Each Standard is organized into seven sections: (1) scope; (2) significance and use; (3) reference documents and standards; (4) definitions; (5) standard specification; (6) comments; and (7) disclaimer of liability. The Standards discuss a range of issues that commonly become the subject of misunderstandings or, in extreme cases, contract disputes and provide guidance for both the contractor and the layman about how such differences can best be avoided. All PDCA Industry Standards are available for download at no cost at http://www.pdca.org/governance/standards

Introduction to the PDCA Industry Standards – Listing and description of all current PDCA Industry Standards.

PDCA Standard P1-04 establishes criteria for determining a properly painted surface, defines touch up and repair, and determines which party to an agreement should bear the financial responsibility for such work.

PDCA Standard P2-04 establishes criteria for determining the qualifications and responsibilities of third parties charged with conducting inspections of coatings application work performed by painting and decorating contractors, as well as the procedures to be followed by inspectors in the performance of their duties. The establishment of “inspection hold points” by all parties to the agreement are an important part of this standard.

PDCA Standard P3-04 describes the impact on the costs associated with and time required to complete a project as the number and placement of paint colors and types of finishes grow. The standard is intended to provide guidance in those instances where the number and placement of paint colors and color ranges are either not specified in the bid documents or are unclear.

PDCA Standard P4-04 establishes criteria for determining which of the parties to an agreement has responsibility for inspecting and approving surfaces prior to their being painted or decorated.

PDCA Standard P5-04 establishes a procedure for the submission and approval of benchmark samples which will serve to determine achievable quality from specified preparation, paint and coating systems.

PDCA Standard P6-04 establishes criteria for determining the acceptance of completed wallcovering installations and defines the responsibilities of the parties to an agreement.

PDCA Standard P7-04 establishes criteria for the order of work performed by various parties on a construction project as it relates to the efficient and successful completion of painting and decorating work. The cost impact of variations from a prescribed schedule are discussed.

PDCA Standard P8-04 establishes the contracting entity’s responsibility maintenance of painted and coated surfaces and prescribes procedures and financial responsibilities for inspecting and repainting previously painted surfaces that have since become aesthetically less pleasing in appearance.

PDCA Standard P9-04 defines terms commonly used to describe work to be performed by painting and decorating contractors in the routine and ordinary course of their duties. This standard clarifies the work scope and responsibilities of the painting and decorating contractor.

PDCA Standard P10-04 prescribes a methodology for measuring surfaces for estimating & bidding painting & decorating work.

PDCA Standard P11-05 defines painter’s caulk to determine its suitability and establish its placement whether delineated, implied and/or not referenced in the specifications for painting.

PDCA Standard P12-05 establishes consistent procedures for the specification of block filling and the application of block filler prior to painting paint grade smooth face concrete masonry units.

PDCA Standard P13-06 the inspection and acceptance of architectural paints on the interior surfaces of structures when dry film thickness is specified.

PDCA Standard P14-06 levels of surface preparation for repainting and maintenance projects receiving architectural coatings.

PDCA Standard P15-07 establishes procedures for the evaluation of shop primer applied by an entity other than the painting and decorating contractor.

PDCA Standard P16-07 assigns responsibilities to the various entities involved when wallcovering is removed by an entity other than the Painting and Decorating contractor in preparation for painting.

PDCA Standard P17-08 assigns responsibilities to the various entities involved with smooth face tilt-up is field painted.

PDCA Standard P18-08 defines criteria for the documentation of extra work to a contract for painting and decorating.

PDCA Standard P19-09 defines the field of Decorative Finishing.

PDCA Standard P20-10 establish procedures for the close out of painting and decorating projects and assigns responsibilities to the various entities involved when the project specifications do not define specific job close out procedures.

21. PDCA Standard P21-10 establishes the designation of stain and clear coating on new interior wood

Symptoms: Alligatoring and Checking
“Alligatoring” is a failure in the paint film where it takes on a cracking pattern of deep relief resembling a reptile’s skin, such as that of an alligator. “Checking” is a similar failure but is less severe and is characterized by long, fairly evenly spaced cracks in the paint film having shallow relief or depth. Occasionally checking may become severe in some areas and a deeper crack or split in the paint will occur.
Potential Causes (Alligatoring):
• A second coat of paint was applied over a first coat of primer or paint base coat before it dried.
• A second coat of paint was applied over an incompatible paint such as a glossy paint or a hard oil enamel over a latex based paint.
• Oil based paints naturally aging and losing the little elasticity the paint film originally had, therefore it cracks due to fluctuations in temperature.

