How to Prepare Your Home for Painting

If your home in Clearwater needs to be updated, a fresh coat of exterior paint is a quick, inexpensive way to improve its curb appeal. So if your home is looking shabby or if you’re simply ready for a change, consider painting the outside of your house yourself or hire a local painter to do it for you.

Painting a home is a huge job, but it isn’t an impossible job for some homeowners. You have to do your research to know how to prep the exterior surface by scheduling residential pressure washing, as well as which brushes and paints to use.

You can even compromise with a professional painter by doing all of the prep work yourself, but then having their team come to your home and do the painting with their tools, safety equipment and selected paint.

Whichever option is right for you, you’ll still need to know exactly how to prepare your home for painting. Here are the most important things to consider.

6 House Painting Preparation Tips

1. Choose which parts to paint, gather the ladders and all other necessary safety equipment. If you are planning to do the painting by yourself, you’ll be glad you did. Having a clear plan will make the painting project go much faster once you get started. Collecting your materials beforehand guarantees that once you start painting, you shouldn’t have to stop and look for needed supplies, meaning you’ll be able to maintain a wet edge the entire time you are painting.
2. Choose good paint and brushes. The most fun part of painting your house is deciding the color or color combination. You will also need to choose the right paint finishes for each part of the house. Latex is a lot better than oil-based paint for home exteriors. It is a lot less messy and easier to clean. The flat surfaces need more of a flat, or matte, finish, versus semi-gloss. You’ll need to us synthetic fiber brushes for latex paint. Rollers and sprayers are time-saving options if possible.
3. Pressure wash. Finally, it is time to start prepping the exterior of the house for its beautiful new paint! Put time into power washing your house (or hiring a local pressure washing service) to remove any cracked or peeling paint. The high pressure is the recommended way to eliminate old paint, and it cleans the outside of your house. Some areas of paint should peel right off as you spray them. That’s a sure sign that the paint was deteriorating and needed to be replaced!
4. Remove peeling paint. Now that the old paint has been loosened, scrape it off with a metal or plastic straight edge, being careful not to dig deep into the wood surface. Then sand bumpy surfaces for a smooth finish. It isn’t important to sand each surface down to the bare wood. Any areas where the paint is still adhered need to be cleaned and have the edges sanded so the new coat of paint goes on the home smooth.
5. Prime. Don’t skip priming! Primer is a very important part of preparation because it covers up any prior paint (especially important with dark paint colors), results in even color for your new paint, and a smooth exterior with minimal imperfections. Let the primer dry based on the directions so that the first layer of paint doesn’t mix with it or result in a rough patch.
6. Plan to paint on the best day. A professional painter can look at the forecast and determine the most opportune day for painting a house. That’s why they’re experts! If you want to do the painting on your own, wait for a day that is between 75 and 85 degrees, and with low humidity. This will lead to the best adhesion.

Why Painting Your Home is a Good Idea

Not only will a new paint job make your home look years newer, it also provides a layer of protection to the overall exterior of your house.

Paint helps prevent pests from eating or clawing into your home’s exterior. It also stops wear and tear from inclement weather. High quality paint prevents wood from rotting and dirt doesn’t adhere to paint the way it does to bare wood.

Peeling paint is an obvious sign that it needs to be replaced. If paint is peeling on your home, you really need to go ahead and have it repainted in order to protect the wood beneath.

Worn paint really takes a toll on your home’s appearance. If you’re concerned about curb appeal, painting your house is one of the simplest things you can do.

Painting is a good idea if your house doesn’t seem to “fit in” in the neighborhood (but you want it to). If your home’s exterior color makes it stand out too much, or if the opposite is true and you really want it to stand out, a different paint color can totally update its look.

Hiring a Local Professional Painter in Clearwater

After the prepping is complete, you might want to turn the project off to a professional painter in Clearwater (if you hadn’t already chosen that from the beginning!). Hiring a painter is cost effective. It also guarantees that the results will exceed expectations with minimal effort from you.

Hiring a local painter to paint your home has several obvious benefits:

• A professional painter knows the optimal way to do the job, which means the paint will look much better and the project will move a lot quicker.
• Companies don’t make a mess. Their results will be neater, without excess paint splattered or spilled on your home.
• Because of their skill and experience, your new exterior paint will last a lot longer than if you did the job by yourself.
• A professional painter will already have the safety equipment needed to paint areas higher than ground level.

Depending on your DIY skills and desires, you can trust your painter to do all the pre-painting preparation, too. Most services are fully prepared to handle each part of the job, from removing old paint and pressure washing the exterior to actually applying the new paint.