Walk around most Marin houses and you'll find the paint failing in different ways on different sides. The north wall, which the summer fog keeps damp until noon, grows mildew and starts to peel. The south and west walls fade and turn chalky from the afternoon sun. Window sills and the bottoms of door trim crack first, because that's where water sits. In Mill Valley, where redwoods shade a lot of homes, moisture is the bigger problem. In Tiburon, with the bay right there, salt air dulls the finish. Inland around Novato, the summer heat is what wears it down. An exterior paint job that ignores those differences looks good for a season and then starts coming apart in the same spots.
Free Estimate
Below, we cover the signs your house is due, the paints and primers that hold up here, how we work from scraping to final coat, and how often a Marin exterior really needs repainting. If your project includes the deck or the fence, we handle deck and fence staining on the same visit, so the whole outside of the property gets done at once. Every job starts with a free walkthrough and a written estimate, so you know the scope and the price before any work begins.
Signs Your Exterior Needs Paint
Run your hand along the siding on the sunny side. If it comes away with a white or colored powder, the paint is chalking, which means the binder has broken down and the coating is wearing thin. Peeling and blistering are more urgent, since each one is a spot where water is already getting behind the paint. Look closely at window sills, the bottom edges of trim boards and the ends of siding boards, where cracks tend to show first. Gray, bare wood anywhere means it's been exposed for a while. Mildew streaks on a shaded wall can sometimes be washed off, but if they keep coming back, the paint underneath has usually lost its grip. Front doors and garage doors facing the street often show wear early too, since they take the full afternoon sun.
Paints and Primers That Hold Up in Marin
Most Marin siding gets a 100% acrylic exterior paint. Acrylic stays flexible as wood swells in wet weather and shrinks in dry weather, so it cracks less than older oil-based coatings. Sheen matters too. A flat or low-sheen finish on the body of the house hides small dents and uneven boards, while satin or semi-gloss on trim and doors holds up better to hands and weather and is easier to clean. Cedar and redwood, which cover a lot of homes here, need extra care. Both woods contain natural tannins that bleed through latex paint as brown stains. A stain-blocking primer on bare or repaired spots stops that before it starts. On shady, fog-prone walls, we use a mildew-resistant paint. Good paint costs more per gallon, but on a Marin exterior it's the cheapest part of the job compared with the labor of doing it all again.
How We Paint Your Exterior
We start with a walkthrough to mark every spot that needs repair. Then the house gets washed and left to dry, because paint doesn't bond to dirt or damp wood. Next comes scraping off every loose flake, sanding rough edges smooth and patching small areas of rot. Gaps around windows, doors and trim get fresh caulk. Bare wood gets primer. Before any paint goes on, we cover windows, walkways, plants and anything else nearby. Then we apply the finish coats, body first and trim last, following the sun around the house so paint doesn't dry too fast on a hot wall. Large, plain siding areas are often sprayed and then back-rolled to push the paint into the grain, while trim and detail work is brushed. At the end, we walk the house with you and fix anything that isn't right.
How Often a Marin Exterior Needs Repainting
There's no fixed schedule, because the same house wears differently from wall to wall. A sheltered wall under deep eaves can go years longer than a sun-baked one with no overhang. Homes near the water usually need attention sooner, and so do homes on shady, damp lots where mildew keeps returning. Instead of counting years, check the house once a year, ideally in late summer before the rains. Look for chalking, cracks at the trim and any bare wood. Painting at the first signs of wear costs less, since there's less scraping and wood repair to do. Wait until boards are gray and split, and the prep bill grows along with the risk of rot behind the siding. Fresh caulk and touch-ups on the worst spots between full repaints can also stretch the time between jobs.
Thinking about the inside of the house too? We handle interior painting with the same prep and cleanup, room by room.
Common Questions
Yes, with the right prep. Latex paint applied straight over old oil-based paint often peels, because it can't grip the hard, glossy surface. We test the old coating first, then clean it, scuff-sand it to dull the surface and apply a bonding primer made for the job. Once that primer is on, an acrylic topcoat holds well. Older Marin homes often have several layers of oil paint under newer coats, so this test is part of every walkthrough.
We do. Stucco is common on Marin homes from the mid-century on, and it needs a different approach than wood. We wash it, fill hairline cracks with an elastomeric patch so they don't show through, and use a masonry paint that lets moisture escape from the wall. Stucco soaks up more paint than smooth siding, so it usually takes a heavier first coat. Painted properly, it holds its color well in the sun.
Yes. During the walkthrough we talk about your roof color, any stone or brick that won't be painted, and the homes around yours, since all of that affects what works. We can paint sample patches on a couple of walls so you see the colors in morning fog and afternoon sun before deciding. Some Marin neighborhoods and HOAs have color rules, so if yours does, bring them along and we'll work within them.