Stamp Paints

Expect

What should you expect?

Thank you for hiring Stamp Paints! This page evolves as clients ask us more questions. We hope you will find it helpful as you prepare for us to come to your home, host us for your project*, and care for your surfaces to make them shine and last. We welcome your feedback on additions or changes.

*Many items included herein are for when we operate business as usual. Please see our safety plan to read about our current precautions.

What do you need to do before we arrive?

  • If your project encompasses many rooms/spaces in your home, consider what order is best for you for completion. We will take that into account when making the best plan of action. In some cases, we may suggest an alternative order to minimize project completion time.

  • Please remove everything from the walls of the room we will work in (assuming we are painting walls). Please also remove as much furniture as possible to give us ample working space. If items need to be left in the room, please move them to the center of the room.

    • If anything is heavy or too laborious, please leave it for us to move and take care of for you. If for some reason the additional prep work adds more than an hour of labor time, we may need to charge a small fee, but this is unlikely and we will discuss it with you in advance. If you have anything of great sentimental or monetary value, especially if it is breakable, we ask you to relocate these items yourself. We are insured, but prefer to avoid mishandling unfamiliar objects.

  • If we are doing exterior work, please ensure you have no poison ivy, poison oak, or other hazardous plants anywhere near our work area. Please also remove any wasp and hornet nests from around your home prior to our first day on the job site. If you have pollinator nests, we do ask that you also make a plan for safely relocating these.

  • Any screws, nails, or other hanging systems left in the walls by you will also be left by us. If you need us to remove them and fill holes, we are happy to do it; please work with us to have a way to indicate which nails to leave and which to remove.  Any holes in your walls from screws or nails you remove will be filled by us.

    • The exception to this is window treatment systems. In most cases we remove the brackets and curtain rods for you. If you remove them yourself, we will be sure to check with you before filling these holes.

  • If we are redoing cabinets for you, you will likely not need to completely empty them. Typically, we need about an inch of space between your dishes and the edge of the cabinets. Any drawers we are painting will need to be completely emptied.

    • In most cases, cabinet drawers and doors will be removed to be finished. We will need six feet of space against a wall in a well-lit, temperature controlled room that doesn't have frequent foot traffic. Both the wall and the floor will be well-protected and will not get paint on them.

    • If you plan to have us install new drawer pulls or handles and have not yet told us, please tell us as soon as possible. If they are not the same size and style as the previous ones, this could affect the job completion timeline.

  • You do not need to clean surfaces. We have special cleaning products we use to make sure soap residue is not a factor. Trust that we have seen – and scrubbed – it all. We will leave your home cleaner than we found it! If you have extenuating circumstances – e.g. a particularly greasy kitchen or a dog in prime shedding season – we will discuss anything extra that might need to be done.

  • If we are working in a bathroom with a shower/bathtub, please work with us to make a plan if you need to use that shower the day of or the day after we finish the work.

  • Are you hosting any other contractors while we are there? Please keep us updated. If we are waiting on another contractor to finish their part before we can begin or battling for the same space, it can delay our timeline.

  • Will your driveway be blocked while we are there? Please make arrangements for us to have a space in your driveway or near your home’s entrance. We need to be able to easily and safely unload and load our equipment, particularly on the first and last day of a job. 

 What should you expect while we are on the job site?

  • We do our very best to keep to the date or date range we discussed at the time you booked your work with us. We will keep in touch with you as your time on our schedule draws nearer. If for some reason you need to postpone work, please give us as much notice as possible.

  • We like to start our day around 8 am and usually clean up by 5:30 pm. We can adapt this as needed to fit your schedule.

  • We will take the time to engage your curious toddler or pet to put them at ease. *

  • We use a dustless sanding system, so your home will be left just as clean, if not cleaner, than how we found it.

  • The prep work will take the longest. Once painting begins, we start with ceilings, progress to trim and finish with the walls. We typically finish one room before moving on to the next; sometimes we stay efficient during dry times and work in multiple rooms at once.

