FAQ CATEGORIES
General Operations
– How do I schedule an estimate?
– Are you licensed and insured?
– Do you guarantee your work?
– Can you provide references?
– Are you EPA certified to work with lead paint?
– How soon can I get the work done?
– Do you crews speak English?
– Do I need to be home during the project?
– Can the crew help me move furniture?
– What time do the painters show up?
Painting
– What do I need to do to prepare for an interior job?
– What do I need to do to get ready for an exterior paint job?
– What is a good paint to use?
– Can I supply my own paint and/or materials?
– How long does it take to paint a house?
– How long does it take paint to dry?
– Can you paint in the winter?
– How do I pick a good color?
– Why not paint the house myself?
– Do you offer color consultation?
– Can you paint a sample area so that I can see if I like the color?
– What do you do to protect my property during painting?
– How many coats of paint will I need?
– What is the difference between interior and exterior paint?
– How long does a new paint job last?
– Does your paint have VOCs?
– Do you offer touch-ups?
– Do you use latex or oil paints?
– Can you paint over wallpaper?
– Will painting extend the life of my building?
Staining
– Do I need to stain my deck?
– Does the type of wood affect the stain?
– How long do I need to wait after installation before I stain and seal my deck?
– What is required to keep wood protected?
– Can I keep my wood looking natural?
– Do you offer interior staining?
Wallpaper
– Can you cover old wallpaper with new wallpaper?
– Does wallpaper have to be in a pattern?
– How long does wallpaper last?
– Can wallpaper be cleaned?
Other Services
– Does Blue Door Painters offer other remodeling services?
– Can you do framing?
– Can you drywall a whole room?
– What can you offer for water-damaged areas?
– Can you test for mold?
– Can you test for lead?
– Can you remove mold hazards?
– Can you remove lead hazards?
– Can you protect against mold returning?
– Do you caulk?
– Do you do small projects?
How do I schedule an estimate?
Schedule an estimate online!
It only takes a second. Online estimates can be scheduled any time night or day, and a Blue Door Painters estimator will call you back promptly on the next business day to discuss the details. Or, if you would prefer, you can call or email our office using the information below.
TOLL – FREE: 1-888-448-4422
LOCAL: 703-504-2000
FAX: 703-550-3755
EMAIL: contact@bluedoorpainters.com
Yes, Blue Door Painters is licensed in Virginia, Maryland, and Washington, DC. (DPOR, DLLR, and DCRA, respectively).
Do you guarantee your work?
We offer a two-year warranty on our work.
Can you provide references?
Yes, Blue Door Painters has a wide collection of former customers in Washington, DC, Northern Virginia, and Montgomery County, Maryland, who are available to discuss the quality of our work and the experience of working with us.
Are you EPA certified to work with lead paint?
Yes, Blue Door Painters is an EPA-certified lead safe painting company. All of our workers are knowledgeable about lead paint risks and are prepared to educate customers about lead risks, as well as execute remodeling projects using lead safety procedures which contain contaminated dust and minimize all associated health risks.
How soon can I get the work done?
How soon do you need it done? In scheduling our projects, Blue Door Painters takes our customers’ schedules into account, and if your project is urgent, we will do everything in our power to get it done to meet your deadline. Other factors that play into when we schedule our projects are the weather (for exterior projects), the availability of the necessary supplies (this is usually not a huge issue), and the existing workload of our crews. When you are contacted by a Blue Door Painters estimator and project manager, you can discuss the scheduling of your job in detail, and we will ensure that we meet your needs.
Do your crews speak English?
Yes. Blue Door Painters has an English-speaking foreman on every job site.
Do I need to be home during the project?
You don’t need to be home all day when the work is underway, provided the workers are left with access to the areas they need to do work on. You only need to be home at certain touchpoints during the project. You need to be home for the initial estimate, where you walk through with the estimator and describe the project. If you want to take advantage of our free color consultation, you need to be home for that procedure. Finally, you need to be home when the work is finished and the project manager walks through it, so that you can point out any touch-ups or improvements that might need to be done on the spot.
Can the crew help me move furniture?
Yes, the crew can help you arrange your furniture in preparation for a painting project. You should take care of the small stuff and clutter before they arrive, however, to make that process go more smoothly.
What time do the painters show up?
You can work out when the crews should arrive with your project manager and foreman, if there are scheduling concerns that you need to have accommodated. Generally speaking, the painters will arrive first thing in the morning, or they will arrive right after they have picked up the necessary supplies for the project.
What do I need to do to get ready for an interior paint job?
