A Different Approach to Exterior Painting
I have been painting for 11 years. During that time, I’ve worked alongside countless craftsmen and women, been corrected by people with more skill than me, and spent years learning the proper technique for everything from a brush and roller to a spray gun. I eventually expanded my education even further by reaching out to nationwide training programs and learning from some of the top minds in the painting industry.
All of that experience has shaped the way we approach exterior painting in Sioux Falls.
It Starts With the Surface
A beautiful exterior paint job is only as good as the surface underneath it. Before we ever apply our finish coat, we take the time to properly prepare the siding and remove the contaminants that can interfere with adhesion.
Our process begins with a soft detergent wash. The first goal is straightforward: remove the dirt, spiderwebs, dust, and other debris that naturally accumulate around the exterior of a home.
But we’re also looking for something else: chalking.
If you’ve ever run your hand across an older painted piece of siding and noticed a white or colored powder rubbing off onto your fingers, you’ve seen chalking. It is the result of weathering and deterioration of the existing paint film. Excessive chalking can interfere with the adhesion of a new coating, so it needs to be addressed before we paint.
A proper wash helps loosen and remove that chalky residue without unnecessarily abusing the siding underneath.
We could attack the surface with extremely aggressive chemicals or excessive pressure, but more isn’t always better. The goal isn’t simply to make the siding look clean. The goal is to prepare it for a new coating without damaging the substrate we’re trying to protect.
We Prime the Entire Surface
This is where our exterior painting process really separates itself.
Many repainting systems rely primarily on spot-priming areas where the original coating has been worn away. We take a different approach.
Instead of treating primer as something we use only when something goes wrong, we use a full coat of primer as the foundation of our exterior painting system.
There are good reasons for this. Primer can promote adhesion, seal porous or exposed surfaces, and create a more uniform foundation for the finish coat. Bare wood in particular benefits from proper priming before the finish coat is applied.
Our primer is color-tinted and applied across the wall rather than simply touching up isolated areas. This gives us a consistent base before we apply the final exterior paint.
Why Does the Base Coat Matter?
Think about the exterior of your home throughout an entire Sioux Falls summer.
One side of the house may receive hours of direct sunlight every day. Another may spend most of the day in the shade. Some areas may have weathered considerably more than others.
Even when the existing paint still appears acceptable from a distance, the underlying coating can vary significantly from one part of the wall to another.
If we simply apply a new finish coat over those different surfaces, those differences can remain underneath the new paint.
Our full primer coat gives us a new, consistent foundation across the entire wall.
Then we apply the finish coat over that foundation.
The result is a more uniform appearance and a coating system designed around adhesion, consistency, and durability—not simply speed.
Exterior Painting Done Like a Fine Finish Job
This is ultimately what makes our approach different.
We don’t think of exterior painting as simply changing the color of your house.
We think about the condition of the existing coating, the substrate underneath it, the preparation required, the primer system, and the finish coat as one complete system.
It’s the same philosophy we bring to kitchen cabinet refinishing: preparation matters, the foundation matters, and the final finish is only as good as the work underneath it.
If you’re looking for exterior house painting in Sioux Falls, SD, we’d be happy to look at your home and explain exactly what we would recommend for your particular siding and existing coating