How to Prepare Your Home for Painting

If your house in Chesapeake needs to be refreshed, a fresh coat of exterior paint is a quick, inexpensive way to improve its appearance. So if your home exterior is starting to look shabby or if you’re just ready for something different, consider repainting the exterior of your house yourself or hire a professional painter to do it for you.

Painting a house is a huge job, but it isn’t an unreasonable job for most homeowners. You have to do your research to know how to prepare the exterior surface by scheduling residential pressure washing, as well as what type of brushes and paints you need to use.

You can also team up with a painter by completing all the prep work on your own, but then letting their team come to your home and do the painting with their best tools, safety equipment and professionally selected paint.

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

6 House Painting Preparation Tips

1. Choose which parts to paint, gather the ladders and other safety equipment. If you’re preparing to do the painting by yourself, you’ll be glad you did. Having a plan will help to make the painting go a lot faster as soon as you begin. Organizing your equipment ahead of time ensures that once you start painting, you won’t have to stop and search for all of the supplies, meaning you’ll be able to maintain a wet brush edge the entire time you are painting.
2. Choose good paint and brushes. The best part of painting your house is choosing the color or color combination. You’ll also want to pick the right paint finishes for each part of the house. Latex is a lot better than oil-based paint for home exteriors. It’s a lot less messy and much easier to clean up. The flat surfaces need more of a flat, or matte, finish, versus semi-gloss for the trim. You’ll want to us synthetic fiber brushes for latex paint. Rollers and sprayers are time-saving options.
3. Pressure wash. Finally, it’s time to start prepping the surface of the house for its brand new paint! Invest time into power washing your house (or hiring a local pressure washing service) to remove any cracked or peeling paint. The high pressure water is the best way to remove peeling paint, and it cleans the exterior of your house. Some sections of paint should peel right off as you spray over them. That’s a 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 bumpy surfaces for a smooth finish. It isn’t necessary to sand every 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 step because it covers up any previous paint (especially important with dark paint colors), results in an even color for your new paint, 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 leave behind a rough patch.
6. Plan to paint in good weather. A professional painter is able to look at the forecast and tell you the most opportune day for painting a house. That’s why they’re professionals! If you want to do the painting on your own, wait for a day that is between 75 and 85 degrees, and with very 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 house look several years newer, it also creates a layer of protection for the overall structure of your house.

Paint can help prevent pests from eating or clawing into your home’s exterior. It also stops wear and tear from the elements. Good quality paint stops wood from rotting and dirt won’t stick to paint the way it does to bare wood.

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

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

Painting is a good idea if your house 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 completely change its vibe.

Hiring a Local Professional Painter in Chesapeake

After the prepping is done, you have the option to turn the project over to a professional painter in Chesapeake (if you hadn’t already chosen that from the beginning!). Hiring a painter is cost effective. It also ensures that the results will exceed expectations with little effort on your part.

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

• A professional painter will know the optimal way to do the job, which means the paint will look a lot better and the project will move a lot faster.
• Companies don’t typically make a big mess. Their results will be much neater, without extra paint splattered or spilled on your home.
• Due to their skill and experience, your new exterior paint will probably 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 capabilities and interests, you can trust your painter to do all the pre-painting preparation, too. Most pros are fully prepared to take care of every part of the job, from eliminating old paint and cleaning the exterior to applying the new paint.