“One reason for me switching from painting to epoxy work exclusively is the increase in demand I’ve seen for it,” explains Dave. “Under my old painting company, we did about 25 garage floors, basements and commercial epoxy jobs – all without seeking the work. So when my old painting partner accepted an amazing offer to run a painting crew, I decided to follow the opportunity and concentrate on epoxy.”

Dave’s specialization has taken him to some impressive places, including a 21,000 sq.ft. mansion, with two mechanical rooms and a workshop. He’s also applied epoxy to campground shower and bathroom facilities, as well as ordinary basements and garages.

How does an epoxy focus compare with regular painting? “First, there’s no climbing ladders and no need for drop cloths except in my mixing/staging area,” explains Dave. “Epoxy coatings need fewer tools and equipment which means fewer trips in and out of the customers’ homes to set up. Estimates are easier, too. I can give a price right there on the spot. With painting it could take me a couple of hours to get the estimate typed.”

“I wear spiked shoes or golf shoes when spreading flakes on uncured epoxy. Typically I have an hour to go back and touch up sparse areas without spike marks remaining.”

Dave advertises with truck and office lettering, yard signs and a 65,000-name email list that he publishes to every two weeks. “I’m also using Facebook paid advertising,” explains Dave. “Word of mouth still works great, too.”

Show the world your best work right here. Send photos and a brief description of the project to: steve@stevemaxwell.ca

The post Floor Specialty first appeared on Professional Painter Magazine.

The Queen Anne Victorian here with the trimwork wave had a crew of eight on the job that involved stripping back to bare siding and trim. They used a Paint Shaver Pro for bulk removal of paint, and a collection of Festool sanders with 40-, 80- and 120-grit abrasives to back-sand before power washing and priming. Rock Miracle was the paint stripper of choice for details too small or fragile for power tools.

We used nine colours in all on this house”, explains Dave, “over two coats of Zinsser Oil-Based Cov-er-Stain Primer. The two young daughters in the family wanted purple somewhere on the house, so I took it on myself to paint the wave.

“The most amazing home we’ve had the pleasure of painting is in Amesbury”, says Dave. The homeowner is a dentist who broke a leg while skiing in the 1980s. He decided to stay in his home while laid up and he hand-cut and carved all the wood on the exterior details. We’re still in awe over this one. At the ripe age of 88, this gen-tleman can’t climb ladders to keep up with this beautiful home on his own so we take care of it for him. We had three guys on this job plus Carly and myself. Overall not much prep as the homeowner touched up issues right away. Eight colors total, with spot priming as needed.

The post Repainting a Queen Anne Victorian first appeared on Professional Painter Magazine.

When Daniel Howell and his crew with CertaPro Painters tackled the swimming pool at Calumet High School in Schererville, Indiana, it was a new challenge for them. “This was my first time painting a big pool like this”, says Howell. “I’d done the rim of swimming pools before at a few hotels, but nothing on the size and scale of this job.”

It took Howell’s four-painter crew 200 hours to complete the project, including some fancy work creating logos. “Before prep, we covered the tile floors to protect them”, explains Howell, “then sanded the walls before applying one coat of  PrepRite ProBlock primer. We caulked the corners and used autobody filler to repair holes before applying two coats of two-part epoxy fol-lowed by three coats of Resilience exterior latex for the red stripe along the walls. Other than being careful in the usual way, we didn’t have to take precautions to catch the odd paint drip as we painted the ceiling because the pool has a state-of-the-art filtration system. For logos we used a digital projector to trace outlines onto walls, then taped them out and painted.”

Show the world your best work right here. Send photos and tell us about them at steve@stevemaxwell.ca

The post Pool Party first appeared on Professional Painter Magazine.

A major challenge on this house was the homeowner’s dog. He was constantly in the way and rubbing up against the painted trim. With the owner’s approval we rigged up a temporary fence in the backyard to keep the dog out of the house.”

Marco started Torres Painting in Kenosha, WI in 2013 after working for a commercial painting contractor for 15 years. “We focus mainly on residential repaints, including wallpaper stripping and cabinet painting. I’m glad we could help bring the vision for this home to life.”

The post It’s Not How They Start, It’s How You Finish first appeared on Professional Painter Magazine.

Ingram and two employees started the house in November 2014 and finished up in April 2015. “We painted the inside and outside of this place”, says Ingram, “including 1500 lineal feet of crown, 67 doors, plus fancy casings on every window.”

Show the world your best work right here. Send photos and tell us about them at steve@stevemaxwell.ca 

The post Taking the Pensacola Challenge first appeared on Professional Painter Magazine.

There was a time when our society was much more aware of craftsmanship than we are now, and something especially sad happens when tradespeople themselves lose the sense that there’s more to work than just pay. These days “designers” are all the rage. And while you’ve got to hand it to those chatty 20-somethings who’ve managed to reach media guru status for their abundant talk about how things should go together, the fact is, all the design insights in the world mean nothing without skilled, detail-oriented people to actually roll up their sleeves and make things happen. People just like you.

Everyday, on every project, each job is made up of a hundred little decisions about craftsmanship. Do you patch that little flaw or leave it? Do you grab that rag and wipe off the tiny bit of stray paint? Do you spend the extra to try a roll of that new high-end painter’s tape, or make do with what you’ve got? Decisions like these are small, but how you choose determines whether or not you get energized by the pursuit of craftsmanship.

Celebration of the best is something we take seriously here at Pro Painter. That’s the reason we’re announcing a new feature. It’s called Brag Page and it’s a place where you can get your best projects featured in print, presented to an audience that knows what good painting is. Go to www.professionalpainter.ca/brag-rights/ and send us photos and a description of your best, most impressive work. Send as many jobs as you like and we’ll consider them all for celebration here on the Brag Page.

The post Do you pursue Craftsmanship? first appeared on Professional Painter Magazine.