Anyone can call themselves a painter. They can pick up a can of paint and offer to paint the walls of any building that needs it. That doesn’t mean that they are professional commercial painters. In facilities that offer assisted living for older adults, choosing the right commercial painters can mean the difference between disrupting residents or continuing the continuity in their care.
What is an Assisted Living Facility?
Assisted living facilities are a community where older adults can live while they get the health care and supervision that they require. Keeping the facilities and living spaces up to date with fresh paint can make it more comfortable and inviting. Peeling paint can be an eyesore and dangerous for residents.
In most states, assisted living communities are licensed, registered, or certified by the appropriate department or agency in that state. They also must go through the initial licensing and renewals to remain in operation.
These facilities offer residents amenities that include:
- Around the clock supervision
- Three meals a day in a group dining setting
- Personal care services, including bathing, dressing, toileting
- Medication management or assistance with self-administering medicine
- Social services
- Supervision and assistance for people who have Alzheimer’s and other dementia conditions
- Recreational activities
- Spiritual activities
- Age-appropriate exercise and wellness programs
- Laundry and linen services
- Housekeeping
- Maintenance
- Transportation arrangements
Every resident receives individualized services that help them function within the assisted living facility.
Assisted Living Accommodations
The accommodations available for residents who become a part of an assisted living community will differ from one facility to the next. Accommodations like private rooms, private baths, and kitchenettes may not be a part of every facility. Every area of a facility has to be up to regulations, including the paint that is found on the walls.
Caring for those who suffer from Alzheimer’s or dementia requires familiar surroundings for the resident. Keeping consistent colors throughout the facility can help to bring familiarity and bring calmness to those residents. Using the right colors are important, which commercial painters who have experience in assisted living facility painting can do.
Why Assisted Living Facilities Hire Commercial Painters
Assisted living facilities hire professional commercial painters to handle their interior and exterior painting jobs because of their expertise. These professionals know what it takes to handle an assisted living facility’s requirements and ensure that all of the regulations and expectations are upheld.
Licensed, Insured, & Bonded
Professional commercial painters know what it means to keep the properties that they work on protected. They also make sure that they cover the property owners and their workers protected at the same time. That is why professionals have licensing, insurance, and provide the warranties they need before they begin working on a painting project.
A professional painting company working on an assisted living facility should:
- Provide the facility a warranty that covers labor and materials at the time of the quote
- Have licensure issued by the state
- Offer full worker’s compensation benefits
- Use equipment that is right for the project, including lifts, scaffolding, and ladders to ensure safety at any height during the project
- Maintain and be current on all safety certifications, including Fall Protection and Aerial Life Operation
- Maintain a multi-million dollar general liability insurance coverage
- Be in the position to provide a bond if it is required
Expert Painting and Other Services
Commercial painters aren’t just painters. They offer various other work that can help improve the assisted living facility during the sprucing up process. While many people think that they can handle the tasks on their own within the facility, the truth is that they don’t have the skills necessary to handle all of the different tasks that come with the commercial painting process.
Professionals have the right tools and equipment to get the job done right, ensuring that the paint job is long-lasting. Interior and exterior commercial painting jobs may include:
- Offering repair for drywall and masonry
- Caulking and sealing
- Interior wall painting
- Exterior building painting
- Power washing
- Trim painting (interior and exterior services)
- Painting and staining wood
- Door and window painting
- Ceiling painting
Commercial painters also provide sealants and other services that can be used on the building’s exterior parts to ensure a longer-lasting finish. A lot of commercial painting companies offer additional contracting services that may be of benefit to assisted living facilities.
Quick, Efficient, & Flexible
Assisted living facilities are a community and a home for the residents that live there. Commercial painters understand that disruptions must be kept to a minimum to ensure that the residents’ livelihood is not disrupted. Preparation and painting have to be done during the best times and quickly enough to have minimal disruptions.
There may be better times for an assisted living facility to have commercial painters come in to paint the facility. For some facilities, weekends may be less hectic and be easier for the residents. In other facilities, a night schedule for a painting job may be more convenient. No matter what the timing, commercial painters will accommodate these requests.
Choosing Paint for Assisted Living Facilities
There are a lot of different paint factors that come into play with assisted living facilities. Many of the residents that live in these facilities have compromised or sensitive respiratory systems. The odors and fumes from the paint can be hazardous to those residents and anyone else who may come into contact with them.
