About 15 years ago, Spring Hill was just a place on the way to Columbia. The only other reason to travel to Spring Hill was the GM Plant. Today, the town of Spring Hill is no longer just a place on the way; it is home to many who wish for a quieter place to live than Franklin or Nashville. It is easy to see why many wish to call it home because it has two direct roads to the Franklin area via I-65 and Highway 31.

We love painting homes in Spring Hill, TN. Some of the previous developments further North are a mixture of vinyl siding and brick. Many of the newer homes, located down there near Aubrey’s restaurant, are all brick.

We were recently in Spring Hill painting some shutters and garage doors for a client. While we were there we noticed a trend among many of the homes in the area: the built-in-place wood shutters.

When the general contractor was building the homes in the development we were at, he decided to get creative.

He needed shutters that looked good, were cheap and fast to install, and didn't have to be ordered. He succeeded on all three counts.

He built most of the shutters on the brick homes out of rough sawn lumber, and built them in place with some masonry screws and finishing nails.

This construction method makes removing the shutters on such homes not possible unless you completely disassemble the shutters due to the way he covered up his masonry screw heads with the top and bottom battens.

So our Spring Hill homeowner opted for a different course of action: painting the shutters in place.

And paint we did. We used the SW 9575 Metropolis color you see listed at the top of the page. It turned out wonderful.

Here are just a few notes about painting wood shutters such as these.

First, you will always want to check for wood integrity, the type of wood, and look for any signs of previous stain or treatment.

When I arrived to perform my initial estimate, I could easily tell these shutters had been stained, but that was all. I took my pocket knife and pressed into a small spot on the bottom side of one of them to verify they were made of softwood rather than hardwood. More about why that matters in a moment. I also poured water on the wood, to test for the presence of any type of water seal coat.

Why does all of that matter when painting the wood on your Spring Hill, TN home? Here is why.

You will always want to ensure your wood is in good condition before painting. If there is existing damage or moisture within the wood then, it is already too late. Paint will just cover up the issue.

The reason I wanted to discover if the shutters were made with softwood or hardwood was because I wanted to know how much thermal and moisture expansion to expect over the years. Testing for water seal is obvious. If we decided to use a water based latex, then there may be bonding issues.

Luckily for us, these shutters were made of a softwood, only lightly stained, and no water seal was applied.

Thus, we prescribed a water-based acrylic exterior latex primer specifically designed for wood. It would allow for thermal expansion without cracking or peeling, and give our beautiful top coat something proper to adhere to. Primers are made to bond to the surface, paint is made to bond to the primer or existing paint.

"Paint and primer in one" is a marketing hack...it’s not real, don’t fall for it.

One coat of primer and two coats of paint did the trick.

So if you are one of those homes in Spring Hill, TN and you too wish to step away from that 2016 trend of rough swan lumber trim...give Rockston Renovation a call today at 629-251-2561.