How to Prepare Your Home for Painting

If your home in El Cajon needs to be refreshed, a new coat of exterior paint is a fast, affordable way 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 repainting the exterior of your house yourself or enlist a professional painter to do the job for you.

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

You can even compromise with a painter by doing all of the prep work on your own, but then letting their team come in and do the painting with their best tools, safety equipment and selected paint.

Whichever option is best for you, you will 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. Decide which parts of the home to paint, gather the ladders and other necessary safety equipment. If you’re planning to do the painting yourself, you’ll thank yourself later. Having a plan will make the painting go a lot faster as soon as you begin. Collecting your tools ahead of time ensures that when you start painting, you won’t have to stop and look for needed supplies, meaning you’ll have to maintain a wet brush edge the whole time you are painting.
2. Choose good paint and brushes. The fun part of painting your home’s exterior is deciding the color or color combination. You will also want to choose the right paint finishes for all parts of the house. Latex is better than oil-based paint for home exteriors. It is less messy and easier to clean. The flat surfaces require more of a flat, or matte, finish, versus semi-gloss. You’ll want synthetic fiber brushes for latex paint. Rollers and sprayers are also efficient options.
3. Pressure wash. Finally, it’s time to start prepping the surface of the house for its brand new paint! Invest time into pressure washing your house (or hiring a local pressure washing service) to wash off any cracked or peeling paint. The extreme pressure water is the most effective way to remove old paint, and it simultaneously cleans the exterior of your house. Some areas of paint should peel off as you spray them. That’s a sure 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 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 each surface down to the bare wood. Any sections where the paint is still adhered just need to be cleaned and have the edges sanded so the new paint goes on the home smoothly.
5. Prime. Don’t skip the primer! Primer is an 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 smooth surface with less imperfections throughout. Let the primer dry based on the directions so that the original layer of paint doesn’t mix with it or create a rough patch on the surface.
6. Plan to paint in good weather. 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 want 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 does a new paint job make your home look years newer, it also adds 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 stops wear and tear from the elements. High quality paint stops wood from rotting and dirt cannot stick 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 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 best things you can do.

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

Hiring a Local Professional Painter in El Cajon

After the prepping is done, you have the option to hand the job over to a professional painter in El Cajon (if you hadn’t already decided that from the beginning!). Hiring a painter is affordable. It also ensures that the results will exceed your expectations with less 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, which means the paint will look much better and the project will go a lot faster.
• Pros don’t make a mess. Their results will be neater, without extra paint splattered or spilled around home.
• Due to their skill and knowledge, your new exterior paint will probably last longer than if you did the job yourself.
• A professional painter will already have the safety equipment required to paint anything higher than ground level.

Based 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 each part of the job, from eliminating old paint and pressure washing the exterior to actually applying the new paint.