The key factors to ensure the long-term quality and value of Exterior Finishes on your custom home

Extending Exteriors

When considering an addition, remember that a home's exterior finish is literally its face to the world. The combination of materials, colors, and textures delivers a first and lasting impression and evokes pride and value. The right exterior finishes for a given climate and their proper installation also reduce ongoing maintenance chores and replacement and repair costs. Along with aesthetics and maintenance, updating and replacing finishes on an existing home can significantly boost its resale value.

In our experience, there are several factors that help ensure the long-term quality and value of exterior finishes, namely:

Top-Quality Materials. There's no substitute for the best-made roofing, siding, and trim. As a professional remodeling contractor, we work to find the best-quality exterior materials while honoring our client's budget. As an example , factory prefinished wood might be a good choice opposed to painting wood on site. It is equally important to find materials that match the style of the existing home and seamlessly blend the new with the old.

Professional Installation. An exterior finish is only as good as its installation. We work with and supervise professional installers or train our own crews to install and finish exterior products properly. We then inspect and approve their work. To ensure long-term value, lasting good looks, and low maintenance, we use the recommended type and number of fasteners, allow for slight, climate-induced shrinking and swelling, and seal joints between materials to avoid buckling and separation.

Water Resistance. We've learned to respect water and allow for possible intrusion behind exterior finishes. We utilize strategies to shed and vent moisture away before it causes any damage that requires maintenance, extensive repairs, or replacement.

Common solutions include weather-resistant barriers for the roof and sidewalls, flashing around windows and doors, metal drip edges and kick-out flashing at roof eaves, airspaces and weep holes for brick or stone veneers, gutter and drainage systems, and rainscreens .These materials and methods serve to keep incidental water from ruining a high-quality job. We also waterproof our basements, not just dampproof them. Mildew/moldy in basements is a thing of the past.

Proper Painting. The value of a high-quality, exterior-rated paint cannot be overstated. Over a well-prepared surface (a job in itself), a universally thick layer of paint can last much longer than the conventional 7-10 years before it requires a new coat. It is essential that the paint be applied over a completely dry surfaces. For wood-based siding, such as clapboards or shingles, we may specify a factory-applied primer that encases the entire panel against moisture. This enables better adhesion with the finish coat of paint which is applied after the siding has been installed.

As a professional remodeler, we take pride not just in how our projects perform and meet a client's needs, but also how they look -- especially over time. We also want our clients to enjoy as few ongoing maintenance chores and costs as possible and avoid expensive repairs or replacements before their time. Properly applied exterior finishes are critical to achieving those goals and exceeding the expectations of our homebuyers.

Warm Regards,

Doug Abbott
Village Builders


 This is an excerpt from a newsletter that is distributed to all former, current and future clients of Village Builders Inc.  If you would like to receive this newsletter feel free to email me at www.robabbott@villagebuilders.ca

Rob Abbott
Operations Manager
Village Builders Inc.