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Paint Integrity, Analysis & Testing

Houses that were improperly painted, or have faulty paint coatings hiding underneath the topcoat can lead to years of trouble, water intrusions and high maintenance costs.

Whether the exterior paint coating on your home is a paint, a stain or some type of sealant, it’s the first and most important line of defense protecting your siding and home from water damage and the elements.

A proper paint system keeps water out, protects against harmful UV rays, allows for proper ventilation, and can even help make your home HVAC systems more efficient reducing energy costs.

We thoroughly examine and test all painted areas on a home to identify any potential issues.

Key paint analysis areas
– Existing paint system and substrate identification
– Existing paint system thickness analysis
– Multi-point paint adhesion testing
– Multi-point moisture testing

Joint Inspection

Joint failure is quite possibly the largest enemy of a home. Even the smallest separation in a joint between building materials anywhere on a home can lead to water penetration.  If these intrusions go unnoticed over time they can and will cause extensive damage

No matter how well a home is constructed, no home is “bulletproof.”  Your home is constantly expanding and contracting, and while building materials are always improving, there are no permanent or maintenance free sealants. 

Many newer homes today use far more types of building materials than older homes.  Not too long ago most home exteriors had siding and trim that were mostly comprised of all wood material.  Now siding now can be made of anything from engineered pre-finished products to cement fiber boards.  Trim boards can be now be made from the PVC material found in shower curtains to fly-ash, which is an ash byproduct from the combustion of coal. 

All of these different types of building materials face a great challenge when they are fastened together.  A PVC trim board expands significantly more than a traditional wood trim board.  A cement-based siding board expands and contracts at a much different rate than the traditional wood structure it’s attached too. 

Once upon a time, keeping joints sealed between wooden trim and wooden siding was easy, given that everything expanded and contracted in a relatively similar fashion, now it’s become quite the challenge as many of these newer building materials tend to move quite differently from each other.

Whether a house is old or new, all of these different elements constantly expanding and contracting lead to one thing, joint failure.

We thoroughly inspect all joints on the exterior of a home to identify any potential issues.

Windows & Door Inspection

If you’ve ever had a window or door that needed to be replaced you are painfully familiar with the costs involved.  The cost to replace multiple failing windows and doors in the home can escalate rapidly.

And if you’ve ever had a water leak in your home, you know from experience, most water comes in around windows and doors and shows up on walls and ceilings as orange and brown water stains.

Properly maintained windows and doors add to a home’s aesthetic appeal, keeps moisture out, allow for proper water and moisture drainage, and can greatly reduce energy costs. 

Because windows and doors are comprised of different materials, they can fail for a variety of reasons.  Everything from seal failure, UV damage or trim failure, can lead to water intrusions, cause additional damage inside the home and even require total replacement.  A periodic inspection of windows and doors are a must to ensure these areas are trouble free.

We thoroughly inspect all windows and doors on the exterior of a home to identify any potential issues.

Flashing Inspection

Flashing issues leads to water penetration.  Flashing issues can lead to extensive damage inside walls, roofs and cause damage to the items the flashing was installed to protect.  We’ve seen framing rotting around chimneys, massive roof leaks around skylights and both windows and doors that had to be replaced all due to flashing issues.

Flashing is generally a thin sheet of galvanized steel, aluminum or copper.  Flashing is installed anytime there’s an intersection between a home’s horizontal and vertical surface, wherever water has a chance to penetrate.  Flashing can be found in a variety of areas on a home. Flashing can be found around the tops of all windows and doors, around chimneys and foundations.

Flashing, whether on a roof, on siding, or around windows and doors, is installed to keep moisture out.  Improperly maintained flashing can actually divert water into your house or keep it from draining out as intended. 

A common problem we often see is flashing that has been sealed shut with either caulking or paint, blocking the path for moisture to drain and resulting in the entire area rotting and rotting the item the flashing was installed to protect.

We thoroughly inspect all flashing on the exterior of a home to identify any potential issues.

Gutter & Downspout Inspection

If you’ve ever had an ice dam form and dump water throughout the walls and ceilings of your home, you are well aware of the extensive cost that comes with an event like this.

Ice dams, basement flooding, water stains on ceilings and walls can all be immediate results of having improperly functioning or backed up downspouts and gutters.  Exterior siding damage, interior wall mold, rotting windows and doors can also result from gutter and downspout issues that go unnoticed over time.

