Painting

The paint on your siding and trim is your property’s first line of defense against the elements.

• When paint fails, exposed wood is easily degraded by water damage and ultraviolet rays.
• The interval between painting cycles is greatly affected by weather. For a well-built wooden property in New England — where external paint takes a real beating from ultraviolet rays, freezing and thawing cycles and moisture — that interval is typically between six and eight years.
• A number of factors reduce paint longevity. Paint applied to low-quality shingles or clapboards will not last as long as paint applied to high-quality wooden siding. And paint on improperly installed and flashed siding and trim has been known to fail within just two or three years.
• Signs you may be wasting money on ineffective maintenance painting:
  • New coats of paint start to peel within five years.
  • The interval between painting cycles keeps getting shorter
  • You are replacing more failed siding and trim before every paint job