You need to have the interior space ready for the work to be done. That means that all of your personal belongings need to be either removed from the room, or put away into the drawers of larger furniture items. You also need to have a route cleared from your door to the workspace so that the crew can bring in supplies. Blue Door Painters will supply the drop cloths and equipment, so the only prep work you need to focus on is the arrangement of your personal belongings while the work is underway.
NOTE: If your house was built before 1978, you are at risk for lead exposure, and as a responsible contractor Blue Door Painters will follow the EPA-mandated procedures for lead-safe renovation. These procedures involve setting up plastic around the entire interior work space in order to contain lead dust, so you may need to remove extra items from your room and walls in order to accommodate the extra protection. If we judge that your lead risk warrants these extra precautions, your estimator will let you know.
What do I need to do to get ready for an exterior paint job?
Before we start work on your exterior, you want to make sure that your landscaping and outdoor space is ready for the work to take place. Clear away all movable items (potted plants, deck furniture, grills, etc), and decide upon a designated place for materials to be stored while work is underway (they will be stored under a tarp). You will also need to be prepared to have that part of your home inaccessible while the work is underway (be prepared to use your side door, for example, if we are refinishing your front porch). We will take all the care we can to interrupt your daily routine as little as possible while we work, but a certain amount of accommodation cannot be avoided.
Sherwin-Williams/Duron (the two companies share ownership) is our top choice paint brand. They offer a wide range of paints suitable for any project, and their upper-mid-range paints offer the perfect balance of strong, dependable product and reasonable price. However, we are happy to use any brand of paint that you select, and we have experience working with all of the major brands. If you want to save on cost, you can use cheaper paint brands like Behr or Glidden, which will be sure to fit your budget. Alternatively, if you want to spend a little extra money and upgrade to the highest tier of paint quality, designer paint companies like Benjamin Moore and Farrow and Ball offer the finest paints on the market. The rule of thumb with paint is that you get what you pay for; the more expensive the paint, the more quality and duration you will receive. However, the difference between the best of the best and the good solid brands that we usually recommend is marginal; you can get paint that will perform to meet your needs without spending an arm and a leg.
Can I supply my own paint and/or materials?
Yes. Just let your estimator know, so that he can ensure you are buying the correct amount of each product, and so that he can remove the materials cost from your estimate.
How long does it take to paint a house?
The times vary from house to house and project to project. The fastest a paint job can be completed is a couple of hours, for a very simple project with only a small amount of set up and necessary prep time. On the other end of a spectrum, a complex project can take a couple weeks, especially if the work requires multiple coatings with long drying times, or if there is lead risk requiring lead-safe renovation precautions. With exterior projects, inappropriate weather can greatly extend the length of time the job takes to completion, because the temperature and humidity will affect the way the paint cures. It is Blue Door Painters policy to execute each project as quickly and efficiently as possible, and to keep a crew focused on one project until it is complete. Consult with your estimator and project manager to get a time estimate for your particular project.
How long does it take paint to dry?
That depends on the type of paint, as well as the environment. Latex paints usually ‘dry’ to the touch within an hour, but they are not yet cured; they need about six hours before another coat can be applied, and they need 30 days before they are fully cured and can hold up to scrubbing. Oil paints take longer, usually 12 – 24 hours before they are dry. Once dry, oil paints are ready for the next coat and to stand up to the elements. The environment (temperature, humidity, and ventilation) will also affect the drying time, as will the substrate and the particular brand of paint being used. Consult with your estimator for a prediction of the drying time for your project.
The weather does not affect interior projects (unless ventilation is an issue). Exterior projects, however, require certain environmental conditions in order to dry and cure properly. If it is too cold or moist, both latex and oil paints will not form proper films, and the entire coating can fail. The cutoff temperature is around 35 degrees. For this reason, Blue Door Painters avoids doing exterior projects in the winter, and carefully monitors the weather to avoid scheduling an exterior job for when it is cold or rainy during any season. The typical open season for exterior painting is roughly the second week in March through the first week in December.
Picking the right colors for your home or building is a challenging enough task that interior designers make it their life’s work. You can choose your colors simply, just by picking an easy universal neutral (like a cream or an off-white) and painting everything that one color – but you risk your decor looking monotonous. The other option is to create a color scheme. There are several techniques for using the color wheel to develop a solid scheme, and you can always use your own aesthetic intuition to guide your choice. If you feel stuck, Blue Door Painters offers a color consultation service, free with any contract, or $175 for an hour consultation in lieu of any contract work. Our experts can walk you through the color wheel, teach you the concepts of hue, value, and chroma/saturation, and help you develop the perfect vision for your space. It is also always worth taking the time to try out small amounts of the color you pick before committing to the full amount; buy a pint of the color you want and try it out on a patch of your wall or ceiling, checking out how it looks when applied to a wider surface.
