How to Prepare Your Home for Painting

If your house in Rocklin has to be refreshed, a fresh coat of exterior paint is a fast, affordable way to improve its appearance. So if your home exterior is looking shabby or if you are simply ready for something different, consider painting the exterior of your house yourself or enlist a professional painter to do it for you.

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

You can compromise with a professional painter by completing all the prep work yourself, but then letting their team come in and do the actual painting with their best tools, safety equipment and professionally selected paint.

Whichever direction is right for you, you will still need 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. Decide which parts to paint, collect the ladders and other safety equipment. If you are planning to complete the painting by yourself, you’ll be glad you did. Having a plan will help to make the actual painting project go much faster once you get started. Organizing your tools ahead of time guarantees that once you start painting, you won’t have to stop and look for all of the supplies, meaning you’ll be able to maintain a wet brush edge the whole time you are painting.
2. Choose the right paint and brushes. The best part of painting your home is deciding the color or color combo. You’ll also need to pick the right paint finishes for each part of the house. Latex is better than oil-based paint for home exteriors. It is less messy and much easier to clean. The flat surfaces need more of a flat, or matte, finish, versus semi-gloss for the trim. You’ll need synthetic fiber brushes for latex paint. Rollers and sprayers are efficient options.
3. Pressure wash. Finally, it’s 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 remove any cracked or peeling paint. The extreme pressure water is the most effective way to eliminate peeling paint, and it cleans the exterior of your house. Some of the sections of paint may peel off as you spray them. That’s a sure sign that the paint was aging 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 diligent not to dig into the wood. Then sand surfaces for a smooth finish. It isn’t necessary to sand every surface all the way down to the bare wood. Any areas where the paint is still adhered just need to be tended to and have the edges sanded so the new paint goes on smooth.
5. Prime. Don’t skip priming! Primer is a very important part of preparation because it conceals any prior paint (especially important with dark paint colors), results in an 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.
6. Plan to paint in good weather. A professional painter can look at the forecast and determine 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 somewhere 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 can a new paint job make your house look years newer, it also provides a layer of protection for the overall exterior of your house.

Paint helps prevent pests from eating or clawing into your home’s exterior. It also reduces wear and tear from the elements. Good quality paint prevents wood from rotting and dirt won’t adhere 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 really need to have it repainted to protect the wood beneath.

Worn paint really takes a toll on your home’s exterior. If you’re concerned 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 (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 completely update its look.

Hiring a Local Professional Painter in Rocklin

After the prepping is over, you can turn the project over to a professional painter in Rocklin (if you hadn’t already chosen that from the start!). Hiring a painter is cost effective. It also guarantees that the results will exceed your expectations with minimal 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 complete the job, meaning the paint will look much better and the project will go a lot quicker.
• Pros don’t make a mess. Their results will be much neater, without excess paint splattered or spilled around home.
• Because of their skill and experience, your new exterior paint will likely last longer than if you painted by yourself.
• A professional painter will already have the safety equipment needed to paint anything above ground level.

Based on your DIY abilities and interests, you can trust your painter to complete 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 applying the new paint.