How to Prepare Your Home for Painting

If your house in Chandler needs to be updated, a fresh coat of exterior paint is an easy, affordable way to improve its curb appeal. So if your home exterior is starting to look shabby or if you’re just ready for a change, consider painting the outside of your house yourself or pay a local painter to do the job for you.

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

You can also partner with a painter by completing all the prep work on your own, but then letting their crew come over and do the painting with their tools, safety equipment and selected paint.

Whichever choice is right for you, you’ll 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. Decide which parts of the home to paint, collect the ladders and other necessary safety equipment. If you are planning to do the painting yourself, you’ll be glad you did. Having a clear plan will help to make the painting go a lot faster once you begin. Collecting your tools ahead of time guarantees that once you begin painting, you shouldn’t have to stop and look for needed supplies, meaning you’ll have to maintain a wet edge the whole time you are painting.
2. Choose paint and brushes. The most fun part of painting your home is choosing the color or color combination. You will also want to choose 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 want to us synthetic fiber brushes for latex paint. Rollers and sprayers are also time-saving options if possible.
3. Pressure wash. Finally, it is time to begin prepping the surface of your house for its beautiful new paint! Put time into power washing your house (or hiring a local pressure washing service) to wash off any cracked or peeling paint. The extreme pressure water is the recommended way to eliminate peeling paint, and it simultaneously cleans the outside of your house. Some of the areas of paint will peel right off as you spray over them. That’s a sign that the paint was aging and had to be replaced!
4. Remove peeling paint. Now that the old paint has been loosened, get more of it off with a plastic or metal straight edge, being careful not to dig into the wood surface. Then sand bumpy surfaces for a smooth finish. It isn’t necessary to sand every surface all the way down to the bare wood. Any sections where the paint is still adhered need to be tended to and have the edges sanded so the new coat of paint goes on the home smoothly.
5. Prime. Don’t skip priming! Primer is a very important part of preparation because it conceals any prior paint (especially with dark paint colors), results in even color for your new coat, and a smoother surface with minimal imperfections throughout. Let the primer dry based on the directions so that the original layer of paint doesn’t blend into it or leave behind a rough patch.
6. Plan to paint on the best day. A professional painter is able to look at the forecast and find the most opportune day for painting a house. That’s why they’re experts! If you want to do the painting yourself, wait for a day that is somewhere between 75 and 85 degrees, with low humidity. This will result in 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 structure of your house.

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

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

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

Painting is also 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, 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 Chandler

After the prepping is done, you can turn the job over to a professional painter in Chandler (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 less effort from you.

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.
• Pros don’t typically make a mess. Their results will be much neater, with no extra paint splattered or spilled around 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 have the safety equipment needed to paint areas above ground level.

Based on your DIY skills 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 pressure washing the exterior to actually applying the paint.