't publish weather figures for Sherman, because we haven't found an official station source for the town that we can cite. So this page is about planning, which matters in any climate.
Decide the scope before anyone measures
Painters price what's in front of them. A walk-through goes faster and the quotes compare more cleanly if you've settled a few things first.
Which surfaces? For each room, decide on walls, ceilings, trim, doors, closets and window sashes. For the outside, decide on body, trim, fascia and soffits, doors, shutters, porch floors and railings. Write the list down and give the same list to every painter.
Color change or refresh? Going from a dark color to a light one, or covering a strong accent wall, usually takes a primer and an extra coat. Refreshing the same color may take one coat on sound walls.
Which sheen? Flat for ceilings, a low sheen for most walls, and a harder, glossier finish for trim and doors is the common pattern. Our guide to paint sheens and finishes explains when to break it.
Who moves what? Furniture, wall hangings, curtain rods and switch plates all have to be dealt with. Some crews include it; others expect the rooms ready.
Bundling saves trips, not always money
Painters set up, mask, mix and clean up every day they're on a job. Combining work can cut that overhead:
- Rooms that share a color can be done together from one batch of paint.
- Ceilings are usually painted before walls, and trim last, so a room done in one go avoids touching it up twice.
- On an exterior, the high work (gables, fascia, second-storey walls) needs ladders or scaffolding; adding the lower work while the equipment is there is efficient.
Bundling doesn't help if it means rushing prep. A smaller job done properly beats a whole house done thinly.
What the proposal should say
A useful proposal reads like a plan of work rather than a price. It should list:
- Every room or exterior side included.
- Preparation: cleaning, scraping, sanding, patching, caulking, spot-priming.
- The primer and topcoat by product name, and the sheen.
- The number of coats on each surface.
- Protection of floors, furniture, landscaping and fixtures.
- Cleanup and what happens to leftover paint.
- The schedule and how many days the crew expects to be there.
If a line is missing, ask. Our interior painting and exterior painting pages go through what each part involves.
Older paint: what federal law says
Any house built before 1978 may have lead-based paint somewhere under the newer coats. Under EPA's Renovation, Repair and Painting Rule, anyone paid to do work that disturbs paint in homes, childcare facilities and preschools built before 1978 must hold RRP certification, firms included, even sole proprietorships, and their workers must be trained in lead-safe work practices.
The program isn't run the same way everywhere. EPA runs the RRP program in states it has not authorized; Alabama, Delaware, Georgia, Iowa, Kansas, Massachusetts, Mississippi, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Oregon, Rhode Island, Utah, Vermont, Washington and Wisconsin run their own EPA-authorized programs.
For a pre-1978 house, ask the painter whether the firm holds RRP certification and how they plan to contain, collect and clean up dust from scraping and sanding.
Before the crew arrives
- Clear small items from shelves and walls in the rooms being painted.
- Tell the painter about any rooms with stains, water marks or patched areas; they may need a stain-blocking primer.
- Agree where the crew will mix paint and wash tools.
- Keep pets and children out of work areas until the paint is dry.
The pricing guide explains how these choices show up in the price, and how it works explains how we pass a request to a local painter.