RSS Feeds: Interior or Exterior, How Often Should You Paint Your House?
A better question would be "How often should I need to paint my house?" It seems that once every five years is not often enough, or perhaps it would be enough if the right paint is being used. Apparently, the right paint wasn't used for the exterior OR interior walls of my house since peeling and bubbling is taking place.
Flat, Gloss, Latex, Whatever
Whatever kind of paint is best for the walls of a home in the Philippines was obviously not the best kind of paint that was used. The contractor, when the house was built, took shortcuts with the paint (along with other things) and it becomes more evident each passing day.
Weather conditions in the Philippines are vastly different that what I've been treated to prior to moving here and the kind of paint has to be able to withstand heavy rain among other things. The paint on my walls doesn't seem to be withstanding anything. There are huge patches of peeling paint on the outer walls and bubbling paint on the inner walls (due to "sweating").
There are several kinds of paint and various types of mixtures. Flat paint is good for base coatings and that's about it, unless you want to repaint often. Semi-gloss is popular because it's normally fairly easy to keep clean and paint over at the same time. Gloss or heavy gloss is difficult to paint over, but lasts the longest between painting sessions. I should have demanded heavy gloss all around.
Paint Colors
I can't speak for anyone else, but I absolutely detest pastel colors. Light green, pink, light blue, yellow, etcetera – that's what I'm talking about. My exterior walls started out being a much darker color than they are now and they now look pink. The home I sold in the US maintained the same color for 12 years and I still repainted before selling.
I like dark colors. Taupe is a color I really like. It's a combination of white, red, yellow and black that isn't easily mixed except by computer (as in Home Depot's paint department as well as specialized paint stores).
The brand name isn't really that important, as long as it's good paint. One of the best paint brands in the Philippines is Boysen (I think that's how it's spelled) and there are some specialized paint stores which carry it locally.
My Contractor Should Be Shot
If my contractor was still in business (he's not because he sucked), I would consider finding him and giving him a piece of my mind. I definitely wouldn't recommend his services to anyone.
There are other things wrong with my house, specifically because the contractor took shortcuts, and I'll write about them as I'm moved to do so. It's all my fault, of course. I should have hung around and watched, but it's difficult to watch EVERYTHING all the time when a house is being built from the ground up by mostly unskilled laborers.
Oh well, I guess I need to slap myself around a bit until I get my self-respect back – or someone else if I ever see him again.
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I'm sorry to hear of your trouble with your house. I always look for reviews before hiring a contractor for anything.
That is incredibly unfortunate that you have so many issues with your paint and the work the contractor did on your house.
Im not finding a lot of information on how often you should maintain a fresh color with your paint. I was hoping to find colors described in years. …and I understand that different homes have more traffic than others, but I do like the fact that you made the differentiation between the time and the color; i.e. the lighter the color the more you would have to repaint. Thanks for posting.