House painters in Columbia City, Indiana

Painting a newer house outside

About 28% of Columbia City's homes were built in 2000 or later, and fewer than half, 46%, before 1980. On the newer streets the siding is usually vinyl or fiber cement, and each has one rule that matters.

Vinyl: watch the color. Paint makers use a number called light reflectance value, or LRV, which runs from 0 for black to 100 for white. Sherwin-Williams tells painters not to put a color with an LRV under 56 on vinyl, or any color darker than the siding's original, unless it comes from the company's vinyl-safe palette. Benjamin Moore draws its line at 57. A dark color soaks up heat, and Behr's data sheet warns the warping that follows can't be undone. If you want your tan house to be charcoal, ask the painter which vinyl-safe color gets closest.

Fiber cement: skip the pressure washer. James Hardie says a pressure washer can damage its siding and recommends a garden hose and a soft brush. The factory finish on its ColorPlus boards carries a 15-year limited warranty. Once that finish fades, the boards take acrylic paint well.

Neither kind of house involves lead paint, and neither needs much scraping. With less prep, a repaint on a newer home costs less than a scrape-and-prime job on an old one the same size. See exterior house painting for what the job includes.

Inside: getting past builder's paint

New houses are often finished in one flat, inexpensive paint on walls and ceilings alike. It marks easily and doesn't scrub. The first repaint is a chance to fix that:

• Eggshell or satin on walls in halls, kids' rooms and the kitchen, where hands and furniture touch them
• Semi-gloss on trim and doors
• Flat kept on the ceilings, where it hides the drywall seams

Two-story foyers and stairwells in newer plans need tall ladders or staging. Point them out when you ask for a price, because they are priced apart from ordinary rooms. Room prices are on the interior painting page.

The old part of town

Columbia City isn't all new. About 21% of its homes predate 1940, and the downtown and the blocks around it have been a National Register historic district since 1987, with late Victorian and revival-style buildings. For those houses the older-home rules apply: assume lead in the old paint on anything from before 1978. The listing doesn't limit what owners paint, and we found no local review board.

Subdivision covenants are the rule to check in the newer neighborhoods. Some set approved exterior colors or ask for approval before a change. Covenants are recorded with the county, and your homeowners association can give you a copy.

Columbia City painting questions