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JLeslie's avatar

When having the exterior of a house painted, should all the caulking around the windows be redone?

Asked by JLeslie (45852 points ) June 5th, 2012

How does that work? Do they pull all the old caulk out, and redo it from scratch?

Or, do they just look for where it might be drying out and cracking and add some caulk?

If there has not been any leaks can you just put on a fresh coat of paint?

Another question I have about exterior paint is should I get two coats, or if I am painting the same colors can I just do one?

The house has not been painted in 8 years.

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10 Answers

MollyMcGuire's avatar

One coat should be fine. I think contractors do the windows differently. I would say redo where it needs it.

dabbler's avatar

If the old caulk is cracked or damaged, and you are adding caulk, make sure it’s cleaned up so the new caulk will stick. If you have the time it’s better to remove/redo, and make sure the surfaces the caulk touches are cleaned up so it sticks.

wundayatta's avatar

I would have them do it where the old stuff is no longer doing the job.

jca's avatar

IF you want it done, make sure you have them put it in the contract, otherwise they’ll say “You didn’t say you wanted that done!”

I have friends in CT who just hired a house painter. He was painting over chipping paint. The husband of the house got into a big fight with painter, who said that it wasn’t in the contract that he scrape the old, chipping paint off first. It would sound like common sense that you can’t paint over chipping, peeling paint, but if it’s not in the contract, it’s ultimately going to be decided by the small claims court judge, which means a bunch of hassle on all sides.

Ron_C's avatar

The old fashioned caulk hardened and dried out and has to be replaced. The newer silicon based caulk should last indefinately. I just had the house painted and the 15 year old silicon is still in good shape.

JLeslie's avatar

@Ron_C I don’t know what they used on my house, but the painter did say they used the good stuff when he looked at my windows. His references were very good, I called two, and one of the references told me the painter’s father was a painter too. I get a good feeling that I am going to go with his bid. He is much less than two other bids I have, so I wanted to make sure that it wasn’t too good to be true. It still seems like a lot of money for the amount of work, so it isn’t like it is a cheap number, I think it is more like the other two guys charge a lot. Can’t be sure though of course.

Ron_C's avatar

@JLeslie I painted the house the last time and put on a new roof. I will never do that again! I had a crew from College Works, a company run by Penn State students in the summer. They did a great job and at what I feel was a reasonable price. The roof is next, I’ve been thinking about a metal roof, maybe that will be my next question.

JLeslie's avatar

@Ron_C Are the metal roofs noisy when it rains?

Ron_C's avatar

@JLeslie I think that there is enough insulation under them to reduce the noise.
Some of my friends down south swear by them and would never install shingles.
My neighbor has one but I have the catch him when he’s home, he’s away a lot.

JLeslie's avatar

@Ron_C That might be what we had on a building I worked in. It was a blue roof that supposedly lasts twice as long as a typical one. In NC some people had a copper roof as a decorative thing over entries and other parts of houses.

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