Painting the exterior of your home is a great way to update its appearance. Preparing the exterior of your house to be painted properly will make sure the finished job looks great and lasts a long time.
Get The Right Paint
The first step to painting your home is choosing the right paint for the exterior of your home. However, choosing the right paint is more than just choosing the right color. You should always select an exterior paint to coat the outside of your home.
Exterior paint is bound using different resins than interior paints. The resin used in exterior paint is able to handle temperature shifts and moisture. If you were to use interior paint on the outside of your home, it would quickly fade and flake away.
Wash The Exterior
The next step to painting your home is to wash the exterior of your home to remove any debris before painting. Any irregularities on the surface of your house reduce the life span of your paint.
There are many house-washing solutions on the market. Using one of the solutions in conjunction with a power washer will help prep the outside of your home to be painted.
Be sure to protect any plants with protective covers before washing your house.
After washing your home, it will take several days to dry enough to be paintable. If you paint before the exterior of your home is fully dry, it will cause the paint to bubble.
Remove Flaking Paint
The final step in prepping to paint your home's exterior is to remove any flaking paint and sand. You can use a stiff brush to remove any flaking paint.
If you're having difficulty removing damaged paint, you can use a heat gun to soften and scrape the paint instead. Sand any damaged areas of paint so your fresh paint goes on smoothly.
Examine the exterior of your home for damage as you scrape and sand. If you were going to replace any damaged siding or masonry, now would be the time.
Mind Conditions
When you decide to paint your home, make sure the conditions are favorable to do the job. Water is paint's worst enemy. You want to be careful not to paint when it's humid or raining because water can change the color and appearance of your paint. If curing paint is exposed to water, you'll have to dry, sand, and repaint those portions.
If you don't feel comfortable preparing and painting the exterior of your home, reach out to a professional painting service. Not only will they have experience painting home exteriors, but they will be able to paint your home under a range of conditions.
Contact a company like Willow Tree Painting & Home Improvement LLC to learn more.