  • Please keep your home as climate controlled as possible both during the duration of the project and until the paint fully cures (typically two weeks). Excessive heat, humidity, or cold will make the paint not dry appropriately or in a timely manner. We also need to ensure a reasonably comfortable working environment for our team. If you are not able to keep your home temperature between 65-75 degrees during the entire duration of the project (including while we are not on site), please let us know.

  • If we are working in a bathroom with a shower, please do not use that shower or take a long, hot bath again for 48 hours after we complete the painting work.

  • If we are doing exterior work, please ensure you have no poison ivy, poison oak, or other hazardous plants anywhere near our work area. If you do, please notify us so we are on guard. You will also be responsible for having it appropriately removed prior to our first day on the job if it is within our workspace.

  • If we are doing exterior work, please remove any wasp and hornet nests from around your home prior to our first day on the job site. If you have pollinator nests, we do ask that you also make a plan for safely relocating these.

  • Please do not use our ladders and make a plan to ensure no minors in your home use them. Any ladders left on site overnight will be safely stored away.

  • We typically bring our lunch and stay on site to eat it. Please let us know if it is not okay to use your microwave or sit at your table. *

  • We will need to use a restroom while working at your home. Please let us know if you have a preference which restroom we use.

  • We like to listen to music to keep us creative and use earbuds so you do not also have to listen to our music. If possible, we appreciate the use of your wifi. 

How do you care for your surfaces after we leave?

  • Please continue to keep your home as climate controlled as possible until the paint fully cures (typically two weeks). Excessive heat, humidity, or cold will make the paint not cure appropriately. Refrain from using showers or building up moisture in a freshly painted bathroom for 48 hours.

  • Please wait a minimum of one week before hanging decorations or pushing any furniture against a wall.

  • If we resurfaced a deck or other exterior area for you, please wait a minimum of a week before putting furniture back or having more than very light foot traffic. Please be prepared that this is something that might need to be done annually because of the inclement weather we experience. To get the most time out of your paint or stain, clear leaves, snow, and other elements often. When clearing snow, use a shovel that will not scratch your surfaces.

  • Your walls will be very scrubbable, if you went with our paint line recommendation(s). We suggest using a cleaner like dirtex (no rinse) or another cleaner that will not leave a soapy residue on your walls. If you use your typical household cleaner, consider diluting it with warm water in a bucket and cleaning from the bucket with a rag. We do not recommend using paper towels or other disposable/paper rags.

  • If you get a small ding in your wall, you may be able to spot fix it without repainting the whole wall. Please feel free to contact us and we will happily provide advice for free. If you need in-person help to fix the spot, we may be able to do it for free, but will need to take that on a case by case basis. Below is a general guideline for advice. Many factors play into the success of a spot fix: the paint line used, the color of the paint, how long ago the wall was painted, and the wall’s exposure to the sun.

    • Fill the ding/hole with a lightweight spackle, we suggest Fast N’Final by DAP. After it fully dries, sand it smooth. Prime the spackled spot using a small roller. You can use almost any primer, we typically use Zinsser Smart Prime. Clean the primer off of your roller when you finish and let it dry while the primer on the wall dries. Once the primer on the wall is dry, use the same roller to paint two coats over your primed spot. You will want to wrap your roller head in aluminum foil between the coats of paint and wash it immediately after your last coat. The roller will be much better than a brush to help with blending. One of the other tricks here is to avoid overlap with the areas you did not prime as much as possible. You want to keep the spot fix as small as you can.  

  • All of the leftover paint will be left at your home in a spot designated by you. The cans will be labeled both with the name of the color and the room it was used in. Note that sometimes the paint color you selected is in paint line that is not the same as the brand of paint used – always look at the color label to confirm the paint line the color is from. When in doubt, contact us or ask Mayer Hardware for the color used in your home by Stamp Paints. They will likely have it under our account and your last name.

  

Thank you!

*Many items included herein are for when we operate business as usual. Please see our safety plan to read about our current safety precautions.

Thank you for your continued support of our family business!

 Kayleigh and Joshua Stampfler