Why not paint the house myself?
You will save in labor costs if you paint the house yourself, but the project will take up a lot more of your time and attention, and you won’t benefit from professional expertise in the project’s execution. Painting, staining, replacing or installing drywall, wallpapering – none of these are inherently complicated or difficult tasks, but they are all processes where the final results depend on the quality of the execution. Having a professional who can work efficiently and guarantee the quality of the work will give you the peace of mind of knowing that you are getting the absolute highest value out of the materials you purchased and the money that you invested.
Do you offer color consultation?
Yes, Blue Door Painters offers expert color consultation, free with any contract, or $175 for an hour consultation in lieu of any contract work.
Can you paint a sample area so that I can see if I like the color?
Painting a sample area is a step we highly recommend for any project where you aren’t sure about your colors. Many colors look different when applied to a large surface than they do when confined to a small color sample. However, generally speaking, it is not worth the money you would have to spend to hire our crew to do this small portion of the project, so we recommend that you purchase the small can of paint and paint the sample yourself. Since the sample will ultimately be painted over, the paint job doesn’t need to be perfect, just a random patch that will give you an indication of how the color looks in a large area and under the lighting conditions in your project area.
What do you do to protect my property during painting?
Blue Door Painters painting crews take every precaution to protect your property during painting. Your furniture – interior or exterior – will either be cleared aside or covered with a strong plastic drop cloth. The floor under the work area, be it carpet, wood, or an exterior surface like a deck, patio, or garden, will also be thoroughly covered with plastic drop cloth. All of our tools and supplies will be neatly confined to a particular area, and all trash removed at the end of each work day. Our crews will be dressed appropriately, and will have a route from the work area to the van that they can traverse without risking tracking anything into other areas of your space. All safety precautions will also be taken, including responsible placement and use of ladders and power tools, and extra care to confine remodeling dust in areas deemed to present a lead paint risk.
How many coats of paint will I need?
For almost any project, Blue Door Painters recommends two coats of paint. The first coat of paint, known as the “primer”, permeates and strongly adheres to the surface of the substrate, adding opacity to cover any underlying ‘ghost’ colors, and creating an even, ideal surface for the application of the next paint layer. The second coat of paint is called the “topcoat”, and it is the layer that gives the paint most of its final aesthetic and structural properties. There are different types of primer specifically designed for every substrate, but no matter what substrate you are working with, the integrity of your final paint job is greatly improved by the use of a primer. There are also many types of topcoat; the one you pick should be determined based on how you want the final result to look, and what environmental threats it may need to withstand. The combination of a well-thought-out primer and topcoat gives you the highest quality total paint job.
What is the difference between interior and exterior paint?
Interior and exterior paint have been engineered to have different functional and aesthetic properties, because they need to visually complement different spaces, and because they need to withstand different environmental threats. Interior paint is designed to look good when viewed in indoor lighting. Some interior paints are also designed to resist ambient moisture and dust, and to hold up under scrubbing. Exterior paints, on the other hand, are designed to look good in strong outdoor light, and to hold up under the barrage of environmental challenges faced on the exterior: rain, UV radiation, temperature changes, and organic threats like insects, fungus, and bacteria. The ingredients mixed into the paint are selected to achieve these goals; interior and exterior paints tend to have different binder, pigment, and additive ingredients.
How long does a new paint job last?
A properly executed interior paint job should be good for 10 years. An exterior paint job, on the other hand, can be expected to last about 5-6 years, because of the extra stress that the paint undergoes when exposed to the elements. The exact duration of the paint job’s lifespan will depend on the environmental conditions, however.
Blue Door Painters is willing to use any kind of paint that you prefer. VOCs (volatile organic compounds, or chemicals that are released from paint, stain, etc., as gasses) are a topic at the cutting edge of paint and coatings technology. Ever since the health and environmental risks of VOCs were identified, manufacturers have been working on perfecting paint technology that involves little to no VOC content. At first, the no-VOC or low-VOC paints were not nearly as effective as the paints that contained VOCs. However, the technology has been steadily improving. Blue Door Painters estimators are very knowledgeable about VOCs, the controversy surrounding them, and the VOC content of the various brands of paint on the market. When you are discussing your project, your estimator will happily help you come to a conclusion about what kind of paint would work best for your situation.
