How to Prepare Your Home for Painting

If your home in Louisville has to be updated, a fresh coat of paint is a fast, affordable option to improve its curb appeal. So if your house is looking shabby or if you’re simply ready for a change, consider repainting the outside of your home yourself or enlist a professional painter to do the job for you.

Painting a home is a big project, but it isn’t an impossible job for most homeowners. You have 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 team up with a painter by doing all of the prep work 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 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. Decide which parts of the home to paint, gather the ladders and all other necessary safety equipment. If you’re planning to do the painting yourself, you’ll be glad you did. Having a plan will make the painting project go much faster once you begin. Collecting your materials ahead of time guarantees that once you start painting, you shouldn’t have to stop and search for needed 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 house is choosing the color or color combo. You will also want to pick the right paint finishes for all parts of the home. Latex is a lot better than oil-based paint for home exteriors. It is a lot less messy and much easier to clean. The flat surfaces need more of a flat, or matte, finish, versus semi-gloss. You’ll want synthetic fiber brushes for latex paint. Rollers and sprayers are time-saving options if possible.
3. Pressure wash. Finally, it’s time to start prepping the exterior of the home for its beautiful new paint! Put time into power washing your home (or hiring a local pressure washing service) to loosen any cracked or peeling paint. The high pressure is the best way to remove old paint, and it also cleans the outside of your home. Some areas of paint will peel right off as you spray over 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, scrape it off with a plastic or metal straight edge, being diligent not to dig into the wood. Then sand bumpy surfaces for a smooth finish. It isn’t important to sand every surface all the way down to the bare wood. Any areas where the paint is still adhered need to be tended to and have the edges sanded so the new paint goes on smoothly.
5. Prime. Do not skip priming! Primer is an important part of preparation because it conceals any previous paint (especially important with dark colors), results in even color for your new paint, and a smooth exterior with less imperfections. Let the primer dry according to the directions so that the original layer of paint won’t blend into it or result in a rough patch on the surface.
6. Plan to paint on the best day. A professional painter can look at the forecast and find 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, and with little humidity. This will lead to the best adhesion.

Why Painting Your Home is a Good Idea

Not only will a brand new paint job make your home look several years newer, it also adds a layer of protection to the overall exterior of your home.

Paint helps prevent insects from eating or clawing into your home’s exterior. It also prevents wear and tear from inclement weather. High quality paint stops wood from rotting and dirt won’t stick to paint the same way it does to bare wood.

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

Deteriorating paint really takes a toll on your home’s exterior. If you’re worried about curb appeal, painting your home is one of the simplest 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 the opposite is true and you really want it to stand out, a different color can update its vibe.

Hiring a Local Professional Painter in Louisville

After prepping is done, you might want to hand the project over to a professional painter in Louisville  (if you hadn’t already chosen that from the beginning!). Hiring a painter is cost effective. It also guarantees that the results will exceed expectations with minimal effort on your part.

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

• A professional painter knows the optimal way to do the job, which means the paint will look much better and the project will go a lot faster.
• Pros don’t typically make a mess. Their results will be much neater, with no excess paint splattered or spilled around home.
• Because of their skill and experience, your new paint will last a lot longer than if you painted yourself.
• A professional painter will already have the safety equipment required to paint areas higher than ground level.

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