How to Prepare Your Home for Painting

If your house in Rialto has to be updated, a new coat of paint is a fast, inexpensive option to improve its appearance. So if your home exterior is starting to look worn down or if you are simply ready for something different, consider painting the outside of your house yourself or hire a professional painter to do it for you.

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

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

Whichever choice is best for you, you’ll still want 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, gather the ladders and other safety equipment. If you are preparing to do the painting by yourself, you’ll be glad you did. Having a clear plan will help to make the actual painting project go much faster once you begin. Collecting your materials ahead of time ensures that once you begin painting, you won’t have to stop and search for needed supplies, meaning you’ll have to maintain a wet brush edge the whole time you are painting.
2. Choose the right paint and brushes. The 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’s 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 synthetic fiber brushes for latex paint. Rollers and sprayers are efficient options.
3. Pressure wash. Finally, it’s time to begin prepping the exterior of your house for its beautiful new paint! Invest time into power washing your house (or hiring a local pressure washing service) to wash off any cracked or peeling paint. The high pressure water is the best way to eliminate old paint, and it cleans the outside of your house. Some of the areas of paint may peel right off as soon as you spray over them. That’s a sure sign that the paint was deteriorating and had to be replaced!
4. Remove peeling paint. Now that the original paint has been loosened, get more of it off the house with a metal or plastic straight edge, being careful not to dig into the wood. Then sand surfaces for a smooth finish. It isn’t important to sand every surface all the way 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 the home smoothly.
5. Prime. Do not skip priming! Primer is an important step because it conceals any previous paint (especially important with dark colors), results in even color for your new coat, and a smooth exterior 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 on the best day. 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 between 75 and 85 degrees, with very little humidity. This will lead to the best adhesion.

Why Painting Your Home is a Good Idea

Not only will a brand new paint job make your house look several years newer, it also creates a layer of protection to the overall structure of your house.

Paint helps prevent insects from eating or clawing into your home’s exterior. It also reduces wear and tear from inclement weather. High 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 indication that it needs to be replaced. If paint is peeling, you need to go ahead and have it repainted to protect the wood surface.

Deteriorating paint takes a toll on your home’s appearance. 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 to “fit in” in the neighborhood (but you want it to). If your home’s color makes it stand out too much, or if the opposite is true and you want it to stand out, a different color can completely change its look.

Hiring a Local Professional Painter in Rialto

After the prepping is done, you can hand the project off to a professional painter in Rialto (if you hadn’t already decided that from the beginning!). Hiring a painter is affordable. It also ensures that the results will exceed expectations with less effort on your part.

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

• A professional painter will know the best way to do the job, meaning the paint will look much better and the project will go a lot faster.
• Pros don’t make a big mess. Their results will be much neater, with no extra paint splattered or spilled around home.
• Due to their skill and experience, your new paint will probably last longer than if you painted by yourself.
• A professional painter will have the safety equipment necessary to paint anything above ground level.

Based on your DIY abilities and interests, you can trust your painter to do all the pre-painting preparation, too. Most services are fully prepared to take care of every part of the job, from eliminating old paint and cleaning the exterior to actually applying the new paint.