The answer to that question is not just yes or no.  If you have a wood door, you need to protect it, either with paint or stains and sealers.  It is critical to keep the wood protected.

If you have a metal door the answer is maybe.  Most metal garage doors come with a factory baked finish.  This is the most durable finish you can get, and it comes in a few different colors.  Most of the new doors you see are white.  The problem is that a lot of people want their garage doors to disappear, or not stick out like a giant eyeball on the front of their home.  So we paint them to match the rest of the house.  You don’t have to paint the whole house just because you had to replace your garage door.  At Brooks Painting we do small jobs all the time.  Don’t hesitate to call us to paint your new garage door.  We also have stained many wood Carriage House doors for clients.  They need to be sealed on all six edges before being installed, or they can warp.  They also require special clean coats to last longer than a normal varnish.  Call us for a free estimate for your garage door or any painting needs, in Davis, Woodland, or Sacramento. 530-753-5074

We recently painted a home in Davis, CA with redwood siding only in the front, but the siding had turned a dark brown in areas and red in other areas.  The homeowner wanted to see the beautiful grain, but the siding sealed with an oil base product and had become sticky.  In order to restore the wood, the prep was crucial in bringing it back to life.

The first thing we did was wash it with Sherwin Williams product called Revive.  It is a stain and sealer remover and it has to be rolled on, let sit, scrub with a brush, and rinse off.  As the product comes off, the wood becomes fibrous and looks like horse hair.  The siding then was sanded and it became beautiful and smooth again.

Because the wood had light and dark areas, we combined Sherwin Williams Woodscapes Semi Transparent Stain in Chestnut and Woodscapes solid stain in Ranchero Red.  The two stain colors married the Cape Cod Red solid stain on the eaves with the Sherwin Williams French Roast brown on the fascia and gutters, bringing everything together for a beautiful new finish.

The key to this process was prepping the siding properly to allow the absorption of the stain.  If done poorly, the stain would not be able to penetrate the wood.  All in all, the homeowner was very happy with the new fresh look of her siding and her home now stands out in her neighborhood as one of the best.

What kind of maintenance can extend the life of my exterior paint?

Regular cleaning is one of the best ways to keep your home’s exterior paint looking great. Here in the Sacramento area, we may not struggle much with exterior mold and mildew, but it can appear in some cases. More commonly, we see a buildup of dust and contaminants coming from air pollution. Careful power washing of your exterior surfaces will keep your paint looking fresh and bright, rather than dull and dirty.

Caulking is another part of painting maintenance, since caulk can dry and crack with age. Re-sealing your doors and windows with new caulk will help reduce your cooling bill, as your conditioned air is sealed inside. It also keeps out the winter rains, and it improves the overall appearance of the house. While a complete caulking is definitely not needed on a yearly basis, yearly inspections and touch up are definitely recommended for early identification of trouble areas.

Finally, touch up painting is also a good way to prolong the time between complete exterior repaintings. When a specific section of the walls or trim seems to be fading or showing signs of failure, it can be touched up locally, which will keep the home looking great and the paint performing well for an extended time.

If  you are looking for a painting contractor that performs exterior paint maintenance, contact Brooks Painting at (530) 753-5074 for a free estimate. We are happy to come on a scheduled basis or as a one-time service. We provide power washing, exterior paint touch up, caulking, and of course, full exterior repainting services. We are based in Davis, CA, but we serve the whole Sacramento Valley region, including counties of Solano, Yolo, Sacramento, Placer, and more.

Brooks Painting just finished a “New” Nations Hamburger for Sunseri and Associates from Sacramento Ca. The new restaurant is located in Folsom on East Bidwell Street in the Raley’s shopping Center. It’s a much more modern and updated look than some of the past Nations Hamburgers. This location is worth visiting when you’re in that area. The colors on the walls and ceilings are vibrant but very appealing. The stained wood overhang at the food bar with a driftwood color looks classy. The designers did a great job giving this location a colorful but tranquil look that feels relaxing.

