Exterior Painting in Kensington, MD

What an exterior painting project in Kensington actually involves

The town core is Victorian-era frame houses with deep wraparound porches, turned posts and steep roofs, ringed by 1940s and 1950s capes and colonials in Rock Creek Hills and Parkwood.

• Full inspection before a brush comes out. Every elevation walked for rot at trim, sills, fascia and corner boards, failed sealant at penetrations, siding condition, and where water is actually running. Paint applied over a wet or rotting substrate fails no matter what it costs.
• Lead-safe practices on pre-1978 homes. Where the home predates 1978 and the work will disturb painted surfaces, the EPA Renovation, Repair and Painting rule requires a certified firm, contained work practices, ground containment and specific cleanup. On exterior work the threshold is a small area, so it applies to most real exterior jobs on older homes.
• Caulking and sealing the right joints. Sealing where movement and water demand it and deliberately not sealing where an assembly is designed to drain. Caulking a drainage gap shut traps water in the wall.
• Application and warranty. Correct product for the substrate, applied at the specified spread rate in appropriate weather, with a written scope stating what got primed, what got two coats, and what carpentry was replaced.

What we typically find on a Kensington house of this era (1890 to 1955). In Kensington the porches are the tell. Column bases, deck framing and skirting rot from the ground up while the paint still looks fine, and by the time it is visible the structure underneath usually needs work. Inside, expect several generations of wiring sharing one cavity.

Lead paint: the rule that applies to most of Kensington

If the house went up before 1978, the EPA's Renovation, Repair and Painting rule applies to any work that disturbs painted surfaces: the firm doing it has to be certified, the work area has to be contained, and the cleanup has to be verified. Most of Kensington's housing stock predates 1978, so assume this applies to your house unless someone has established otherwise. We are certified for this work and it is built into how we set up, not bolted on. Worth asking every other contractor bidding your job whether they are, and asking to see it.

What drives the cost on a Kensington exterior painting project

We will not put a price range on a web page, because a number quoted without seeing your house is either a guess or bait. What we can do is tell you honestly which variables move the number, so you can read the bids you get from anyone.

• How much carpentry repair the surfaces need. This is the variable that separates honest estimates from the ones that come with a change order later.
• How much preparation the existing finish needs — a sound, uniformly adhered surface versus one that is peeling in sheets are completely different labor numbers.
• Color change severity and whether the new color requires additional coats for coverage.
• Deep, narrow town lots with the houses set close to the street and most of the usable yard behind. That is a Kensington-specific factor and it belongs in the conversation early.

The mistakes we get called in to fix

• Pressure washing hard enough to drive water into the wall, then painting before it dries. The paint fails from behind and nobody understands why.
• Painting over rot. It looks finished for one season and then the trim fails anyway, with a fresh coat of paint on it.
• Skipping bonding primer on chalky or previously glossy surfaces.

One licensed team, one contract, one point of contact

Exterior paint fails for one of three reasons: the surface was not prepared, the substrate was wet, or the wrong product went on the wrong material. Almost never because the paint was cheap. Preparation is the job; application is the easy part.

The transparency test for any contractor is short: license number, certificate of insurance from the carrier, and a straight answer about subcontractors. Ours are MHIC #111971, general liability and workers' compensation with certificates available before signing, and yes, the specialty trades on your job are licensed subcontractors carrying their own coverage and pulling their own trade permits. One contract with us, one point of contact, and one company that owns the outcome regardless of which trade caused it.

Where we work in Kensington

• 20895
• Old Town Kensington
• Rock Creek Hills
• Ken-Gar
• Kensington View
• Parkwood
• Chevy Chase View

How a Kensington project runs

1. A free visit that produces a document, not a pitch. No presentation, no same-day discount, no financing conversation before anyone has looked at the house. We measure, we photograph, we ask what is not working, and we leave you with something written you can compare against every other bid.
2. Feasibility against Kensington rules, before design. We establish what the Montgomery County Department of Permitting Services, with town review will require for exterior painting project at your address, and what your lot, your zoning and your existing house will allow. Where historic review applies, that submission is prepared and filed first, because the building permit is not useful until it clears.
3. Everything priced and agreed before a permit is filed. You see the scope broken into line items, the allowances stated as real numbers rather than vague placeholders, and the process for handling anything discovered mid-project. Only then does the permit package get assembled and submitted, with us answering the reviewer rather than forwarding comments to you.
4. One crew, one schedule, one closeout. MHIC #111971, Our own supervision on site, inspections met by us, and a documented punch walk with the permits closed out at the end.

Exterior Painting across Kensington and Montgomery County

Old Town Kensington, Rock Creek Hills, Ken-Gar, Kensington View, Parkwood and Chevy Chase View are all inside our regular working area, along with 20895.

Homeowners here usually reach us for more than one thing at a time. Related work in Kensington: interior painting in Kensington, window replacement in Kensington, deck building in Kensington, whole-home renovation in Kensington.

There is a specific failure mode we exist to prevent: the interior contractor who opens a wall, finds water damage, and hands you a roofer's phone number. Because roofing, siding, aluminum siding, windows and gutters, soffit and fascia are trades we perform ourselves, the envelope is inside your contract rather than outside it, and there is no second company to schedule, vet and argue with.

Kensington exterior painting questions