Sandblasting wood will damage it. It should be hand scraped or sanded to remove the old paint. If sanded or blasted, the removal will release lead all over the neighborhood.
No one on the internet can competantly comment on the price of a house paint job they haven't seen. Condition, location and access all play a part in the estimate.
Call in other companies to get additional estimates.
Ron

Ron: Thanks! Now ... does anyone have anything good to say about sandblasting or at least not so negative? Probably not. But maybe someone here has had it actually done to their house and can comment.

Okay, how's about a semi-competent comment on the price of the job? Condition, if sandblasted, will be bare wood. Location is the great NE. Access is unimpeded. Obviously, I'm not asking for anything definitive; just a, yeah that sounds about right; or a, nope that don't sound too good.

Anyway, thanks again!

Condition, if sandblasted, will be bare wood.

Problem is, how much( if any) wood will be left? After 20 odd years in this business,I have never heard of sand blasting wood.Even the brick will be damaged.

arf! maybe i need to rethink the sandblasting. problem is, i can't afford the more expensive options. guess i could let the paint blister and peel for another year, hope for a winning lottery ticket and go from there.
sheesh. my home has been one unpleasant surprise after another...

is vinnyl side over what you got an option...might be cheaper....

sheesh. my home has been one unpleasant surprise after another...

Trust me, it does not get better, but you can say that it was most likely built right. Craftsmanship was the name of the game back then as opposed to throwing up a home over the weekend as they do now.Mine was built in 1924 and I swear as a paper hanger that this old house has more square corners than the multi million dollar homes I work in.

flo
I quess I don't understand why sandblasting is your only option or cheapest option. It's odd that a reputable paint co would sandblast wood - knowing that damage that can be caused by doing so. Gosh if an inexperienced person powerwashes a home, that can cause damage.
Why not have your home scraped & sanded? then painted.

You mentioned stain - if there is 80 yrs of paint on your home It seems unlikely that you will be able to get the siding to a point where it can be stained and look even. - i'm no expert, but i would ? that.

I didn't see anything mentioned about windows. Ext paint job should include repair of any chalking around windows

I think the order should be -
sand/scrape
power wash - may need to dry for several days
primer to any bare wood - 2 coats paint

See if your local paint store can give you some references.

Good luck

See if your local paint store can give you some references.

Good idea,

a/ i suppose vinyl siding is an option, but if i went that route, my girlfriend would leave me, and i love her.

b/ i've had a good number of painters come look at the joint and *none* of them believe a sand job, unless you take it all off and all the way down, is going to do the trick. iow, the usual 'scraped and sanded' isn't going to cut it.

c/ i haven't gotten an actual prepared quote for a down-to-1930-level sand job; but one fellow who came by -- who wouldn't touch the job anyway -- said he'd guess we're talking $40,000 altogether. Yikes! No can do!

d/ i feel kind of wedged b/ a rock and a hard place.

e/ i'm going to look at a sandblasted job later today but it's wood shingles not clapboard, so i'm not sure what that's going to tell me.

f/ help!

but it's wood shingles not clapboard,

What's the price of ripping off the old shingles and reside with new ones?

...and why can you not do part of the preparation for this paint job? Doing it yourself well before you bring in the painter would be much cheaper. In my case, I've removed old fencing before the contractor made the new privacy fence from scratch; I've removed cabinets and old appliances from the old back porch and ripped off the old paneling so we could put in insulation and drywall over it, and made the top formerly screened area bullettproof with polycarbonate. Now I'm taking up the layers of old tiles in the bathroom, removing the old sink cabinet and stripping off layers of paint (down to the original 1950 Chemtone I think) and taking out the old sink--all before the contractor comes to work on the project.

All that is on our small stucco house with cement plaster walls in Alabama--it is about indestructible!! And I know that my husband's home up in Massachusetts is a shingle-sided cape which he is reluctant to allow me to work on. BUT, when that old immovable object (such as him) meets an unstoppable force (such as me), something has got to give. Your time to paint in the NE is running out for this year. Maybe you can do your prep work this fall and winter, and engage the painter to start working early next spring?

Asked my husband about this. He is a commercial painter-mostly schools, bridges, sand blasting water towers, etc. He said he wouldn't sandblast the wood as it would pit it/soften it, most likely ruin it. Also difficult as he said he doesn't know how much paint is on your house. That said, he didn't think the price was too high-we live in NE/Lake Erie region.

Asked my husband about this. He is a commercial painter-mostly schools, bridges, sand blasting water towers, etc. He said he wouldn't sandblast the wood as it would pit it/soften it, most likely ruin it. Also difficult as he said he doesn't know how much paint is on your house. That said, he didn't think the price was too high-we live in NE/Lake Erie region.