The designers had selected a wood style and color they wanted for the food bar wood structure, but it wasn’t going to work with the Nation Hamburgers budget. I had Randy at Sherwin-Williams in Woodland Ca. make some custom stain colors to create a similar look like Nations Hamburger and the designers wanted. Randy did a great job. The architect specified Dunn Edwards Sparta Series for the paint. The Dunn Edwards store on Folsom Boulevard did a great job matching the custom colors and sheen the architect and designers were looking for.

Working with Sunseri and Associates was great! The communication and scheduling went very well. They gave all the trades a fair amount of time to do their scope of work to ensure this Nations Hamburger would look great!

Below you’ll see some of the job photos and when you can, stop by the New Nations Hamburger on East Bidwell in Folsom!

This past week I got to attend the swearing in ceremony of our employee Fernando Zaragoza.  He became a citizen of our great country on 5/15/13.  It was such an honor to be there and support him on this wonderful day.  There were about 1,000 people who took the oath and became citizens that day.  This was my first time ever being a part of anything like this, and it was amazing.  The most memorable part of the whole time, was when they read off all the countries represented by our new citizens.  These 1,000 men & women from all over the world, wanted to be citizens of the USA.  Despite all the hardships our country is dealing with, and politics that we may agree or disagree with, these men and women chose to work hard and become citizens of our great country.  Fernando had to do a lot of work to get to this point; it is not simply filling out a form.  I was so proud of him, and honored to be there to support him.

So you have those tired, yellow, golden oak cabinets from 20 years ago.  You’re tired of the yellow taking over your kitchen.  What do you do?  Paint them!

Painting cabinets is the most cost effective way to “replace” your cabinets.  The paint holds up really well, especially if new handles are installed.  Our painters are very experienced in painting cabinets, and they know how to do the job right.  You won’t have runs or drips.  We can use different primers to either cover up the oak grain so you no longer have the pattern showing through the paint, or prime them so you can see the oak grain pattern coming through the color.  Either way, they become new again and are beautiful.

One of our customers in Del Web, Roseville, CA updated her kitchen recently.  She added some detail in the crown molding with a rope trim.  I helped her select a color for the cabinets that complimented the glass tile detail in her backsplash with Kelly-Moore Maple Sugar.  Our painter added a dark stain in the rope detail to add dimension and drilled holes and installed new handles.  Then we painted her walls in a creamy Sherwin Williams Napery and it set the cabinets off beautifully.  Her kitchen cabinets have been given new life and she’s thrilled with her new kitchen.  She was so happy with the kitchen cabinets, she asked us to refinish all the cabinets in her home.  Transformation complete.

Yolo Community Care Continuum is a non-profit organization located in Davis, CA,  established to better the lives of people with a mental illness through direct services, advocacy, education and volunteer efforts.

You can learn more about YCCC at http://y3c.org/. We are looking forward to this project and giving back to our community. Thank you to everyone who nominated and voted in this year’s giveaway. Be thinking about who you will nominate for 2014!

We encounter a lot of customers who are redoing the entire space.  They are getting new flooring, furniture, or bedding.  They want a whole new feel, and paint will just be a part of the overall picture.  So where should you start?  Paint really should be the last part chosen.  Let’s take a bedroom, for example.  Have your new bedding there already or at the very least a sample of it.  If you are changing flooring, window coverings, etc, samples of those are ideal too.  Once we can lay out the other items going in the space then we can pick colors that will complement each other.  The last step is to pick a paint color; that is much easier to change than bedding, flooring, or window coverings, and furnishings.  I can’t tell you how many times customers want to do it back words, and I advise them against doing that.  It is much better in the long run to have the whole picture of the space laid out, than just one part.

If you need help with color consulting, please call us at Brooks Painting to help with all your color needs in Davis, Woodland, Yolo County, Solano County, or Sacramento County.

Jeremy Brooks