Your home · 10 guides
Painter: problems and fixes, explained by Andrey
Andrey Shelokovskiy is the only painter member of BNI Preston Center. These guides are written for a Dallas–Fort Worth reader who has the problem right now: what is happening, what to check, when to call, and what it costs.
- What actually sets the price of painting a house in Dallas–Fort Worth Most of a painting bill is labor, and most of the labor is preparation. Here is what moves the number up or down, and how to read an estimate before you sign it. The short answer before the detailsWhere the money in a paint job actually goesWhat moves an exterior quoteWhat moves an interior quote
- Popcorn ceiling removal: the myths and mistakes to settle before anyone scrapes Scraping a popcorn ceiling looks simple in videos. Here is what people get wrong about safety, mess and the ceiling underneath, and how a removal should actually run. The short versionMyth: it is a one-weekend projectMyth: you can tell by looking whether it is safeWhen testing is needed, and why not to sample it yourself
- Painting kitchen cabinets yourself: what it takes and where DIY jobs fail Painting cabinets is not like painting a wall. Here is the full process, the mistakes that ruin most DIY jobs, and an honest way to decide who should do yours. The honest answer up frontWhy cabinets are harder than wallsWhat a durable cabinet finish requiresWhere do-it-yourself cabinet jobs usually go wrong
- Paint, limewash or mineral paint: choosing a finish for a brick house Brick breathes, and the finish you put on it has to respect that. Here is how acrylic paint, mineral paint and limewash compare, and how to choose for your house. Which finish suits which houseFirst decide whether the brick should be coated at allWhy breathability decides most of thisStandard acrylic masonry paint
- How long interior painting takes, and what happens on each day of the job An interior repaint is short, but every day of it has a purpose. Here is what to expect from the estimate to the final walkthrough, and what can stretch the schedule. One to seven days for most homesWhat decides where your job lands in that rangeBefore anyone opens a canDay one: protection and preparation
- Heat, wind and winter: when to paint a house exterior in North Texas In North Texas you can paint an exterior most of the year, but not on every day. Here is how each season affects paint and how to schedule so the weather works for you. The short answer for North TexasWhat exterior paint needs while it curesSpring: ideal temperatures, unpredictable skiesSummer: painting around the heat
- Gray boards and water soaking in: how to tell your deck or fence needs stain Wood tells you when its finish is gone. A few simple checks show whether your deck or fence needs a fresh coat of stain, a repair first, or nothing yet. How to tell in five minutesWhat sun and rain do to unprotected woodFive checks you can do on a dry afternoonA worn finish or a structural problem?
- Before you hire a painter: the questions that separate real prep from promises Every painter says they do quality work. These questions make them show it, and the answers tell you more than the price does. What to ask, in one paragraphWhy the cheapest bid usually has a gap in itQuestions about preparationQuestions about products and coats
- After the painters leave: what a warranty covers and how to make paint last A warranty protects you from a bad application, not from everything that can happen to a wall. Here is what it covers, what it does not, and the care that makes paint last. What a painting warranty covers, brieflyOur warranty, term by termWhat falls outside a warranty, and whyHow to make a claim that gets handled quickly
- Peeling, chalking exterior paint: when it is cosmetic and when the house is at risk Paint fails in patterns, and each pattern says something about the surface underneath. Here is how to read your own siding and trim, and what a repaint that lasts actually requires. The house looked fine last springWhat the pattern of failure is telling youA walk around the house you can do in twenty minutesCan it wait a season?