Wood takes more work than it looks
Horizontal wood siding and wood windows are among the most labor-heavy things a painter can be asked to repaint. Every board has a lap edge, every window has sash, muntins, sills and glazing, and wood that has gone too long between coats needs repair before it can be painted. This guide explains what drives the price of that kind of job so you can read quotes side by side. It gives no prices.
What Gainesville's guidelines say
Gainesville's historic district guidelines call horizontal wood siding the predominant exterior finish of houses in the city's historic districts and discourage T111 vertical siding, diagonal siding, and vinyl and aluminum siding.
Gainesville's historic district rehabilitation guidelines call careful repair the preferred approach for historic windows; if repair is not technically or economically feasible, new windows matching the original in size, general muntin and mullion configuration and reflective qualities may be substituted.
Those guidelines are written for the city's historic districts. Whether they apply to your house depends on where it is; the guidelines themselves are the place to check. For a painting budget, what they underline is that repair and repainting of existing wood is the approach they favor, which makes the condition of that wood the main cost driver.
Siding: what a painter prices
Profile and area. Lap siding, drop siding and shingles all paint differently. Narrower boards mean more lap edges per wall, and each edge needs paint worked into it.
Condition. Sound paint with some chalking needs washing and a light scuff. Peeling or alligatored paint needs scraping and feathering, which can be the largest share of the labor.
Wood repair. Split boards, soft ends near the ground and weathered gray wood need filling, consolidating or replacement before primer. A painter may do small epoxy repairs; board replacement is carpentry.
Primer. Bare wood needs a primer on every exposed face. Where much of the old paint has come off, a full prime coat may be quoted.
Heights and access. Gables and upper walls mean taller ladders or staging.
Windows: the slow part
A wood window has many surfaces: the sash, the muntins dividing the glass, the frame, the sill and the exterior casing. Painting it well means:
- scraping and sanding loose paint from each part;
- checking and, where it's failing, replacing glazing putty, which then has to cure before it's painted;
- painting the sash so the paint laps slightly onto the glass to seal the joint;
- keeping sash free to move rather than painting it shut.
Windows are usually priced per unit or by the hour, and older multi-pane sash takes much longer than a single pane. Ask how many windows are included and whether glazing repair is part of the price.
Lead-safe work on older wood
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.
Scraping siding and sanding window parts both disturb paint. If your home was built before 1978, a lead-safe plan, with ground sheeting, wet methods, limits on power tools and careful cleanup, belongs in the quote. You can ask whether the firm holds RRP certification.
The finish
Once the wood is sound and primed, two finish coats of a quality exterior product are typical, but the right number depends on the product, the color change and the surface. Our exterior painting page and sheens guide explain the choices.
Comparing bids
- Does the quote describe the scraping and how far it goes?
- Is wood repair included, and is there an allowance for what's found later?
- Are windows counted, and is glazing work included?
- Spot primer or full prime coat?
- If the house predates 1978, what is the lead-safe plan?
- Which finish product, and how many coats?
See the pricing guide for cost factors that apply to every job.