How to Prepare Your Home for Painting

If your home in Sugar Land has to be refreshed, a fresh coat of exterior paint is an easy, inexpensive option to improve its curb appeal. So if your home exterior is looking worn down or if you’re simply ready for a change, consider repainting the outside of your house yourself or pay a local painter to do the job for you.

Painting a home is a huge 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 which brushes and paints to use.

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

Whichever direction is best for you, you will still want to know exactly 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, gather the ladders and all other safety equipment. If you are planning to do the painting yourself, you’ll thank yourself later. Having a plan will help to make the painting go much faster once you get started. Collecting your tools beforehand guarantees that once you begin painting, you shouldn’t have to stop and look for all of the supplies, meaning that you’ll have to maintain a wet edge the entire time you are painting.
2. Choose good paint and brushes. The most fun part of painting your house is deciding the color or color combo. You’ll also want to pick the right paint finishes for each part of the house. 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. 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 begin prepping the exterior of the house for its brand new paint! Put time into power washing your house (or hiring a local pressure washing service) to remove any cracked or peeling paint. The extreme pressure water is the recommended way to remove peeling paint, and it simultaneously cleans the outside of your house. Some areas of paint may 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 original paint has been loosened, get more of it off the house with a plastic or metal straight edge, being careful not to dig into the wood. Then sand bumpy 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 coat of paint goes on the home smoothly.
5. Prime. Don’t skip the primer! Primer is a very important part of preparation because it conceals any previous paint (especially with dark colors), results in an even color for your new paint, and a smooth exterior with minimal imperfections. Let the primer dry based on the directions so that the original layer of paint doesn’t blend into it or leave behind a rough patch.
6. Plan to paint in good weather. A professional painter is able to look at the weather forecast and determine the most opportune day for painting a house. That’s why they’re professionals! If you want to do the painting on your own, wait for a day that is between 75 and 85 degrees, with little humidity. This will result in 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 adds a layer of protection to the overall structure of your house.

Paint will help prevent pests from eating or clawing 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 stick to paint the same way it does to bare wood.

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

Deteriorating 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. 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 color can update its vibe.

Hiring a Local Professional Painter in Sugar Land

After the prepping is done, you can turn the work over to a professional painter in Sugar Land (if you hadn’t already decided that from the beginning!). Hiring a painter is cost effective. It also guarantees that the results will exceed your expectations with less effort from you.

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

• A professional painter will know the best way to do the job, which means the paint will look much better and the project will be a lot quicker.
• Companies don’t make a mess. Their results will be neater, with no extra paint splattered or spilled around home.
• Because of their skill and experience, your new exterior paint will last longer than if you painted yourself.
• A professional painter will already have the safety equipment needed to paint surfaces higher than ground level.

Depending on your DIY capabilities and desires, you can trust your painter to do all the pre-painting preparation, too. Most services are prepared to take care of each part of the job, from removing old paint and pressure washing the exterior to actually applying the paint.