5 Things to Know Before Hiring a Professional Painter

Having a professional painter update the color of your home to boost its curb appeal or brighten up the interior with a new color can make all the difference. Whether you simply want to update the aesthetics, or you plan on putting your home on the market, a fresh paint job can transform your home.

But while you’re in the midst of looking for the right professional painting contractor, there’s a few things you’ll need to consider before hiring them. At Greenleaf Painters, we’re here to shed some light on the process to help you along.

Should I Paint My House Myself?

Painting can be a rewarding experience. Some even find it therapeutic. But when it comes to your home, you’ll want to be careful, especially if you don’t have a lot of experience with painting.

Painting your home yourself is a lot of physical work, and ladders are heavy and can lead to injuries. Hiring a professional painter can help alleviate these concerns. We at Greenleaf sometimes get calls to finish a job a homeowner started!

Professional painting crews also have the expertise that can ensure that the prep work and coating is done right so your walls and trim look their very best. The quality speaks for itself when you hire a seasoned professional painter. Done right, a paint job can last for many years.

Preparing Your Home for Painting

Since you have painters coming to your home, it is a good idea to prepare your space for the work. For interior work, it may be a good idea to relocate valuables for the time being to avoid the risk of damage. We at Greenleaf Painters take great care to move and/or cover your belongings before the painting job starts. If you have a pet, sequestering them to another area of the house may be a good idea to keep their paws out of the paint!

Choose the Right Painting Company

Before hiring a company, conduct some research on the contractors in the area. Look at reviews to see how they’re received by previous customers. Look for reviews of both finished work as well as the process itself. Is the company responsive and respectful of customers and their spaces? Also check their portfolios on their website.

If they seem to be well-reviewed, are prompt and respectful of the homes they paint, and the work looks great, you may be ready for the next step.

Find Out What Quality Paint They Use

If you’re having your home’s interior painted, it’s good to find out the type of paint that the contractor uses. Eco-friendly paints from quality paint companies are high-performing, and yet they don’t emit the smelly chemicals which can have a negative effect on the air quality of your home. Make sure that the painting contractor you hire uses green and sustainable products where possible.

Plan Your Schedule but Be Adaptable

If you’re having your home’s interior painted, it’s good to be present or available if the contractor has any questions for you. It’s also important to know that when you’re having the exterior of your home painted, weather can be an erratic factor. It’s important to be open, understandable, and adaptable.

Find Your Painting Contractor Today

Now that you’re aware of the things to know before hiring a professional painter, you’re ready to begin your experience! If you’re in need of interior, exterior, or historic painting services, you can look to us at Greenleaf Painters.

We’re more than happy to assist you with your painting needs and bringing your vision to life!

Prepping for Historic Home Restorations & Painting – Best Practices

Many of our customers live in old, historic houses and want to preserve both the history and beauty of their home. We have been painting historic homes in New Jersey for years; our tradespeople are very experienced.

Here are some of our best practices for prepping older, historic structures. The most important thing to point out is that homes built before 1978 need to consider precautions for lead paint (Greenleaf is Lead Paint certified).

+ Power washing: The lead safe law enacted in 2010 prohibits the use of power washing on homes where lead paint exists on even the deepest layers of paint. + However, many homes require cleaning of dirt, mildew, and mold in order to ensure that the paint will adhere. Hand-cleaning with a hose and cleaning detergent serves as an excellent substitute to power washing.

+ Removal of loose paint: The entire surface of the exterior needs to be scraped to ensure that any loose paint is removed. The paint chips need to be gathered in plastic and safely disposed of.

+ Sealing bare wood & seams: Bare wood needs to be sealed with a top-quality oil-based primer to ensure that moisture cannot enter. Any seams between siding and trim need to be sealed with caulk. Our craftsmen repair or replace window frames, trim or other wooden features that are deteriorating. We also re-glaze windows where the glaze is failing.

+ Once the surfaces are prepped, you need a good base coat or sealant. These are not all created equal and can sometimes make a difference in the longevity of the paint job. We recommend using top-quality lines from Benjamin Moore or Sherwin-Williams.

Please be sure to check out our educational videos on YouTube. You can also get our latest pics and news on Facebook & Instagram.

Come See Us March 18 at the Mercer Greenfest!

Bring your kids and learn about how to care for your local ecosystem! Learn who and what is eco-friendly — and where you can shop local to make a difference.

