How to Prepare Your Home for Painting

If your house in Pearland has to be refreshed, a fresh coat of paint is an easy, inexpensive way to improve its curb appeal. So if your home exterior is looking worn down or if you’re just ready for a change, consider painting the outside of your home yourself or enlist a professional painter to do the job for you.

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

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

Whichever direction is right for you, you’ll still want to know how to prepare your home for painting. Here are some of the most important things to consider.

6 House Painting Preparation Tips

1. Choose which parts of the home to paint, gather the ladders and other necessary safety equipment. If you’re planning to do the painting by yourself, you’ll thank yourself later. Having a plan will help to make the painting go much faster as soon as you get started. Organizing your materials ahead of time guarantees that once you begin painting, you won’t have to stop and look for all of the supplies, meaning that you’ll be able to maintain a wet edge the entire time you are painting.
2. Choose the right paint and brushes. The best part of painting your home’s exterior is choosing the color or color combination. You will also want to pick the right paint finishes for each part of the home. Latex is better than oil-based paint for home exteriors. It is less messy and easier to clean up. The flat surfaces require 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 is time to begin prepping the exterior of your home for its beautiful new paint! Put time into pressure washing your home (or hiring a local pressure washing service) to loosen any cracked or peeling paint. The extreme pressure water is the most effective way to eliminate old paint, and it simultaneously cleans the outside of your home. Some areas of paint should peel right off 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 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 bumpy surfaces for a smooth finish. It isn’t necessary 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 coat of paint goes on the home smooth.
5. Prime. Don’t skip the primer! Primer is an important step because it conceals any prior paint (especially important with dark paint colors), results in an even color for your new paint, and a smooth exterior with less imperfections throughout. Let the primer dry based on the directions so that the original layer of paint won’t blend into it or create a rough patch.
6. Plan to paint on the best day. A professional painter can look at the weather forecast and find the most opportune day for painting a home. That’s why they’re professionals! If you plan to do the painting yourself, wait for a day that is between 75 and 85 degrees, and with low humidity. This will lead to 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 provides a layer of protection for the overall structure of your home.

Paint helps prevent pests from eating or boring 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 way it does to bare wood.

Peeling paint is an obvious signal that it is time to be replaced. If paint is peeling, you need to have it repainted in order to protect the wood beneath.

Worn paint takes a toll on your home’s exterior. If you’re worried about curb appeal, painting your home is one of the easiest things you can do.

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

Hiring a Local Professional Painter in Pearland

After prepping is finished, you might want to hand the job over to a professional painter in Pearland (if you hadn’t already decided that from the beginning!). Hiring a painter is affordable. It also guarantees that the results will exceed expectations with little effort from you.

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

• A professional painter knows the optimal way to do the job, meaning the paint will look a lot better and the project will be done a lot faster.
• Pros don’t make a big mess. Their results will be neater, with no excess paint splattered or spilled on your home.
• Because of their skill and experience, your new paint will last longer than if you did the job by yourself.
• A professional painter will already have the safety equipment needed to paint anything higher than ground level.

Based on your DIY capabilities and interests, you can trust your painter to do all the pre-painting preparation, too. Most pros are fully prepared to handle each part of the project, from removing old paint and cleaning the exterior to actually applying the new paint.