The following story is true.
I'm Greg Lewis. I'm a painter. And this is one painter's story.
I felt bad for our customers at an HOA in Woodland Hills. They have a beautiful complex in a park-like setting. Much of the complex is shaded by eucalyptus and redwood trees, the local landscaper's favorites. But much of it is beaten upon by our Southern California sun.
Both environments have their own challenge for painters. Shady areas need good paint, otherwise moisture enters and dry rot follows. Sunny aread breakdown the paint, eventually causing cracking. Then the rain comes and the wood underneath the paint gets wet and swells. When it dries, it cracks. This continues each time it rains until we first have driftwood, then dry rot, then dirt.
Wood is a naturally strong, long-lasting and beautiful building materia, when it's protected.
I'm in the wood protecting business. Wood protection lasts about 5 or 6 years on the south and west sides, 6 to 8 on the east sides and 10 to 15 years on the north side. We generally use paint to protect wood. This is where I come in. If you wait too long after the last time your wood was painted, it begins to enter into that downward spiral that ends with dirt. Long before that, your wood looks like it needs paint. Here's a secret that only painter know: If wood looks like needs painting--cracked, peeling paint and/or wood--it has entered the dirt spiral. It's safer to paint by the book (every 5 or 6 years) than it is to take that risk.
The Woodland Hills HOA called us before the dirt stage. Which is good, because we can do nothing with dirt. But they were well within the spiral. $30,000.00 worth of carpentry repairs into it. Which is sad, because, though they might have thought they were saving money by waiting to paint, I think we can all agree that no money was saved. In fact, they didn't even save money on the wood that they replaced. Because it still needed to be painted after it was installed!
My old mentor used to say, "Pay me now or pay me later--but if you pay me later, plan on paying the carpenter too." So if it's been 5 years since you painted your wood, call me. Or if the paint is peeling and the wood is cracked, call me.
Don't let it slide down the dirt spiral!
I'm Greg Lewis, President of Ferris Painting. If you need a paint job, click here.