How to Prepare Your Home for Painting

If your house in Brandon has to be refreshed, a fresh coat of exterior paint is a fast, inexpensive option to improve its appearance. So if your home is starting to look worn down or if you’re just ready for a change, consider repainting the outside of your home yourself or hire a professional painter to do it for you.

Painting a house is a big project, but it isn’t an impossible job for most homeowners. You just have to do your research to understand how to prep the exterior surface by scheduling residential pressure washing, as well as which brushes and paints to use.

You can also partner with a professional painter by doing all the prep work by yourself, but then having their crew come in and do the painting with their best tools, safety equipment and professionally selected paint.

Whichever choice is right for you, you will still want to know how to prepare your home for painting. Here are some of the most important things to remember.

6 House Painting Preparation Tips

1. Choose which parts of the home to paint, gather the ladders and all other safety equipment. If you’re preparing to do the painting yourself, you’ll be glad you did. Having a clear plan will make the painting go a lot faster as soon as you get started. Organizing your materials ahead of time ensures that when you start painting, you shouldn’t have to stop and search for all of the supplies, meaning you’ll have to maintain a wet brush edge the entire time you are painting.
2. Choose paint and brushes. The fun part of painting your home is choosing the color or color combination. You’ll also want to pick the right paint finishes for each part of the home. Latex is better than oil-based paint for home exteriors. It is less messy and easier to clean up. The flat surfaces require more of a flat, or matte, finish, versus semi-gloss. You’ll want synthetic fiber brushes for latex paint. Rollers and sprayers are also efficient options.
3. Pressure wash. Finally, it is time to start prepping the exterior of your home for its brand new paint! Put time into power washing your home (or hiring a local pressure washing service) to remove any cracked or peeling paint. The extreme pressure water is the best way to eliminate peeling paint, and it also cleans the outside of your home. Some of the sections of paint will peel right off as you spray over 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 the house with a plastic or metal straight edge, being diligent not to dig deep into the wood. Then sand surfaces for a smooth finish. It isn’t important to sand every surface all the way down to the bare wood. Any areas where the paint is still adhered just need to be cleaned and have the edges sanded so the new paint goes on smooth.
5. Prime. Don’t skip the primer! Primer is a very important step because it covers up any previous paint (especially important with dark paint colors), results in even color for your new paint, and a smooth exterior with less imperfections. Let the primer dry based on the directions so that the original layer of paint won’t blend into it or result in a rough patch on the surface.
6. Plan to paint on the best day. A professional painter is able to look at the forecast and determine the most opportune day for applying exterior paint. That’s why they’re experts! If you want to do the painting on your own, wait for a day that is somewhere between 75 and 85 degrees, and with very little humidity. This will result in the best adhesion.

Why Painting Your Home is a Good Idea

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

Paint helps prevent insects from eating or boring into your home’s exterior. It also reduces wear and tear from the elements. High quality paint prevents wood from rotting and dirt cannot stick to paint the way it does to bare wood.

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

Aging paint takes a toll on your home’s appearance. If you’re worried about curb appeal, painting your home is one of the best things you can do.

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

Hiring a Local Professional Painter in Brandon

After the prepping is over, you can turn the job off to a professional painter in Brandon (if you hadn’t already chosen that from the beginning!). Hiring a painter is cost effective. It also ensures that the results will exceed your expectations with little effort from you.

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

• A professional painter will know the most efficient way to do the job, which means the paint will look a lot better and the project will be done a lot faster.
• Companies don’t typically make a big 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 probably last longer than if you did the job yourself.
• A professional painter will already have the safety equipment needed to paint anything above ground level.

Based on your DIY skills and desires, you can trust your painter to do all the pre-painting preparation, too. Most services are prepared to handle every part of the project, from eliminating old paint and cleaning the exterior to actually applying the new paint.