I hear many different recommendations of how many estimates to get when hiring a painting contractor, or any other contractor for that matter. Let’s address that question….
Personally, I think you should get as many estimates as you need to feel comfortable with the contractor you select.
Some people need to get as many as 10 estimates, and some people only need to get 2 or 3.
It would be good to start your search with gathering the names of 10 different painting contractors. This can be done by:
Asking friends or neighbours who they have used – word of mouth is generally the best way to find a contractor
Going to your local paint store and asking for their recommendations
Googling “Painting contractor in Toronto”
When asking friends or neighbours you can ask them about the painter’s cleanliness, punctuality, or anything else that’s important to you. After all, you want to have a great painting experience, and you have a great painting experience when your painter is attentive to your needs.
When searching on Google for a painting contractor, see how many positive Google reviews they have received. This is shown by the stars beside their name in the listing, 5 stars is good, no stars means they haven’t gotten enough reviews yet to have stars beside their name.
The next step after you have found some potential painting contractors is to go to their websites and look for a few different things:
See if they have any testimonials from satisfied customers. Many painting contractors have written testimonials from past clients, which is good. But do they have any video testimonials? Most people are very shy when asked to speak on video, so if they do a video testimonial they must be a raving fan!
Do they have WSIB and liability insurance in place?
You can also look for any pertinent blog posts about something that is important to your painting experience.
It is also worth checking if they have any relevant qualifications or training. This isn’t limited to painting, but should also include the running of the business. Contractors not only have to do the work themselves, but also have to do all the behind the scenes work and keep their business running effectively. There are training schemes that will give contractors all the skills and knowledge they need to be able to run their business correctly, but you can find more Professional Contractor Training Advantages here, should you need further convincing of how relevant this type of training is. It means that you can guarantee a contractor who has taken such training will be efficient in how they run their business and are less likely to let you down in the long run.
After you have done this, you might only need to book a time with 2 or 3 painting contractors, or maybe more.
The important thing is that you schedule estimates with painting contractors that you feel comfortable with and would potentially like to do business with.
Hope this helps you with selecting your painting contractor. Feel free to schedule an estimate with CAM Painters and Transform your home with lasting beauty!
Should I keep my leftover paint? If so, what are the best ways to store leftover paint?
These are both very common questions which I will address in today’s post.
Should I keep my leftover paint? Yes, you’ll want to keep leftover paint for any touch-ups that need to be done in the future. When the exact same paint is used for the touch-up the touch-up will have the best chance of blending properly.
What if I just make note of the colour, shouldn’t that be enough? Not necessarily, we need to have the exact same product as well.
Different paint products show differently on the walls because they have different chemical compositions. This is fine if we are painting an entire wall, but can be problematic if we’re trying to do a small touch-up and not an entire wall.
What if I take note of both the colour and the product? This is much better and will usually work fine for touching up. However, there is still a small chance that there could be a variation between gallons, due to differences in calibration of the tinting machines at the paint store.
So, to be on the safe side – Keep your leftover paint.
How do I store my leftover paint?
The biggest thing is to store paint where it will not freeze – once paint freezes it becomes useless.
If you have paint in the garage right now, it should be brought inside. Generally I recommend bringing paint inside before the end of October.
Should I store paint in the original can, or can I transfer it to another container like a mason jar?
I would recommend keeping it in the original can, if possible. If we need to get more, the original can gives us the product name, and the paint formula which allows us to get the best match possible.
Whether you’re just looking to spruce things up a little bit with a few touch-ups or you want your place painted from top to bottom, schedule a quote and…
Here is a picture of a wallpaper scraper so you know exactly what I’m talking about, a regular putty knife is too blunt to get under the wallpaper.
Peel off the top layer of paper
I try to get the top layer of paper off without water, I peel up an edge with a wallpaper scraper and see how far it will go. It’s important to keep the paper close to the wall as you pull, don’t fold it over on itself or it will tear much more easily
Remove wallpaper backing
After I’ve got the top layer off there is a paper backing that needs to be removed. To remove the backing I use a spray bottle with warm water, soak the surface and then scrape it off the wall using the wallpaper scraper and peeling by hand.
Scrape off any excess glue
After that some glue will be on the wall, I run over that with the wallpaper scraper to remove the glue and wipe the wall down with a wet rag to get as much of the glue residue off as possible.
Prime the wall
I prime the wall with an oil primer or emulsion primer which ensures any left over glue won’t affect the topcoat.
However: since there’s no way of knowing what is underneath the wallpaper or if the walls have been properly primed you might be left with very uneven walls. So it might be wise to have someone lined up who can do some plaster work, just in case there are any surprises after the wallpaper comes off.
Skim coating of walls is a service that CAM Painters offers along with wallpaper removal services.
