Exterior Church Painting and Complete Church Restoration

Exterior church painting and restoration is often hindered by soaring heights and steep pitches. This is further complicated by lead paints and years of built up coatings. When your church looks for a painting contractor be sure to hire church painters with experience in historic church painting and restoration. The church painters of Inspired Heights are steeplejacks, experienced high workers who know historic paints. But, we don’t stop there. Staying current on epoxies and different specialty coatings we are more than just an exterior church painting contractor… we are exterior church restoration specialists.

Lead Safe Church Renovation

Contractors working on homes and child occupied facilities built before 1978 are required to be certified and follow certain procedures when working around potentially contaminated surfaces.

According to the EPA about half of structures built before 1978 have lead-based paint. The likelihood increases with age: „ Two out of three if built between 1940 and 1960 and a whopping nine out of ten buildings built before 1940 are contaminated with lead-based paint. Lead-based paint may be found on many surfaces of older churches and when the paint is disturbed during renovation, repair or painting activities, dangerous amounts of lead dust can be created. Jobs such as demolition, window replacement, opening up walls, etc., can also release accumulated lead dust into the environment. Inspired Heights are church painting contractors certified in lead safe renovation. Church painters who are experts in the procedures necessary to assure a safe exterior church restoration.

Surface Preparation

Proper preparation is the key to a beautiful painting restoration that your church will appreciate for years to come. A properly prepared surface is clean, solid and dry, without cracks and imperfections. Whenever possible removing all previous coatings is ideal but not always feasible. Inspired Heights practices the following procedures:

Bare Wood

• Caulk and fill nail holes, joints and cracks.
• Replace or use wood fortifying epoxies on softer deteriorated surfaces.
• Sand smooth and clean
• Prime all bare wood and patched areas with a quality primer.

Previously Painted Surfaces

• Wash off dirt, grease and other buildup with the appropriate cleaner. Rinse thoroughly.
• Remove loose paint, rust and powdery substances.
• Patch and repair holes and cracks with the proper compound (i.e. fiberglass, epoxy, etc.). Allow to dry, then sand smooth.
• For glossy or nonporous surfaces, scuff sand to a dull finish.
• Prime entire surface with the proper bonding primer prior to applying topcoat. (“Spot priming,” can result in a non-uniform appearance between primed and non-primed areas.)

Painting Church Exterior

After properly preparing the surface to be painted we then apply a quality paint. The church painters of Inspired Heights are familiar with many quality paints but unless the church requests an alternative coatings recommends the following products.

Metallic Paints and Finishes

Metallic paints like gold and copper do not typically endure very well, especially outside. The metal flakes in the paint oxidize, rust and tarnish when exposed to the weather and UV rays. However, we have found a quality paint that uses seashells to produce the metallic effect. Therefore, for a metallic finish for your church dome, steeple or exterior we highly recommend Acrymax AF 132P.

Regular Finish

When painting your church’s exterior you want to use a product that will last. There are many “good” paints out there and they vary widely in price but by far my favorite is Sherwin Williams Duration. A thick solid finish that is extremely durable. It’s a bit pricey but worth the cost.

Other Church Exterior Restoration Services

In addition to being church painters Inspired Heights offers other exterior church restoration services including:

Tuck Pointing and Stucco Repairs

Church Window Repairs

Church Roof Installation and Repairs

Church Steeples

As a Believer I recognize that we’re the church and what what happens inside is far more important than what the church exterior looks like. Perhaps, more importantly what we do outside the walls of the church building is a better demonstration of our faith. But, that being said, there is something special about the sacred place we call the House of God and the Church architecture that is often rich in liturgical symbolism.​

Let the craftsmen and church painters of Inspired Heights keep your church exterior looking its best.