Potential Causes (Checking):
• Natural aging of several layers of older oil based paint. As the material having been painted shrinks and expands over time (usually wood), the paint has to move and as it loses elasticity, it checks.
Possible Repairs:
• The fix is the same for both problems.
• Remove the old paint, sand, prime and repaint with flexible latex based paint.
• Use high quality latex paint.

Symptoms: Efflorescence
A problem of painted masonry construction, efflorescence is identifiable by crusty white salt deposits that bubble through the paint film from a masonry structure. Salts in the brick or concrete become dissolved with water and then leach to the surface as the water evaporates.
Potential Causes:
• Poor paint surface preparation where prior efflorescence was not entirely removed and washed before the surface was repainted.
• Heavy moisture migrating through exterior masonry walls from inside the home.
• Inadequately waterproofed basement walls allowing ground water penetration.
• Painting masonry construction before the concrete or mortar had adequately cured and dried out.
• Cracks in masonry wall or poor tuckpointing is allowing water to get behind masonry wall.
Possible Repairs:
• If moisture is getting into the masonry wall eliminate source of moisture by properly tuckpointing any cracks or missing mortar in the wall or patching concrete with a latex concrete patch, clean out gutters and downspouts, caulk joints around windows and doors with a butyl rubber caulk.
• If moisture is migrating through the wall from the outside (e.g., basement wall), apply waterproofing to outside of wall.
• Remove all efflorescence and loose flaking, chalking paint with a wire brush, scraping or power washing before repainting.
• Clean area with a trisodium phosphate cleaning solution and rinse with clean water.
• Let completely dry and paint with a high quality latex house paint.

Symptoms: Chalking
Chalking is identifiable as a fine chalky powder that forms on the surface of a paint film. Although some chalking is a normal way paints self clean when exposed to the sun and rain, excessive chalking can be a paint failure. In dry arid climates where there is little rain, chalking can become excessive. Chalking is actually the paint pigment released by the paint binders which have been broken down by exposure to the weather. Chalking is especially typical of very light colored flat paints, especially lesser quality oil based paints containing high levels of pigment extenders. When chalking gets severe it may run off onto and stain surrounding construction as in the above photo.
Potential Causes:
• Use of cheaper quality exterior paint containing high levels of pigment extenders.
• Improper paint was used in an exterior application (such as an interior paint).
• Lower quality factory finished aluminum siding.
• Over-thinning paint.
• Not properly sealing a porous surface before painting.
Possible Repairs:
• Chalking is considered dirt and must be removed before repainting.
• Remove chalking by power washing or scrubbing with a trisodium phosphate cleaning solution and rinse with clean water.
• Let dry and paint with a high quality latex house paint.
• To clean brick areas stained by chalking runoff the masonry should be scrubbed with a specialized masonry cleaning solution. If staining persists, a professional cleaning contractor may be required to clean the brick.

Symptoms: Sagging or Running
This paint failure is easily identified as a dripping or drooping look to areas of the paint film.
Potential Causes:
• Application of a coat of paint that was too heavy or overloaded.
• Heavy handed paint application.
• Paint thinned too much at time of application.
• Paint was applied in poor environmental conditions such as too cool or when humidity was too high.
• Paint was applied without primer to a high gloss vertical surface preventing the paint substrate from having the “tooth” necessary for the finish coat to adhere.
• Painted surface was not clean or properly prepared at the time of application.
Possible Repairs:
• If you catch the paint while still wet, use a brush or roller to redistribute the excessive paint evenly.
• If the paint is dried, sand the uneven area and lightly reapply paint.
• If paint was applied to a glossy surface, sand the glossy surface to dull it and create a “tooth” for the paint to adhere or apply a primer and repaint.
• Paint using two light coats instead of one very heavy coat.
• Do not overload the paint brush.

Symptoms: Mildew
Mildew is a fungus feeding and growing on the paint film or caulk and is identifiable by its grey, brown, green or dark black “splotchy” spots.
Potential Causes:
• Combination of moisture, poor ventilation and lack of direct sunlight. Underside of soffits and eaves are especially prone to mildew.
• Painting over a surface or prior paint film that still had mildew.
• Use of lower quality paint having inadequate mildewcide.
• Not priming bare wood before painting.
Possible Repairs:
• Wearing eye protection (goggles) and rubber gloves, scrub vigorously with a trisodium phosphate cleaning solution or a household bleach solution of 1 part bleach to 3 parts water.
• Let the solution set on the cleaned are for 10-15 minutes.
• Rinse with clean water.
• Wash the area with a detergent solution and rinse again.
• Let completely dry and paint with a high quality latex house paint.