Gutters and downspouts can add to the aesthetics of a home and are manufactured from a variety of different materials such as PVC, aluminum or copper.   But beyond enhancing a home’s curb appeal, having them function properly is quite possibly one of the most critical tasks your home’s exterior performs.

Gutters and downspouts are designed to divert an immense amount of rainfall from your home’s roof-line, away from the siding and away from the foundation, all without fail, year after year.

Gutter inspections and scheduled cleanings are one of the most important home maintenance tasks that must be performed routinely in order to ensure that everything is properly functioning and trouble free.

We thoroughly inspect all gutters and downspouts on the exterior of a home to identify any potential issues.

Fascia & Soffit Inspection

Water intrusions at the roof-line of a home always have costly consequences.  Much like the gutters and downspouts on your home’s exterior, fascia and soffit boards that have issues can also lead to ice dams, rotting framing, and water destroying interior ceilings and walls. Exterior siding damage, interior wall mold, rotting windows and doors can also result from fascia board and soffit issues that go unnoticed over time.

Fascia boards take a beating and are often times one of the most neglected areas we find on a home.  Because most fascia boards that have gutters mounted to them are not fully visible from the ground, they are often times missed during routine house painting, leaving them exposed to constant rain runoff from the roof into the gutters which quickly leads to mold, rot and eventual failure.

Over the years we’ve torn out and replaced many rotting fascia and soffit boards and have had to install new gutters, all because they weren’t inspected routinely.

Fascia and soffit areas are a critical area that require frequent inspections to ensure they’re trouble free.  We thoroughly inspect all fascia and soffit boards on the exterior of a home to identify any potential issues.

Ventilation Inspection

Sometimes, we see entire paint coats on the side of a home peel off and fail.  Usually the last painting company get’s blamed for a poor-quality paint job when in reality, the failure is caused moisture buildup in walls that have airflow issues.

Because all homes are completely different, there’s a wide variety of reasons that can cause a house to have airflow and ventilation issues.  Lack of soffit vents, poor design, over design, vents that have been painted shut, too many coats of paint on a house, older houses that have sub-par building materials under the siding, are all reasons that can contribute moisture issues.

Proper wall and siding systems allow a house to either “breathe” if you have an older home or keep it air tight if your home is newer.  Either way, when there is moisture in the air, it must escape naturally or be removed by the HVAC system, rather than build up inside the walls of a home.

Periodic inspections will ensure your house is trouble free.

We thoroughly inspect all vents and siding on the exterior of a home to identify any potential issues.

Moisture Content

Along with checking for proper ventilation, we also take a reading of the current moisture content inside your walls. While you may not have entire sides of paint peeling off your home, by taking moisture content readings, we can gauge the health of the overall wall system and identify any potential problems early.

Porches & Decks

Constantly paying to replace balusters and railings or having to refinish the deck every few years will make you want to not have a deck or porch at all.

Exposed surfaces such as decks, railings, balusters and porches always take a beating from the elements. Damaging UV rays from sun, standing water from rain, snow that piles up over the winter all along with normal traffic use, can wear down even the best coatings.

Annual inspections and a proper re-coating schedule for these items are a must.  The cost of maintenance for these surfaces is far less than to replace rot or have to refinish them.

Annual inspections and re-coats will ensure these areas look their best and last.  We thoroughly inspect all porches and decks to identify any potential issues.

2′ & Under Inspection

Parts of a home that are close to the ground tend to rot out the fastest and can cost a small fortune over time.  Column bases, water table boards, or entire sections of siding hidden behind landscaping, are all areas that we are constantly replacing. 

These areas take an extra beating and are constantly under attack.  Sprinkler systems, landscaping, snow piling up against the foundation, hard rains that splash water, dirt and mulch, all contribute to massive amounts moisture.

Because these areas are so close to the ground, they often never fully dry out which leads to paint failure, mold, moisture penetration and eventual rot.

Often times these areas are hidden behind landscaping and they either get neglected by mistake or just go unnoticed.  Because these areas are so prone to failure, they require frequent inspections and maintenance.

Along with an entire paint inspection of your home’s exterior, we pay extra attention to everything 2 feet from the ground and under around the entire perimeter of your home to identify any potential issues.