How to Prepare Your Home for Painting
If your home in Lehigh Acres needs to be updated, a new coat of exterior paint is a fast, affordable option to improve its curb appeal. So if your home exterior is looking shabby or if you’re just ready for something different, consider painting the exterior of your house yourself or hire a professional painter to do it for you.
Painting a home is a huge job, but it isn’t an impossible job for some homeowners. You just have to do your research to understand how to prep the exterior surface by scheduling residential pressure washing, as well as what type of brushes and paints to use.
You can also meet in the middle with a painter by completing all the prep work by yourself, but then letting their crew come over and do the actual painting with their tools, safety equipment and professionally selected paint.
Whichever choice is right for you, you will still want to know exactly how to prepare your home for painting. Here are some of the most important things to consider.
6 House Painting Preparation Tips
- Choose which parts of the home to paint, collect the ladders and all other necessary safety equipment. If you are planning to do the painting yourself, you’ll be glad you did. Having a plan will help to make the actual painting project go much faster as soon as you begin. Gathering your materials beforehand guarantees that once you start painting, you won’t have to stop and look for all of the supplies, meaning that you’ll have to maintain a wet brush edge the whole time you are painting.
- Choose the right paint and brushes. The fun part of painting your home’s exterior is deciding the color or color combination. You’ll also want to pick the right paint finishes for all parts of the house. Latex is better than oil-based paint for home exteriors. It is less messy and easier to clean up. The flat surfaces need more of a flat, or matte, finish, versus semi-gloss. You’ll want synthetic fiber brushes for latex paint. Rollers and sprayers are efficient options if possible.
- Pressure wash. Finally, it is time to start prepping the surface of your house for its beautiful new paint! Invest time into power washing your house (or hiring a local pressure washing service) to loosen any cracked or peeling paint. The high pressure is the recommended way to eliminate peeling paint, and it cleans the exterior of your house. Some sections of paint should peel off as soon as you spray over them. That’s a sure sign that the paint was aging and had to be replaced!
- Remove peeling paint. Now that the original paint has been loosened, get more of it off with a metal or plastic straight edge, being diligent not to dig deep into the wood surface. Then sand surfaces for a smooth finish. It isn’t important to sand each 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 coat of paint goes on the home smooth.
- Prime. Do not skip priming! Primer is an important step because it conceals any previous paint (especially with dark paint colors), results in even color for your new coat, and a smooth surface with minimal imperfections. Let the primer dry based on the directions so that the original layer of paint won’t mix with it or produce a rough patch.
- Plan to paint on the best day. A professional painter can look at the forecast and tell you the most opportune day for painting a house. That’s why they’re experts! If you plan to do the painting yourself, wait for a day that is somewhere between 75 and 85 degrees, with very little humidity. This will result in the best adhesion.
Why Painting Your Home is a Good Idea
Not only does a new paint job make your home look several years newer, it also adds a layer of protection to the overall exterior of your house.
Paint helps prevent insects from eating or boring into your home’s exterior. It also stops wear and tear from inclement weather. Good quality paint stops wood from rotting and dirt cannot adhere to paint the same way it does to wood.
Peeling paint is an obvious signal that it is time to be replaced. If your paint is peeling, you need to go ahead and have it repainted to protect the wood surface.
Worn paint takes a toll on your home’s exterior. If you’re concerned about curb appeal, painting your house is one of the best things you can do.
Painting is a good idea if your house doesn’t to “fit in” in the neighborhood (but you want it to). If your home’s exterior color makes it stand out, or if it is the opposite and you want it to stand out, a different paint color can totally update its look.
Hiring a Local Professional Painter in Lehigh Acres
After prepping is finished, you can turn the job over to a professional painter in Lehigh Acres (if you hadn’t already decided that from the beginning!). Hiring a painter is cost effective. It also guarantees 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 knows the most efficient way to do the job, which means the paint will look a lot better and the project will be a lot faster.
- Pros don’t typically make a big mess. Their results will be neater, with no extra paint splattered or spilled around home.
- Because of their skill and experience, your new exterior paint will likely last longer than if you did the job yourself.
- A professional painter will already have the safety equipment necessary to paint surfaces above ground level.
Based on your DIY abilities and interests, you can trust your painter to do all the pre-painting preparation, too. Most services are fully prepared to take care of each part of the job, from eliminating old paint and cleaning the exterior to applying the paint.