Heavy attention to proper preparation and removal and feathering of failing paint on this job. Especially the wood siding exposed to the elements on the west side facing the ocean. It didn't take long to make a sound surface out of this aged wood with our skilled team. Exterior painting on the coast of San Francisco can be tricky, especially in February. A quick face lift to this 70 year old building is just what it needed, before putting it on the market.

Heavy attention to proper preparation is the key to all paint jobs. Especially those that have been exposed to the elements. It didn't take long to make a sound surface out of this aged stucco with a wire wheel.  

On this job the new homeowner wanted the back trellis painted at first.

  During the preparation stage, upon execution of pressure washing it was determined that the structure was very poorly built and a danger to his family and children. This must have been an unpermitted addition from a previous owner. The tops of the beams and lattice had a severe case of dry-rot and the support beams where only in the ground about 4 feet. A strong wind could have easily blown it over. We are typically known as Castro Valley Painting Company but we also do several handyman services. The customer was very pleased that we could remove this accident waiting to happen, cut into manageable pieces. We also came over after the homeowner scheduled a garbage pic up and carried all the debris out to the side walk the day before. The previous also tried to repaint this house himself at one time but never addressed the upper portions of the side that where 2 story and very hard to get to. The eaves and fascia's needed a lot of preparation, priming and paint to protect them from time and the elements.

Matching previously applied wall and ceiling textures can be a challenge and somewhat of an art. In some cases you will have to smooth and retexture a complete surface (wall or ceiling) to replace  it with something more consistent that somewhat matches it surroundings. That is mostly common in acoustic ceiling or (popcorn) ceiling removal.

 There are a few ways that interior textures can be applied and often times you will have to experiment with material mixture and technique to match previous

textures after drywall repairs.

  Hand drywall matching to a previous tradesman's technique  will usually start out with a little bit of trial and error testing. Sometimes it's good to have a small piece of drywall to practice on. Some textures are applied with a pan and knife or a hawk and trowel. Some drywall textures make use of special brushes or swirl patterns in the mud. Some texture's are rolled on which is called stipple texture.

Here are a few of the more popular hand applied textures that I have had to match

Here are some of the more common spray applied textures.

I have attached some recent before and after pictures addressing this topic... smooth wall being the most time consuming

An affordable and effective way to update and improve the appearance of the interior of your home is to paint over your previously stained doors and cabinets. California has made it hard for residential painting contractors to do a good job while applying fine finishes to doors and cabinets  on account of all the restrictions and conversion to environmentally safe products. For a couple years I could not find a good primer that would adhere good to oil base finishes, that was sand able, and would block stains and yellowing.  Applying latex paint over an oil-based stain was once impossible. However, modern technology has allowed paint manufacturers to develop acrylic latex that adheres to virtually any surface, including plastic and oil-based finishes.

 On these doors and cabinets I used 2 different primers. The 1st one being Zinsser Cover stain classic oil base which preformed well when completely dry. It is now formulated to be  compliant with California restrictions I guess. I could go over all the surfaces with 220 sandpaper , no problem. it says it is low VOC content  but I still definitely had to where a respirator blow out the pilot light to the heater and keep the room well ventilated. I did have to strain it with a pair of my  girlfriends panty hose because they don't sale fine strainers at paint or hardware stores here any more, since everything went latex.

The second coat I used Dunne Edwards ULTRA-GRIP Premium 

These where the selling points.

The finish was 2 coats of Kelly Moore's Dura Poxy. which dries very hard and is very durable.

In trying to find the right combination of products  I think we did pretty well, and the customers where very pleased

 

 

 

 

This project started at the beginning of the summer with a quote  for the painting of the exterior of a large 2 story residential home in the south east area of Hayward. I heard approximately 3 week later that the home owners wanted to go with my company after comparing estimates from other contractors and seeing our reviews on Yelp. The customers concerns where that they wanted to go with a much darker color then most houses in the neighborhood and was worried that that the HMO would not approve of it.
I informed the customers that color rendering was available to present to there home owners association. Color rendering is a computer program that shows how what your house would look like (through photo editing) with different color schemes without actually putting any paint on the house itself.. After a couple months  we came up with a color scheme that the home owners association approved of. The very nice couple invited me over for dinner so the could get to know who was going to be occupying there garage and the outside of there house for the next couple of weeks get the contracts signed and pick a start date. The job went very smoothly. Some dry rot and stucco repair issues came up during the beginning and where dealt with quickly and affordably. While I had my scaffold set up in the front the home owner thought it would be a good idea for me to hang there Christmas tree lights which really gave the house the holiday season look. This is the e-mail I received after the completion of the job.

 

Hi Gary,
I just wanted to say I love the work you have done on the house!  The paint looks great, and I appreciate the time you took to work through all of our extra requests!

More importantly, you and your team have just as much great work ethics as you do courtesy.

On a more personal note, we enjoyed having you over for dinner, and respect your openness and honesty during our conversation.

 

We would love to get together again with you again soon -- maybe when the rain starts coming down?  Let us know.

 

 

 

Thanks again,

 

Erika & Vermont

 

This is what the house looks like a night time.

 

Here are some before and after pictures of a job I took over because the other self proclaimed painters got in over there head. They were getting over spray over everything, bypassing most all of the preparation stages such as thorough masking, caulking and patching the many nail holes in the siding that were left behind on the original paint job. The home owner was not even happy with the color. The previous painters had an un approved color on there house, there roof, there back patio, plants and windows by the time they had got home from work at the end of the day.

 

This was the customer’s comments on Yelp when we were finished (Which

                 somehow got filtered)

I don't know why Yelp has filtered 3 of my reviews but the are all valid satisfied customers

We used Advanced Painting Systems for external painting of our primary home in Union City, CA. We had other painters who messed up our house with drips of paints everywhere in our house. When Gary of Advanced Painting Systems came to inspect and give us estimate, the house was partially painted with tapes and plastics everywhere. Gary gave us a very reasonable estimate and scheduled to start work in a couple of days. From day one, we could see how serious a professional he was. He was very meticulous in his work and started doing more things than we expected. (Yes, we have had one bad luck after another with service providers. It was delight to see this for a change.)

But what impressed us most was how easy Gary was to talk to. He was patient in answering our questions, leading us through paint selection, and even touring other homes in the area to see colors that appeal to us.

We are very impressed and pleased with Gary. It is very rare to find a great professional with this degree of understanding and customer orientation and reasonable price. I didn't have an account on this site. I just created it now for writing this review. This shows how compelling and great his services was for us. Go with Gary and you will find one of the best professionals you ever had.