We offer touch-ups a week after the paint job is finished, when it has fully dried and any flaws are clearly visible.
Do you use latex or oil paints?
While Blue Door Painters crews are experienced with both latex and oil/alkyd paints, for most projects we highly recommend latex paints. As technology develops, latex paints are outperforming oil paints in most of the relevant areas, and tend to also be both cheaper and easier to clean up after. In certain very specific cases, we may recommend an oil-based or alkyd paints, but those cases are unusual. If you have any specific questions about what kind of paint to use, feel free to talk to your estimator.
Blue Door Painters does not recommend painting over wallpaper. Not only is it difficult to get adequate coverage, the wallpaper does not have the same degree of adhesion as a strong primer, so it makes a weaker substrate. Especially after several coats of paint are applied over wallpaper, the structural integrity of the paper can be compromised, causing the entire system to fail. Blue Door Painters is experienced at efficiently removing old wallpaper, cleaning the surface, and priming in preparation for a new paint job.
Will painting extend the life of my building?
Yes, painting offers a critical layer of protection against the elements that will extend the life of your building.
Do I need to stain my deck?
It depends on what kind of wood your deck is made of, and how long you want it to last. The lifespan of any deck is extended by the added protection of staining, but for certain species of wood it is more critical than others. Cedar and redwood have some innate protection from rotting, where pine and fir do not; cedar and redwood decks can therefore last longer without staining than pine and fir decks. However, pine and fir are often pressure-treated, which infuses the wood with chemicals that offer some protection against the elements. Pressure-treated wood can still benefit from staining, but you need to take care that the wood has fully dried (30-60 days for pressure-treated wood) before you stain it. A deck built of raw pine and not stained or sealed will probably fall apart in the course of a couple years.
Does the type of wood affect the stain?
YES! Not only the type of wood, but the individual tree that the wood came from, will affect both the visual impact of the stain, and the thoroughness with which the stain penetrates. Wood with higher levels of porosity will accept stain much more readily than smooth, nonporous wood. Softwoods, like pine and cedar, are much more porous than hardwoods like oak, and will accept stain more readily. The higher the grade of the wood, the more likely it is to be dense and pose challenges for staining. Finally, the grain and rings of density will play a role in how the wood accepts the stain. Some strains of pine have distinct rings of varying density which necessitate the use of a ‘wood conditioner’ in order to even them out for staining, and if the wood is sawn perpendicular to the grain it will be far more porous than if it sawn perpendicular to the grain. So it is always a good idea to buy a small amount of stain and try it out on an out-of-the-way area of your deck or fence before committing to the whole project, so that you can get a better sense of how the stain will actually turn out. The stain samples in the store may actually look quite different from the way the stain turns out on your deck or fence.
How long do I need to wait after installation before I stain and seal my deck?
You can stain and seal your deck as soon as it is dry. For pressure-treated wood (which is a common decking material), since the treatment process forces water deep into your deck, it is important to leave 30-60 days before you stain and seal. If you stain and seal wood that has not yet fully dried, the escaping moisture will produce bubbles in the stain, and could also start causing interior rot in pockets deep within the wood. Other forms of wood that are not treated with any sort of aqueous solution can be stained as soon as they are fully cleaned from installation.
What is required to keep wood protected?
Some – but not all – wood has natural, innate protection against physical and organic decay. But none of these protections are 100% effective. To ensure the utmost protection for an exterior wooden structure like a deck, a fence, or house with exterior wooden siding, you need to either paint it, stain it, or seal it (or some combination of those three procedures). Each time it is coated, it needs to be adequately cleaned and prepared. Depending on the environmental conditions your structure is exposed to, it will need to be recoated every six months to five years (the average is 1-2 years).
Can I keep my wood looking natural?
Yes, you can achieve a natural look by using a colorless sealant, which will not alter the look of the lumber, but will afford it some protection against the elements.
Do you offer interior staining?
Yes, we are equipped and trained to do interior staining projects.
Can you cover old wallpaper with new wallpaper?
Blue Door Painters does not recommend adding a new coating on top of old wallpaper, regardless of whether that coating is paint or another layer of wallpaper. The added weight in the coating system becomes too much for the old wallpaper at some point, and the wallpaper’s adhesion fails, pulling the whole system off the wall. Blue Door Painters offers a full service wallpaper removal procedure to go along with any new coating you may want to put in its place.
Does wallpaper have to be in a pattern?
