How to Prepare Your Home for Painting

If your home in O’Fallon needs to be refreshed, a new coat of paint is an easy, inexpensive option to improve its appearance. So if your house is starting to look shabby or if you’re just ready for a change, consider repainting the outside of your house yourself or enlist a professional 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 need to do your research to know how to prep the surface by scheduling residential pressure washing, as well as what type of brushes and paints you need to use.

You can even partner with a painter by doing all of the prep work by yourself, but then letting their team come to your home and do the actual painting with their best tools, safety equipment and professionally selected paint.

Whichever direction is right 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 to paint, collect the ladders and other safety equipment. If you’re planning to complete the painting yourself, you’ll be glad you did. Having a clear plan will make the actual painting go a lot faster as soon as you get started. Organizing your equipment ahead of time guarantees that once you start painting, you won’t have to stop and search for needed supplies, meaning that you’ll be able to maintain a wet brush edge the whole time you are painting.
2. Choose paint and brushes. The best part of painting your house is choosing the color or color combination. You’ll also want to pick the right paint finishes for all parts of the house. 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 to us synthetic fiber brushes for latex paint. Rollers and sprayers are also efficient options if possible.
3. Pressure wash. Finally, it’s time to start prepping the exterior of the house for its brand new paint! Invest time into power washing your house (or hiring a local pressure washing service) to loosen any cracked or peeling paint. The extreme pressure is the recommended way to remove old paint, and it simultaneously cleans the outside of your house. Some areas of paint should peel off as soon as you spray over them. That’s a sign that the paint was aging 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. Then sand bumpy surfaces for a smooth finish. It isn’t necessary to sand every surface 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 the home smoothly.
5. Prime. Do not skip priming! Primer is an important step because it conceals any prior paint (especially with dark paint colors), results in even color for your new paint, and a smoother exterior with minimal imperfections. Let the primer dry based on the directions so that the first layer of paint doesn’t blend into it or leave behind 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 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 somewhere between 75 and 85 degrees, with little humidity. This will lead to the best adhesion.

Why Painting Your Home is a Good Idea

Not only can a brand new paint job make your home look years newer, it also creates a layer of protection to the overall structure of your house.

Paint can help prevent insects from eating or clawing into your home’s exterior. It also prevents wear and tear from inclement weather. Good quality paint stops wood from rotting and dirt cannot stick to paint the same way it does to wood.

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

Aging paint really takes a toll on your home’s appearance. If you’re worried about curb appeal, painting your house is one of the simplest things you can do.

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

Hiring a Local Professional Painter in O’Fallon

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

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

• A professional painter knows the optimal way to complete the job, which means the paint will look a lot better and the project will go a lot quicker.
• Pros don’t make a big mess. Their results will be much neater, without extra paint splattered or spilled on your home.
• Due to their skill and knowledge, your new paint will last a lot longer than if you painted 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 complete all the pre-painting preparation, too. Most services are fully prepared to handle every part of the job, from eliminating old paint and cleaning the exterior to applying the paint.