How to Prepare Your Home for Painting

If your home in Carmel needs to be refreshed, a new coat of paint is a fast, affordable option to improve its curb appeal. So if your home is looking shabby or if you’re just ready for something different, consider repainting the exterior of your house yourself or enlist a professional painter to do the job for you.

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

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

Whichever option 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 of the home to paint, gather the ladders and 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 once you begin. Organizing your tools ahead of time guarantees that once you start painting, you shouldn’t have to stop and search for all of the supplies, meaning that you’ll have to maintain a wet brush edge the whole time you are painting.
2. Choose good paint and brushes. The most fun part of painting your home is choosing the color or color combination. You will also need 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 easier to clean. The flat surfaces need more of a flat, or matte, finish, versus semi-gloss. You’ll need to us synthetic fiber brushes for latex paint. Rollers and sprayers are also efficient options if possible.
3. Pressure wash. Finally, it is time to start prepping the exterior of your house for its brand new paint! Put 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 best way to eliminate peeling paint, and it simultaneously cleans the exterior of your house. Some sections 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, scrape it off the house with a metal or plastic straight edge, being careful not to dig into the wood surface. Then sand bumpy surfaces for a smooth finish. It isn’t important to sand every surface down to the bare wood. Any areas where the paint is still adhered need to be tended to and have the edges sanded so the new paint goes on smooth.
5. Prime. Do not skip priming! Primer is a very important step because it covers up any previous paint (especially important with dark colors), results in an even color for your new coat, and a smoother exterior with minimal imperfections. Let the primer dry according to the directions so that the original layer of paint doesn’t blend into it or result in a rough patch.
6. Plan to paint on the best day. A professional painter can look at the weather forecast and determine the most opportune day for applying exterior paint. 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, and with low humidity. This will result in the best adhesion.

Why Painting Your Home is a Good Idea

Not only can a brand 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 can help prevent insects from eating or boring into your home’s exterior. It also stops wear and tear from the elements. Good quality paint prevents wood from rotting and dirt doesn’t adhere to paint the same way it does to wood.

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

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

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

Hiring a Local Professional Painter in Carmel

After prepping is complete, you might want to turn the job off to a professional painter in Carmel (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 less effort from you.

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

• A professional painter knows the optimal way to do the job, meaning the paint will look much better and the project will be done a lot faster.
• Companies don’t typically make a mess. Their results will be neater, with no extra paint splattered or spilled around home.
• Due to their skill and knowledge, your new paint will probably last longer than if you painted yourself.
• A professional painter will already have the safety equipment needed to paint surfaces above ground level.

Depending on your DIY abilities and desires, 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 project, from eliminating old paint and cleaning the exterior to applying the new paint.