Saturday, March 18, 2017

11 am – 4 pm

Rider University Student Recreation Center

2083 Lawrenceville Rd., Lawrenceville, NJ

For more info, visit mercergreenfest.org

Please stop by and say hi!
Here is our pic from last year — Jonathan Shenk, owner, and son, Gabriel Yoder Shenk.

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Having Fun while Showcasing Green Painting — at the Local Living Expo March 19, Lawrenceville, NJ

The Greenleaf leadership team was excited to be part of the Local Living Expo last weekend. This is our third year participating in the Expo, which focuses on supporting local and “green” businesses. We’re always delighted to meet new people. And we love to share our passion for using eco-friendly paints!

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Owner Jonathan Shenk with Managers Abner Tello and Ryan Munn at the Local Living Expo, held at Rider University this year. What a great team!

Local Living Expo pic
Jonathan Shenk and son Gabriel, who came to help out for the afternoon. Thanks, Gabriel!

They Steal Our Hearts: The Real Reason We “Go Green”

On a July morning drive to one of our customers along the beautiful back roads in Skillman, a Greenleaf team member saw a deer and fawn grazing by the side of the road and stopped to take a picture. We at Greenleaf Painters “go green” for many reasons. At the top of the list is our love of nature and desire to preserve habitats for both humans and animals. Especially big animals with huge brown eyes who pose prettily for pictures.

 

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Owner Jonathan Shenk Shares Greenleaf’s “Sustainable” Practices at Forum

Jonathan Shenk, owner of Greenleaf, shared our company’s environmental, or “green,” initiatives at “Creating Sustainable Businesses in New Jersey,” a forum held at the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (NJDEP) headquarters in Trenton last Tuesday.

We are proud to share with you these “green” practices and initiatives from his talk.

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“From our inception we have educated customers and advocated for the use of ‘green,’ environmentally-sound paint products. This emphasis is noted in our name choice.

Nine years ago, these paints were harder to find, they were more expensive, more difficult to use, and offered lower performance and quality. Now every brand markets green paints and are phasing out their regular paints. The prices are now competitive and the quality is excellent.

Another important sustainable practice for a painting company is the safe disposal of paint products:

+ Paint thinners and oil paints must be disposed through hazardous waste collections. We recycle most of our paint thinner through a step-by-step filtering process.

+ Latex paints need to be mixed with a hardener before disposal.

We have recently started offering a service to customers where we will dispose of their old paint cans piling up in their basements. 

We also can sometimes find alternatives to disposing of unwanted latex paints: we can donate full gallons to Habitat for Humanity’s Re-store and sometimes our own painters are happy to round up excess paints for their side projects.

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There are several other things we do which are not unique to a painting company: 

+ We have several paperless practices: we communicate internally through dropbox. Our managers can access work site forms and job calendars on dropbox.

+ We are also beginning to shift our bill payments to be done exclusively online so no hard copies need to be printed out.

+We recycle our paper and plastic. 

+We conserve on energy by keeping office temperatures low during the cold season and opening doors for fresh air during the warm season. Turning out lights in rooms we are not working in.

We were pleased to see NJ take this initiative to support and promote sustainable business practices. We’re happy to be involved in this initiative and to connect and network with other like-minded businesses and people.”

Jonathan was invited to speak at the forum as a member of the New Jersey Sustainable Business Registry, which promotes sustainability planning and practices among New Jersey businesses. The welcome was given by Bob Marshall, Assistant Commissioner, DEP Sustainability and Green Energy (SAGE).

It’s So Easy Being Green

kermitRemember Kermit the Frog’s song? “Green” has a whole new meaning now, and it IS easy being green! Since earth-friendly practices are important to us, we participated in the launch of The New Jersey Sustainable Business Registry. It’s a directory of businesses that do what they can to recycle, treat waste appropriately, keep electricity use down, use eco-friendly materials, among many other practices. We are proud to be a part of this registry to highlight the importance of businesses being green–to serve our community and prosper without harming our delicate eco-system.

Since the founding of Greenleaf Painters, we’ve offered green paint options. Green, or low-VOC paints, are good for the earth AND for people. We highly recommend using these paints in your whole house, but especially places like nurseries or other bedrooms,

But promoting these paint options is not all Greenleaf does. We strive to be as green as possible in all of our practices: recycling, waste disposal, cleaners we choose for the office, and electrical usage.  Read more about Greenleaf green practices on the new registry, at http://registry.njsbdc.com/

In other completely unrelated news, Kermit the Frog took the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge yesterday. http://mashable.com/2014/08/20/kermit-ice-bucket-challenge/

(Photo courtesy of Disney)