Exterior Painting Tips!

One of the most unfortunate parts of exterior maintenance of a house is keeping the paint looking nice. NOBODY wants to pay someone to repaint or have to repaint the outside of their house themselves. Paying for it would be expensive while doing it yourself would be difficult and time consuming. Besides, how do you know it’s going to last if you do it yourself, how do you know you’re doing it right. Well here are some tips on how to make the process a little easier and make sure your not doing it again next summer.

Choose when you paint and what side of the house your painting on! Summer is coming to a distinct end here in the south, it’s already over in more northern states. So, your going to want to get this done before the cold really sets in. If it’s still warm where you are there could be nothing more heinous than doing hard work in direct sunlight. Paint on the dark side of the house. Wait until shadow is cast on the side of the house you need to work on and do your best to keep up with the shade. If it’s already getting chilly where you are you might want to follow the warmth and paint on the bright side of the house. Put on some sunscreen because direct sunlight for extended periods of time isn’t good for anybody’s skin but staying in the sun will keep you from getting chilled.

Do your prep! Prep work is an essential part of painting if you want it to last. You may want to pick a completely separate day for this in order to break up some of the work and jump right into the painting process when your ready.

First, strip off chipping paint. Get something with a sharp edge, something like a putty knife. If you’ve gone through the painting process before and there are several layers of paint already on the house, you can also pressure wash flaking paint off. If you’re dealing with something that’s more delicate than paint thinner on a rage will do the job getting the old paint off.

Next, remove and replace anything old and rotting. A new layer of paint won’t fix things that are fundamentally unsound. Replace window sills, slats on the shutters, siding, etc.

Finally, primer, Primer, PRIMER! The step everyone wants to skip. You may want to take another day just to do this. You could get a two-in-one paint and see how that works out for you (I’m not a paint expert you tell me). Either way primer is a must if you’re looking for longevity and it’s just a step that makes the whole thing look nicer.