Cooler fall days are the perfect time to refresh your home's exterior with a fresh paint job. Exterior painting is one of the smartest and most cost-effective ways to beautify your home and to preserve its longevity.

1. Cleaning: The dirt should be cleaned off your home, power-washing if necessary and hand-washing delicate areas. The trees, bushes and other delicate parts of your property should be covered, and the window screens and storm windows should be removed.
2. Scraping, priming, and minor maintenance: Loose paint should be removed, large holes and cracks should be spackled, bare areas should be primed, rough spots should be sanded, and the windows should be caulked. Additional services depend upon the condition of your home.
3. Painting: You should use full-finish, premium paints. If your home is being painted a different color, you may need a second coat.
4. Clean-up: You should pick up the debris and clean the job site.
5. Inspection/warranty registration if you are not doing it yourself: You should ensure that all contract areas are painted properly and touched up. If you are not doing it yourself, ensure the company you contract with provides a warranty to register upon completion of the project.

Exterior painting is the top do-it-yourself project out there; however, it takes a lot of time and energy, and is often the least favorite project for homeowners. Paying careful attention to the prep stages (items 1 and 2 above) of the project are the most important to ensure your paint job lasts. Often times, hiring a professional painting company is the best choice for exterior painting.

Tony Valle, CEO of College Pro Painters, says that "At College Pro Painters, our work serves to realize the beauty and meaning of your home. When accomplished correctly, painting will lower your utility bills this winter and create a meaningful environment for you and your family, adding real value to your home, not just improving its resale value."

College Pro Painters
College Pro Painters was founded by a college student in Thunder Bay, Ontario, Canada in 1971. It is North America's original and most successful student painting company, operating in 29 U.S. states and 7 Canadian provinces. We paint homes in the summer months and all our managers - who are franchisees - are full time college students. Each year we paint an average of 30,000 homes in communities throughout North America. To learn more about College Pro Painters and their community service projects, please visit www.collegepro.com.