Knowing that the paint matters, commercial painters discuss the options with the assisted living facility management. Many paints contain volatile organic compounds (VOCs), which are photo chemicals that are activated in room temperature conditions. VOCs are what create the harmful fumes and odors that are problematic with paints.
In medical settings, like assisted living facilities, low-to-no VOC paints are recommended. These paints are specifically designed to have little to no fumes or odors, reducing the risk of hazards to the residents. Some paints can take it a step further, specialized with antimicrobial and microbicidal properties. Antimicrobial paints are resistant to microbes, and microbicidal paints are resistant to infection-causing bacteria.
Paint Color Matters
In assisted living facilities, color plays an important role for residents. What visitors may see as paint that reduces glare or is a neutral color may be significant to the resident. The use of neutrals and contrasting colors make a significant impact on the comfort and mental health of the residents.
Colors can be visual cues for an older adult. Even those adults that have Alzheimer’s or dementia may benefit from these color cues. Familiarity can help when these patients are feeling homesick and begin to wander.
Popular colors you might find within a facility are:
Green – Earthy and foresty tones can promote the feeling of healing, relaxation, and serenity within the room or setting.
Blue – Shades of blue are often reminiscent of water, and the hues of the beach can bring about feelings of peace. The calming color can help to reduce resident stress.
White – Neutral colors like white, cream, and eggshell are indicative of hope and spirituality. They may also be seen as a cleansing and calming color. They are more of a homestyle shade.
Yellow – Shades of yellow can stimulate happiness. They are often seen as cheerful colors.
Red – Red is a more vibrant and stimulating color that signals strength and mental alertness.
Brown – Earthy tones and espresso shades of brown are more likely to stimulate balance.
When looking to create a more balanced color approach within an assisted living facility, commercial painters can help make suggestions that will make the place more balanced. There may be suggestions made that involve keeping the color scheme the same for those residents who will become more disoriented with the color changes. The same applies to the outside of the buildings within the community. They should remain the same so that there is no confusion and reduces the risk of becoming lost.
Color and Design Matter in Memory Care Settings
Residents who suffer from problems with their memory require consistency in their settings. The reason for this is to provide a level of familiarity for them. Memory patients with Alzheimer’s or dementia often have lucid moments and other moments when they “aren’t there.” Commercial painters know the importance of making sure that the colors match and do not stray from the shades that were already in place.
Commercial painters will likely have to move furniture around to create the space they need for painting. The layout of a memory care resident’s room is extremely important to their wellbeing. These residents become accustomed to their surroundings and feel safe, but when changes occur, it can cause more damage than good.
Assisted living facilities often look to commercial painting companies that are sensitive to these types of situations. Families trust these assisted living facilities to care for their loved ones, especially those who need memory care. Commercial contractors who can handle these types of environments can help ease the changes caused by painting areas.
Commercial Painters Keep The Facility Clean and Protected
Professionals won’t leave a mess for the residents and staff to clean up. They know that it is important to make sure that everyone in and around the facility is safe before, during, and after the work is completed. Messes can happen during the painting process, and those shouldn’t be the problem of the assisted living facility to clean up. Proper preparation can help reduce or even eliminate these messes.
Some of the ways that commercial painters keep an assisted living facility clean during the painting process are:
- Drop cloths are used to protect flooring, furniture, and other decorative items that may be in the area that is being painted
- They maneuver around the overhead lighting fixtures and any other chandeliers to ensure that the paint stays on the surface and doesn’t end up on places where it doesn’t belong
- Special care is taken to clean up each day to minimize disruption and the risk of injury to staff and residents
Managers and staff of assisted living facilities can put all their focus on their residents, not the commercial painters who are on site. These painters make sure to leave a minimal footprint where they have been. This can make it easier for the residents to continue with their daily lives and activities without disruption.
re:fab Assisted Living Painting Professionals
For over 30 years, re:fab has been at the forefront of painting assisted living facilities. Our project management team handles your project and offers support every day until the project is finished and the assisted living facility is completely satisfied with the work.
The re:fab process is a three-step process that begins with an in-depth phone call about your assisted living center’s painting project. We look at the aspects of your project and come up with a game plan on how we will deliver your project on time and on budget.
Our project management team is transparent about the progress of your project. They keep you in the loop every step of the way, and you won’t be surprised about any part of the assisted living project. We are flexible with our hours of operation, catering to the hours that work for the facility.
At the end of the project, we aren’t finished until you sign off on the quality assurance review. We aren’t satisfied with the job until you are satisfied with it. We make sure that every detail is covered when it comes to your assisted living painting project. Get a free quote today!
