How to Prepare Your Home for Painting

If your home in Cypress needs to be updated, a new coat of exterior paint is an easy, inexpensive option to improve its curb appeal. So if your house is starting to look worn down or if you are just ready for something different, consider repainting the outside of your home yourself or enlist a local painter to do the job for you.

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

You can partner with a professional painter by completing all the prep work on your own, but then letting their crew come over and do the 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, collect the ladders and all 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 project go much faster once you get started. Collecting your tools beforehand ensures that once you start painting, you won’t have to stop and search for all of the supplies, meaning you’ll have to maintain a wet brush edge the entire time you are painting.
2. Choose good paint and brushes. The best part of painting your home is deciding the color or color combo. You’ll also want to pick the right paint finishes for all parts of the home. Latex is better than oil-based paint for home exteriors. It is less messy and much easier to clean up. The flat surfaces need more of a flat, or matte, finish, versus semi-gloss. You’ll want to us synthetic fiber brushes for latex paint. Rollers and sprayers are also time-saving options if possible.
3. Pressure wash. Finally, it’s time to start prepping the surface of the home for its brand new paint! Invest time into pressure washing your home (or hiring a local pressure washing service) to wash off any cracked or peeling paint. The extreme pressure water is the best way to eliminate old paint, and it cleans the outside of your home. Some sections of paint will peel right off as you spray over them. That’s a sure sign that the paint was deteriorating and needed to be replaced!
4. Remove peeling paint. Now that the old paint has been loosened, scrape it off with a plastic or metal straight edge, being careful not to dig into the wood surface. Then sand bumpy surfaces for a smooth finish. It isn’t necessary to sand each surface all the way down to the bare wood. Any areas where the paint is still adhered just need to be tended to and have the edges sanded so the new paint goes on the home smooth.
5. Prime. Do not skip the primer! Primer is a very important step because it conceals any previous paint (especially important with dark colors), results in an even color for your new paint, and a smooth surface with less imperfections throughout. Let the primer dry according to the directions so that the first layer of paint doesn’t blend into it or create a rough patch.
6. Plan to paint in good weather. A professional painter is able to 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 lead to the best adhesion.

Why Painting Your Home is a Good Idea

Not only will a new paint job make your home look several years newer, it also adds 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. Good quality paint prevents wood from rotting and dirt cannot stick to paint the same way it does to wood.

Peeling paint is an obvious clue that it is time to be replaced. If your paint is peeling, you really need to go ahead and have it repainted in order to protect the wood beneath.

Worn paint really takes a toll on your home’s appearance. If you’re concerned about curb appeal, painting your home is one of the best things you can do.

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

Hiring a Local Professional Painter in Cypress

After prepping is finished, you might want to hand the job over to a professional painter in Cypress (if you hadn’t already chosen that from the beginning!). Hiring a painter is affordable. It also ensures that the results will exceed your expectations with minimal effort on your part.

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

• A professional painter will know the optimal way to do the job, which means the paint will look a lot better and the project will go a lot quicker.
• Pros don’t make a mess. Their results will be much neater, without excess paint splattered or spilled on your home.
• Because of their skill and experience, your new exterior paint will likely last longer than if you did the job yourself.
• A professional painter will have the safety equipment needed to paint anything higher than ground level.

Depending on your DIY abilities and interests, you can trust your painter to do all the pre-painting preparation, too. Most companies are prepared to handle each part of the project, from removing old paint and pressure washing the exterior to applying the paint.