How to Prepare Your Home for Painting

If your home in Roswell needs to be refreshed, a new coat of paint is a fast, affordable way to improve its curb appeal. So if your home exterior is starting to look shabby or if you are just ready for a change, consider painting the exterior of your house yourself or pay a professional painter to do the job for you.

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

You can compromise with a painter by doing all of the prep work by yourself, but then having their crew come over and do the painting with their tools, safety equipment and professionally selected paint.

Whichever choice is best for you, you will still need 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 to paint, collect the ladders and all other safety equipment. If you’re preparing to complete the painting by yourself, you’ll thank yourself later. Having a clear plan will help to make the painting project go a lot faster once you get started. Organizing your tools beforehand guarantees that once you begin painting, you shouldn’t have to stop and search for needed supplies, meaning that you’ll have to maintain a wet brush edge the entire time you are painting.
2. Choose good paint and brushes. The most fun part of painting your home’s exterior is choosing the color or color combo. You’ll also need to choose the right paint finishes for each part of the house. Latex is a lot better than oil-based paint for home exteriors. It’s a lot less messy and easier to clean. The flat surfaces need more of a flat, or matte, finish, versus semi-gloss for the trim. You’ll need to us synthetic fiber brushes for latex paint. Rollers and sprayers are also efficient options.
3. Pressure wash. Finally, it’s time to begin prepping the surface of your house for its brand new paint! Invest time into pressure washing your house (or hiring a local pressure washing service) to loosen any cracked or peeling paint. The extreme pressure water is the recommended way to remove peeling paint, and it also cleans the exterior of your house. Some of the areas of paint may peel right off as you spray them. That’s a sign that the paint was aging and needed to be replaced!
4. Remove peeling paint. Now that the original paint has been loosened, scrape it off with a plastic or metal straight edge, being diligent not to dig into the wood surface. Then sand 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. Do not skip priming! Primer is an important step because it covers up any previous paint (especially with dark paint colors), results in even color for your new paint, and a smooth surface with minimal imperfections. Let the primer dry based on the directions so that the original layer of paint won’t blend into it or produce a rough patch.
6. Plan to paint in good weather. A professional painter can look at the weather forecast and tell you the most opportune day for applying exterior paint. That’s why they’re experts! If you plan to do the painting on your own, wait for a day that is somewhere 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 does a brand new paint job make your home look several years newer, it also creates a layer of protection for the overall exterior of your house.

Paint will help prevent insects from eating or boring into your home’s exterior. It also stops wear and tear from inclement weather. Good quality paint prevents wood from rotting and dirt doesn’t adhere to paint the way it does to wood.

Peeling paint is an obvious sign that it is time to be replaced. If your paint is peeling on your home, you need to go ahead and have it repainted to protect the wood surface.

Worn paint takes a toll on your home’s exterior. If you’re concerned 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 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 update its look.

Hiring a Local Professional Painter in Roswell

After the prepping is done, you have the option to turn the job off to a professional painter in Roswell (if you hadn’t already chosen that from the beginning!). Hiring a painter is affordable. It also guarantees that the results will exceed your expectations with little effort from you.

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

• A professional painter will know the optimal way to complete the job, which means the paint will look much better and the project will be a lot quicker.
• Pros don’t typically make a mess. Their results will be neater, without extra paint splattered or spilled around home.
• Because of their skill and knowledge, your new paint will probably last a lot longer than if you did the job by yourself.
• A professional painter will already have the safety equipment necessary to paint surfaces higher than ground level.

Depending on your DIY skills and desires, you can trust your painter to complete all the pre-painting preparation, too. Most services are fully prepared to handle each part of the