Archives for February 2014

Winter Home Maintenance Checklist

February 25, 2014 By

House in Winter, Wilmington NCHarsh winter weather can be tough on a house. That is why routine maintenance during this time of year is critical. Not only can a few simple tasks keep your home looking its best, paying attention to certain details can also save you a bundle on future maintenance and your electric bill.

Please use the following checklist as a handy guide for wintertime “to-do’s”…

  • Either do a thorough inspection of your home’s exterior, or pay a professional to do it. The goal is to assure that the home’s roof and gutter system, windows and doors are all in excellent working order. The old-fashioned, yet tried and true method of testing window and door seals is to hold a lit candle inside the home near window or door seams. If it flickers quite a bit, that means cold air from the outside is rushing in!
  • Replacing the caulking and weather stripping around windows and doors makes a huge difference in how well they function. Because over time, building materials expand and contract with changes in temperature and moisture, caulk and weather stripping can pull away from the areas they were applied to. Caulk that has past its prime also tends to harden and become brittle.
  • The professional team from Colour Solutions will be happy to inspect your windows and doors to see it it’s time to replace the old caulk or weather stripping. Based on your home’s construction materials, they will also be able to recommend which products will be best for the job.
  • After new caulking is applied, there’s nothing to seal it in place better than a fresh coat of paint!
  • Sometimes caulking and weather stripping are just not enough. If advised, replace old or inefficient doors and windows with new EnergyStar approved ones. When doors and windows are not effectively blocking the cold air out and keeping the warm air in, it is challenging for your HVAC system to work properly. Failing to address such issues will likely result in higher than normal heating bills.

If you’d like to learn more about how our services can help your home be more energy efficient and looking its best, please give us a call at 910-686-3067.

Filed Under: Exterior Painting Tagged With: , ,

Perfect Time for Commercial Interior Painting

February 12, 2014 By

Commercial Interior PaintingHow are those New Year’s resolutions coming along? If you set goals to increase business, update your office space, or just get your operation more streamlined, it may be time to paint! One of the great things about painting, in addition to being the hands down most cost effective home or office improvement available, is that it forces us to get organized. Surely that was on that list of resolutions for 2014, right?

At Colour Solutions we realize that many of our customers may not think that the winter months are ideal for tackling a commercial painting project. However, we think it’s a great time! A number of factors can come into play which make updating or redecorating with a fresh coat of paint the best option from now through the busy spring and summer seasons. For example, some businesses see less customer traffic this time of year, so changing the look of the firm’s interior, exterior or both, may be an easier and quicker process as opposed to waiting for warmer temps.

Because cold, dry air may cause shrinkage in wood cabinetry, doors, or trim, and cause gaps, cool weather is the ideal time to address those issues. Today’s new low and no-VOC products make interior painting and staining jobs no problem! Finally, as any local knows, from January through March, the Cape Fear region can easily enjoy days or weeks of unseasonably mild weather, which is great for anyone considering a new exterior paint job.

Wouldn’t you like to give your place of business a new look for the New Year? We encourage you to visit our commercial painting gallery to see commercial jobs we’ve completed in the Wilmington area.

To learn more, schedule an appointment, or discuss paint and stain options, please call Colour Solutions at 910-686-3067.

Filed Under: Blog, Commerical Painting, Interior Painting Tagged With: , ,

The Importance of Routine Gutter Cleaning

February 5, 2014 By

Importance of Routine Gutter CleaningWinter is the ideal time to ensure that debris left behind from the past seasons, including fallen leaves, pine straw, pine cones, small sticks, and acorns, have not clogged your home’s gutters. Clogged gutters may be unable to control the flow of rainwater,  and, as a contributor to ThisOldHouse.com observes, “An inch of rainfall doesn’t sound like much, but when it falls on an average-size roof, it adds up to a 1,900-gallon torrent sluicing off the eaves. That’s an awful lot of water that can cause an awful lot of damage if your gutters aren’t up to the task of controlling it.”

In the ongoing quest of home maintenance, routine gutter cleaning should be done at least twice a year. The good news is that the crew from Colour Solutions is up to the task. That’s right! Now, you can leave the messy and sometimes treacherous job of climbing up the ladder and clearing out that “mystery mess” to us! Even if falling leaves are not a concern, it is beneficial to have a professional examine a home’s gutters for damage and other issues.

A common problem we often encounter in southeastern N.C. is the affinity that squirrels and some birds have for the inner spaces between gutters and gutter guards. Their nests and stashes of acorns may be causing problems that you were not aware of.

When the gutters are full of debris, water becomes trapped and can leak, seep, or freeze. Any of those actions can threaten the integrity of your home’s roof, siding, and foundation. Please give Colour Solutions a call so that we can take the necessary steps to clean out your gutters and ensure they can do their intended job.

Please note that when gutters are clogged, the efficiency of the attached downspout system is severely hampered. Well-maintained gutters serve to divert rainwater away from a home. When they are not draining properly, water can pool around the foundation and too much moisture at the foundation can lead to some very expensive repairs.

To ensure that your gutters are doing their job, let us do ours! Please call the Colour Solutions team at 910-686-3067. Remember that we are also a full-service residential and commercial painting company located in Wilmington, N.C.

Filed Under: Blog Tagged With: , ,