Symptoms: Rust Discoloration
This problem is characterized by rust colored reddish-brown to black stains on the paint surface.
Potential Causes:
• Non-corrosion resistant nails were used instead of galvanized zinc plated or stainless steel nails.
• Steel nails became in contact with the air.
• Steel nails popping from surface.
• Excessive weathering or sanding has worn away galvanized coating on nail heads.
• Tannic acid from moist wood (e.g., oak) has reacted with steel nails creating a black stain.
Possible Repairs:
• If possible, replace steel nails with galvanized or stainless steel nails.
• If rusted nails can’t be removed then remove rust by sanding nail heads to bare metal and countersink
• Prime with a stain blocking rust inhibiting primer
• Caulk, fill or patch depressed nail heads and sand smooth.
• Paint with a high quality paint.

Symptoms: Peeling Paint Due to Poor Adhesion
Peeling paint is a very common paint problem but can be caused either by moisture or poor adhesion. Peeling due to poor adhesion is characterized by the paint peeling and separating from an earlier paint layer (intercoat peeling) or from the substrate leaving some paint behind. Sometimes portions of earlier paint layers are visible under the curling, peeling paint layer.
Potential Causes:
• Painting over an surface with poor paint surface preparation such as being dirty, wet or shiny.
• Substrate had poor adhesion prior to being repainted.
• Applying an oil based paint over a wet surface.
• Blistering paint allowed to progress in failure.
• Lower quality paint was used.
Possible Repairs:
• Scrape away old peeling paint and feather sand affected areas.
• Spot prime bare area.
• Caulk as required with appropriate caulking product.
• Repaint with a high quality acrylic latex house paint.

Symptoms: Peeling Paint Due to Exterior Moisture Under Paint Film
As mentioned in the previous section, peeling paint is a very common paint problem that can be caused either by moisture or poor adhesion. Peeling due to moisture is recognizable by large peeling sections of paint exposing bare wood underneath. Unlike peeling due to adhesion problems where peeling may be spotty, with moisture related peeling larger areas peel away often around windows, doors and gutters.
Potential Causes:
• Moisture getting behind paint film from failing or missing caulk, leaks in roof or wall systems or being too close to the ground.
• Faulty guttering or missing ventilation causing ice dams or water back up.
• Painting when the surface being painted is wet from condensation or rain.
Possible Repairs:
• Ensure proper drainage of gutters and downspouts flowing away from home.
• Eliminate cause or source of moisture by installing exhaust fans, soffit vents, siding vents, louvers, fans, and dehumidifiers.
• Repair and replace missing or damaged caulk.
• Scrape away old peeling paint and feather sand affected areas.
• Spot prime bare area.
• Caulk as required with appropriate caulking product.
• Repaint with a high quality acrylic latex house paint.

Symptoms: Peeling Paint Due to Interior Moisture Under Paint Film
Peeling of interior paint due to moisture is characterized by cracking and gentle peeling away of the paint from the substrate as it loses adhesion due to the moisture. Moisture originating from behind the paint film or in front and forcing its way through the paint film can create this type of paint failure.
Potential Causes:
• High humidity areas such as bathrooms, kitchens, hot tubs, wet basement areas and the like can create humidity that penetrates the paint film from the front.
• Leaking flashing around a chimney or other exterior wall / roof intersection can allow water to seep into the house and wet the plaster from behind the paint film causing the paint to separate from the substrate.
Possible Repairs:
• Ventilate high moisture areas such as bathrooms by providing an exhaust vent fan that removes humidity and discharges to the outside.
• Ensure proper ventilation of the roof and walls and soffits.
• Repair missing or damaged flashing at chimney or other wall / roof connections.
• Scrape away old peeling paint and feather sand affected areas.
• Spot prime bare area.
• Paint with high quality acrylic latex paint.

