Our 12-Step Exterior Prep Process

Eaves, siding, trim, and soffits get washed down to remove dirt, cobwebs, and chalk. Chalk is the powdery residue an aging coating leaves behind, and paint applied over it bonds to loose powder instead of your house. It is the most common reason a repaint fails early. Mildew gets treated and washed off at the same time, since most Bay Area homes have some on the north side and under the eaves.

Cars, grills, patio furniture, potted plants, and hoses get moved or covered. Where bushes block the wall we trim back enough to work properly, though you are welcome to handle that yourself first since you know how you want your yard to look. We also confirm your final colors, products, and sheens here, while there is still time to change your mind for free.

Loose and peeling paint comes off, bare metal gets a primer made for metal, and the gutters get sanded front and back, even the ones that look fine. Old gutter paint is slick, and slick surfaces do not hold new paint. Sanding gives it something to grip.

Leftover holiday-light hooks, old nails in the fascia and siding, hardware nobody has used in years. We remove them at your request and fill what is behind them. Roofing nails stay, since those are doing a job.

Fascia takes the worst of the sun and is usually the first thing to fail on a San Jose house. We scrape every loose and flaking spot, then sand the whole board rather than just the bad parts, so there is no visible ridge where old paint meets new. Bare wood gets primed.

Same principle across the whole envelope: sand where it is needed, clean it down, and prime every bare spot before any finish coat goes near it.

Your front door is the most looked-at surface on the house and gets touched every day. Garage doors are usually the largest surface on the front and take direct afternoon sun. Both get sanded completely, holes filled, and bare wood primed.

Where stucco or foundation runs below grade, we trench the soil back several inches and wire-brush off what is left so we can paint below the dirt line. This matters enormously on a color change, since otherwise the old color shows in a stripe the first time your landscaping settles.

Hairline cracking is normal in stucco and gets bridged by the coating. Anything wider gets an elastomeric patch that can still move with the wall. If we find diagonal cracking running off window and door corners we stop and tell you, since that pattern can mean structural movement and paint will not hold across a crack that is still opening.

Railings, vents, light boxes, and exposed fasteners get checked for rust, prepped, and spot-primed. We look for soft wood and evidence of leaks, and seal any staining so it does not bleed through your finish months later. If we find active water intrusion you will hear about it, since that is a roofing or plumbing problem and painting over it only hides it until it is expensive.

This is the step that decides how your house handles winter. Every seam where trim meets siding, every window and door casing, and every joint that opened up over a hot summer gets sealed so water has nowhere to get in.

Light fixtures, house numbers, and mailboxes get masked rather than pulled off the wall, since removing exterior electrical means putting your wiring back together. Window and door openings, walkways, driveways, and patios get covered. Plants and shrubs get cloth drop sheets, never plastic, because plastic cooks whatever is under it on a hot San Jose afternoon.