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An exterior in New Orleans starts with a question no other city on our list asks: are you allowed to paint it yet.
The job here
An exterior in New Orleans starts with a question no other city on our list asks: are you allowed to paint it yet. Inside the Vieux Carre a paint permit is required for all exterior painting, and it applies whether or not the wall faces the street. Across the HDLC districts, exterior work runs on a Certificate of Appropriateness instead.
Inside the Quarter the product list is restricted as well, and it catches people out. Sealers, ceramic coatings, elastomeric coatings and waterproofing or water-repellent coatings are all prohibited, and rotary sanders are not allowed on the preparation either. Those bans exist because the buildings need to breathe: trapping moisture inside soft old brick does damage that outlasts the paint by decades.
Once the paperwork is settled the job itself is a wood job. Most of the housing here is timber that has been painted and repainted for a century, so the work is scraping back to sound material, spot priming what comes up bare, and being honest about boards that want a carpenter before they want a brush.
Assume lead until tested. Paint dust off an older building can carry it, and that changes both the preparation and the containment.The tell that something else is wrong is a gallery or porch ceiling peeling while the walls beside it look fine. That is water off a gutter, a downspout or the roof edge above, and coating it without fixing the drainage buys one season. The city puts exterior repainting at every 5 to 8 years, so anything coming due appreciably sooner is pointing at moisture, at inadequate preparation, or at a product that was never compatible with what sat underneath it.
On the ground
Bounded by Iberville, N. Rampart, Esplanade and the river. A paint permit is required before any exterior work at all here, it applies whether or not the wall in question faces the street, and four of the coating types a painter would ordinarily reach for are prohibited outright. Plan the review first.
Shotguns, doubles and raised center halls, almost all of it wood. The preparation is the job here. Boards that want a carpenter get named as such at the estimate, not quietly painted over and left for whoever comes next.
Why the quote says two
Painting a house here is a different job from painting one in a dry climate. Humidity changes how long a coat stays open, and it decides how much film you need on a wall before the weather starts taking it back.
First coat
The first coat is doing a different job from the second. It bonds to what is underneath and it tells us where the substrate is still drinking, which is information you only get once paint is actually on the wall.
Second coat
The second coat is where the color goes true and the film reaches the thickness printed on the tin. One coat over a sound wall looks fine from the driveway and looks thin on the north side by spring.
How it runs
The same three on every job in New Orleans, whatever the trade.
Book your free consultation by phone or through the form. Ask for references at any time.
You get a project schedule and an accurate quote, whatever the size of the job.
Your painter starts, keeps you updated, and tidies up when the job is done.
2,500
Jobs finished
12
Cities covered
2
Coats quoted as standard
$0
Cost of an estimate
Questions we get asked
The first two are about exterior painting in New Orleans. The rest come up on almost every estimate.
Not answered here?
Ask it on the estimate call. No charge, no obligation.
Mon to Fri, 8:00 AM to 6:00 PM. Sat and Sun closed.
View more FAQsIn the French Quarter, yes, always, and it covers the exterior whether or not the wall faces the street. In an HDLC district it is a Certificate of Appropriateness. Outside both, generally no. Give us the address and we will tell you which applies.
Because it is prohibited there, and the reason is sound: it seals moisture inside a wall that was built to let it out. On soft old brick that does damage lasting far longer than the coating does.
For a Vieux Carre job, further than most people expect. Applications have to be in two weeks before the meeting that considers them, so the review sits at the front of the timeline, not at the end.
Yes. For most projects our paint specialists can match almost any color on your home from a chip or a wet sample. If an exact match is not possible we will talk you through the next best option.
It varies by material and exposure. Stucco every 5 to 6 years. Painted brick 15 to 20 years. Aluminum siding every 5 to 6 years. A wall that takes afternoon sun will always come due first.
No. Our team covers and protects furniture and floors. If a piece is delicate or awkward to move, it is worth taking it out of the room beforehand.
Yes. Every estimate is written for two coats over prepared surface, and the number you get is the number for the finished job. If a surface genuinely only needs one, we say so and the quote comes down instead of staying where it was.
Nearby and next door
Every link below is a real page, not a filter. Pick the trade or the town you actually want.
Not sure which? Call 504-226-6252 and we will tell you.
Other trades in New Orleans
4Exterior Painting elsewhere
6Either way
Whether you have a small interior project or a large-scale exterior makeover in mind, Big Easy Paintings is your partner for the work. Talk to us about the project, get a quote, and we will tell you plainly what it takes.
Free estimate
On site or remote, in all twelve towns. No charge and no obligation. If it is quicker to talk, call 504-226-6252 and we will pick up.
Or call 504-226-6252
No range, no surprise second visit to finish what one coat could not.