Porous surfaces like raw wood or drywall need primers so the paint can sit on top. Soaking into the surface will draw out some of the binders and solvents, changing the final composition of the dry coating.
Water soluble stains that would are activated with water based paints, and bleed through, need sealers.
Slick surfaces need adhesion primers to really grip the surface.
Ferrous metal needs rust inhibitive primers to prevent corrosion.
Galvanized metal needs primer to grip to the metal.
Fresh stucco if not properly aged needs a primer to neutralize the alkalinity of the concrete and prevent alkaline burns.
Existing oil based coatings need a primer to be painted over with a water based coating, and in this case an oil based primer is preferred. The water based coatings stick great to oil based undercoats.

Hiring an interior painting specialist makes a big difference. The money you spend to do it is more than compensated by the time you save not doing it yourself. There just isn’t an upside to tackling a large interior painting project on your own. If your work full time for a living, you’ll be giving up your free time and weekends to do a job that nine out of ten homeowners call in a professional to finish. It’s not that painting is rocket science, but it is something that should be left to those who have experience doing it.

The same applies to the exterior of your home. Painting a garage door or the hatch to your crawl space is one thing. Paint an entire house wrong and you’ve just taken a major loss, in time and money. Now, you’re going to have to call an exterior residential painting company to fix it. Was it worth it? What started out as saving a few dollars now has you spending twice as much to get the job done right. Take our advice. Don’t go there if you don’t have to. Call us at the beginning of the process, not the end.

If you are a DIY kind of person and are determined to paint on your own, call us and let us help you get started. Many of the mistakes made on a painting project originate from the preparation and material purchasing stages. Buy the wrong paint or invest in the wrong equipment and you’ll have a mess on your hands. We can help you avoid that. Give us a call today to learn more.

A properly made cabinet should have a protective coat of primer or stain on it that was put there back when the item was first put together. If it’s real wood, there is a treatment process it went through to protect it from rot and/or water damage. Knowing what that process was is important when you choose the type of paint you’re going to use to paint it. It’s also important to find out what kind of paint was used before. You may have to remove all of the old coats before you can add a new one, particularly if you’re changing colors.

One question you need to ask is how much you actually care about how it looks when you’re done. If you’re going to throw it in a back corner of the basement for storage and open it once every five years, by all means paint it yourself. If you’re painting kitchen cabinets, forget the DIY idea. You need a professional interior painting specialist to do a job like that for you. To do it properly, the cabinets need to be taken down from the wall, disassembled, and painted piece by piece if you want them to look brand new when we’re done. You don’t want to tackle a job like that yourself.

If your cabinets are not real wood, you may not want to paint them at all. Putting a coat of paint on metal or particle board will cheapen the look of the cabinet, not improve it. There are ways to change the color or shine up an item like that, but it may not be paint. Call us here at Majic Painting before you do anything. We’ll take a look at your cabinets and let you know what the best solution is for you and how much it will cost.

That type of attitude makes a difference. A painter who rushes through a job without really caring about the final result is likely to do shoddy painting. Even those who are conscientious can overlook certain aesthetic details if they don’t treat their work as art and not just another job. When we hire new employees we screen them thoroughly for all of the standard issues service industries are plagued by. We check references, do background checks and testing, and then we sit down with them and have a serious conversation about painting,

That conversation is the determining factor in the decision about whether or not we hire a new employee. We ask one simple question. “How do you feel about painting as a profession?” Some look at it as just another way to make a living, others are doing it until they can move on to something else, a select few have real passion for it. Those are the men and women we want to add to our Milwaukee house painting team. It shows in the end result when we paint your home. Anyone can look at the work we do and see that we employ people who care about a job well done.

When viewing a painting on canvas, beauty is in the eye of the beholder and art for one person may seem like random scribbling to another. House painting, other than your choice of colors, doesn’t have that wide a range of human emotions attached to it, but a quality paint job will still instill a feeling of satisfaction and delight in the homeowner who is the beneficiary of it. We want you to have that feeling. Call us and let us provide you a free painting estimate for a true work of art.

Unlike Joe Isuzu, we can actually back those words up with some evidence. As an established Milwaukee house painting company, we have built a customer base of satisfied homeowners and commercial landlords who are willing to provide us references. When new customers call, we’re able to point them to these folks to help set their minds at ease. The list is long enough that there’s likely to be someone on it who you know and trust already, so you’ll feel comfortable hiring us.

Of course, even someone else’s word on something doesn’t mean that you’ll be able to let your walls down completely. Trust has to be earned over time, and what you’ll want to know up front is whether or not you can trust us enough to hand over a down payment on the job. This is the area where most homeowners have problems with local painters. Unfortunately, it happens often enough to make doing business in our industry difficult for the rest of us. Before handing us any money, please check us out thoroughly with the local Chamber of Commerce and BBB. Our record is flawless, no small feat when you’re a service provider.