No. Wallpaper comes in patterns, murals, and solid colors. Wallpaper has become associated with patterns mostly because if a pattern is what you want, wallpaper is one of the most effective ways to achieve it; it is difficult and time-consuming to create a pattern with paint. Solid colors, on the other hand, are usually more effectively painted. But some wallpaper comes in interesting textures or sheens (like metallic foil or rush), which work in solid colors as well. And there are also wallpaper murals, which are large scenes printed across one or more pieces of wallpaper. Wallpaper murals are becoming more and more popular, especially for children’s rooms.
Wallpaper can last for ten years or longer, provided that it is not exposed to very much abuse. However, since wallpaper is difficult to clean, grease and other stains will weather it quickly, and unless it is a moisture-resistant vinyl variety, moist conditions will also cause it to degrade.
It depends on the kind of wallpaper, but for the most part, no. Wallpaper that is composed of paper, foil, grass cloth, velveteen paper, or fabric cannot hold up to the physical abrasion, the moisture, and the chemical exposure that occurs during cleaning. Vinyl wallpaper, however, is durable and water-resistant, and therefore holds up better to cleaning and scrubbing – however, many people do not find the final texture of vinyl wallpaper to be quite as attractive.
Does Blue Door Painters offer other remodeling services?
Blue Door Painters offers pressure-washing and staining, new drywall and drywall replacement, wallpaper installation and removal, water damage mitigation, and plaster repair. We do the occasional replacement of rotten wood and installation of molding. We do not install cabinets or related woodwork, or do any structural framing or masonry construction.
No. Blue Door Painters offers wood replacement in small areas of your building that may have been damaged by age or moisture (around windows and doors, especially), but we are not trained and equipped for full framing jobs.
Yes, we can drywall a whole room.
What can you offer for water-damaged areas?
Other than directly repairing a leak (which usually requires either plumbing or roofing experience), Blue Door Painters offers full service remediation of water-damaged areas. We will neatly cut out and removed damaged materials like wood and drywall, install replacement materials and seal and smooth the seams, and then repaint or refinish the surface so that the patch is inconspicuous.
Blue Door Painters estimators and staff have a lot of experience dealing with mold issues, but are not professional inspectors. We are happy to walk through your building, explain the mold risks that we see, and offer to make a bid on replacing any damaged wood, plaster, and drywall, as well as recoating the surface with mold-resistant products, but we do not have the training to do a full mold inspection and guarantee that we have identified or neutralized all of the existing mold risks.
Yes. Blue Door Painters is an EPA-certified lead safe contractor, which means that we have the technology and training to perform lead tests, if the age of your structure warrants it.
It depends on the nature of the mold hazard. If there is a localized mold growth, and the moisture source that is feeding the mold is neutralized, then we can replace the damaged and contaminated wood, drywall, or plaster, seal the seams, and refinish the surface (with stucco, paint, or wallpaper). We are familiar with mold-resistant coatings that can lend your surfaces extra protection in the future. However, we are not equipped to eliminate mold hazards in HVAC systems or to fix the plumbing leaks or moisture problems that lead to mold growth in the first place. It is also important to remember that mold spores are almost always present in some amount, so there is always a risk of mold returning if the conditions are right.
Yes. Blue Door Painters is an EPA-certified lead-safe contractor, which means that we have the technology and training to perform lead tests, detect risks, and carry out remodeling using EPA-approved lead safety procedures. However, it is important to realize that in some structures lead paint might be pervasive, and it may be located in layers of paint that are not currently at the surface, and are not currently leaking out into the environment and causing lead threats. In order to completely remove all lead from an old building, it might require ripping out and replacing all of the surfaces, which is a huge job. However, Blue Door Painters can work in areas where lead paint is chipping and failing, and can also carry out any remodeling project without amplifying the risk of lead exposure with unconfined lead paint dust.
Can you protect against mold returning?
Mold needs an organic food source (any organic material will do, including the pulp in wood and the paper used to create drywall), and a constant source of moisture. Of those two things, moisture is the critical element to prevent, because the organic materials are an indispensable part of the architecture, and because mold spores are so all-pervasive that you can never eliminate them completely. Blue Door Painters cannot fix leaks or other moisture sources, but we can replace damaged areas and concentrated mold colonies, and we can use coatings that include waterproofing and mildewcide chemicals, which provide added protection against future contamination.
Yes, we caulk as part of certain procedures, including replacement of water damaged areas.
Yes. No matter how small the project, we are happy to offer you a free estimate on it.