How to Prepare Your Home for Painting

If your house in Sarasota has to be refreshed, a fresh coat of paint is an easy, inexpensive way to improve its appearance. So if your home exterior is looking shabby or if you are simply ready for a change, consider painting the outside of your house yourself or hire a local painter to do it for you.

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

You can even meet in the middle with a painter by doing all of the prep work by yourself, but then letting their crew come to your home and do the painting with their tools, safety equipment and professionally selected paint.

Whichever direction is best for you, you will still need to know exactly how to prepare your home for painting. Here are the most important things to remember.

6 House Painting Preparation Tips

1. Choose which parts to paint, collect the ladders and other safety equipment. If you are preparing to do the painting by yourself, you’ll be glad you did. Having a plan will make the painting project go much faster as soon as you get started. Gathering your equipment ahead of time ensures that once you begin painting, you won’t have to stop and look for needed 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 fun part of painting your house is deciding the color or color combination. You will also need to choose the right paint finishes for all parts 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. The flat surfaces require 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 also efficient options.
3. Pressure wash. Finally, it is time to begin prepping the exterior of the house for its beautiful new paint! Put time into pressure washing your house (or hiring a local pressure washing service) to loosen any cracked or peeling paint. The high pressure is the best way to remove peeling paint, and it also cleans the outside of your house. Some of the areas of paint will peel off as soon as you spray them. That’s a sign that the paint was deteriorating 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 diligent not to dig deep into the wood surface. Then sand surfaces for a smooth finish. It isn’t necessary 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 smooth.
5. Prime. Don’t skip priming! Primer is a very important step because it covers up any prior paint (especially with dark paint colors), results in an even color for your new coat, and a smooth exterior with minimal imperfections. Let the primer dry based on the directions so that the first layer of paint doesn’t mix with it or result in a rough patch on the surface.
6. Plan to paint on the best day. A professional painter can look at the weather forecast and find the most opportune day for applying exterior paint. That’s why they’re experts! If you plan to do the painting on your own, 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 creates a layer of protection to the overall exterior of your house.

Paint will help prevent insects from eating or boring into your home’s exterior. It also prevents wear and tear from inclement weather. Good quality paint stops wood from rotting and dirt won’t stick to paint the way it does to wood.

Peeling paint is an obvious clue that it needs to be replaced. If your paint is peeling, you really need to go ahead and have it repainted to protect the wood surface.

Aging paint really takes a toll on your home’s exterior. If you’re concerned 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 to “fit in” in the neighborhood. If your home’s color makes it stand out, or if the opposite is true and you really want it to stand out, a different paint color can totally update its look.

Hiring a Local Professional Painter in Sarasota

After prepping is finished, you have the option to hand the job off to a professional painter in Sarasota (if you hadn’t already decided that from the start!). Hiring a painter is affordable. It also ensures 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 knows the most efficient way to do the job, meaning the paint will look a lot better and the project will be done a lot quicker.
• Pros don’t make a mess. Their results will be much neater, with no excess paint splattered or spilled around home.
• Due to their skill and knowledge, your new paint will last a lot longer than if you painted by yourself.
• A professional painter will already have the safety equipment needed to paint anything above ground level.

Depending on your DIY capabilities and desires, you can trust your painter to do all the pre-painting preparation, too. Most services are prepared to take care of each part of the project, from eliminating old paint and cleaning the exterior to actually applying the new paint.