When you invite someone into your home to do some interior painting, you either have to trust them or follow them around throughout the entire job. The former is preferable, the latter is annoying, for both you and your painting contractor. Our goal is to establish trust with you before we begin the work. We do that by providing you solid references and following through on our promises, particularly the one we make when we give you a free painting estimate. The price you pay at the end will be the same one we quoted to you at the beginning, no surprises.

Here at Majic Painting, we pride ourselves on positive principles like a good job for a fair price and honesty at all times with our customers. Most of our new business today comes from referrals, a testament to the work that we do. No one recommends a service provider to friends and family unless they are completely satisfied with the job that was done. You may be reading this because someone pointed you in our direction. Doesn’t that tell you something about what we’re all about?

If you’re shopping for a Milwaukee painting company and aren’t sure whether to believe all the claims they are making, ask for references. If you want to know exactly how much a house painting project is going to cost you, ask for a free painting estimate. We’re happy to provide both upon request. Our customer base includes dozens of satisfied homeowners who would be happy to tell you all about us. Many of them are your friends and neighbors here in Milwaukee. You’d be surprised who we’ve done work for in the past. We’ve been at this for some time now.

If someone in your profession goes out and embezzles from a client or does a shoddy job, you should not be blamed for it, right? Unfortunately, those types of incidences tend to reflect on your industry as a whole, undermining what you do with integrity and good faith every day. Think about that and you’ll understand what we go through every time another painting contractor mistreats one of their customers. That doesn’t mean that we do the same. We’re different. Give us a call and find out how and why.

To answer the DIY excuse, yes, you can do it yourself. If you have a little bit of experience you might even do a good job of it, but do you know what kind of paint you should use? When should you prime first? How much sanding should you do? Is it necessary to get the old coat of paint off first or can you just paint right over it? What about corners and angles? Have you ever removed and replaced pipes, conduits, shingles, and edging that need to be taken out for you to paint under it? These may seem like little things, but not doing the job properly can lead to rot and pest infestations later down the line. You may not see those until it’s too late.

Here at Majic Painting, we offer a free painting estimate to anyone interested in our services. You can’t make a decision that something costs too much if you don’t know how much you have to pay for it, though some people do. You might be surprised to learn that home painting is not as expensive as you thought it was. We try to keep our prices low because we know what it costs to maintain a home, especially during tough economic times. We all just lived through a terrible recession that cost many folks their homes, so we’re not going to inflate our prices on you now that you’ve gotten through that and want to improve your property.

If you think that “it doesn’t need it yet”, think again. Painting is an investment, not an expense. Once the paint on the outside of the house starts to peel and crack, the wood on the inside of the house is at risk. The elements will get in and destroy a home from the inside out if you don’t stay on top of the maintenance needed to keep it sealed tight. Painting is one of the most important tasks on that maintenance list. Don’t put it off too long or you could end up spending what you’re think you’re saving on new construction. Those guys charge a lot more than we do.

Spring is a good time for home painting. The weather is warm and pleasant and the days are starting to get longer so we can get the job done in less time. The last thing you want is to have ladders and drop cloths surrounding your house for weeks on end. Here at Majic Painting, when we take a job we finish it in the minimum amount of hours possible. That’s one of the reasons why so many of our customers refer us to friends and relatives after we’re done at their house.

Another good reason to hire a Milwaukee house painting company in spring is the amount of time it leaves you before the next winter to do other things around the house. You may want to do some landscaping or plant bushes. You don’t want painters trampling over all that new work just after its completed, do you? We all own homes also and we wouldn’t want us to come in after the landscapers. It’s not that we’re not careful. We are, but new landscaping is likely to be less rooted and more susceptible to accidental damage. Once grass and bushes have been in for a while, they’re more resistant to destructive forces like feet and heavy equipment.

Along with landscaping, you may decide to put a fence up, plant some flowers, or buy new patio furniture to entertain with over the summer. You’ll want to do all of that after your house is painted, not before. How will you know how your new additions look with the new color, or even the old color made to look new? Contrast is important. You have to live in it, so do your household tasks in the right order. Spring is here and its time to paint. Give Majic Painting a call and we’ll get it done quickly and affordably.