Diamond Certified Resource Painting, Coating & Exteriors Guide

The Homeowner's Guide to Painting, Coating & Exteriors

Looking to revitalize your living space? Our comprehensive painting guide has all the practical advice you need for selecting the right paint colors, preparing surfaces, ensuring a smooth and lasting finish, and more.
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The Diamond Certified Resource Painting, Coating & Exteriors Blog

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Diamond Certified Expert Contributors Painting, Coating & Exteriors

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Soumil Amin

Owner
CertaPro Painters of Berkeley

Soumil Amin: In Living Color

OAKLAND — When planning for a house painting project, a crucial concern to keep in mind is lead safety. Any house built prior to 1978 has the potential to contain lead-based paint; even if more recent layers of paint don’t contain lead, the lower layers likely do. So, when painting any pre-1978 home, it’s best to assume lead is present and take proper precautions. While this entails a bit of extra work, it’s worthwhile to keep yourself and your family safe from lead exposure. Follow these lead-safe painting guidelines: Employ wet-sanding techniques. Use a mister to wet painted areas prior to sanding or scraping. Whereas dry sanding allows particles to enter the atmosphere, Read more

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Lee Dido

Owner
Wine Country Painters, Inc.

Lee Dido: Painting the Wine Country

FORESTVILLE — When painting your home’s interior, knowing the right techniques can go a long way toward achieving a beautiful result. One such technique is using caulking to get clean lines when painting with different colors on adjacent walls and ceilings. Applying a bead of caulking to the seam where two sections meet (for example, where the ceiling meets the wall) will provide a smooth surface for cutting in with your paint, resulting in a nice, straight line. Here are a few tips for caulking application: Always wipe the tip of your caulking gun prior to use. As you apply caulking, press the gun’s tip against the seam and apply consistent pressure to the trigger. Read more

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Nick Capurro

Owner
Majestic Painters

Nick Capurro: Majestic Aspirations

LIVERMORE — When it comes to doing home maintenance, many homeowners mistakenly think all caulking is basically the same. In reality, there are two types of caulking, each of which has very different properties and applications. Interior caulking (typically an acrylic latex product) is used for sealing things like sinks, cabinets and flooring, while exterior caulking (typically a silicone product) is used for sealing things like exterior windows, siding, masonry and wood features. Due to the specific properties of each type of caulking, it’s important to use the right product for the application you’re undertaking. For example, exterior caulking contains elements that make it better suited to withstand the elements, like UV inhibitors that reinforce it against sun damage. Read more

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Jared Cuevas

President
Bay-Valley Painting

Jared Cuevas: Uncommon Expertise

ANTIOCH — When having your house painted, don’t overlook the importance of proper preparation. That fact is, there are some things a new coat of paint can’t hide. Worse still, there are things that, even if they can be hidden by paint, will only get progressively worse beneath the surface. By taking the time to perform thorough preparation, your painter can eliminate such problems before they intensify. At the same time, proper preparation will also maximize the lifespan of your new paint job. While preparation is important when painting any surface, it’s especially critical for the home exterior, due to the effects of weather. Prior to applying any paint or primer, your painter should inspect the entire exterior, Read more

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Ilan Sigura

CEO
Sigura Construction, Inc.

Ilan Sigura: An Integral Career

SANTA CLARA — Dry rot can result from a variety of factors, but the most common is neglected maintenance. Many homeowners fail to maintain the paint and coatings on exterior wood components like siding, trim, and decks. When these components aren’t properly sealed, it leaves them exposed to moisture, which, if able to penetrate the wood, will often develop into dry rot. If allowed to develop unchecked over a long period of time, dry rot can cause substantial damage that requires repair and/or replacement of the affected wood components. The best way to prevent this is to be diligent about maintenance like touching up paint and recoating. Paint should be touched up every five years, Read more

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Diamond Certified Expert Contributors

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Soumil Amin
Owner
CertaPro Painters of Berkeley
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Lee Dido
Owner
Wine Country Painters, Inc.
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Nick Capurro
Owner
Majestic Painters
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Jared Cuevas
President
Bay-Valley Painting

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