How to Prepare Your Home for Painting

If your house in Oceanside needs to be updated, a new coat of paint is an easy, inexpensive option to improve its curb appeal. So if your house is looking worn down or if you’re just ready for a change, consider repainting the exterior of your house yourself or enlist a local painter to do it for you.

Painting a house is a big project, but it isn’t an impossible job for most homeowners. You have to do your research to know how to prep the surface by scheduling residential pressure washing, as well as what brushes and paints to use.

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

Whichever choice is best for you, you’ll 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. Decide which parts to paint, collect the ladders and other necessary safety equipment. If you’re preparing to complete the painting by yourself, you’ll thank yourself later. Having a plan will make the painting go a lot faster once you begin. Collecting your equipment ahead of time guarantees that once you begin painting, you shouldn’t have to stop and look for needed supplies, meaning you’ll have to maintain a wet brush edge the whole time you are painting.
2. Choose the right paint and brushes. The fun part of painting your house is deciding the color or color combo. You’ll also need 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 easier to clean. The flat surfaces need more of a flat, or matte, finish, versus semi-gloss. You’ll need to us synthetic fiber brushes for latex paint. Rollers and sprayers are time-saving options.
3. Pressure wash. Finally, it is time to begin prepping the exterior of the house for its brand new paint! Put time into pressure washing your house (or hiring a local pressure washing service) to loosen any cracked or peeling paint. The high pressure is the recommended way to eliminate peeling paint, and it cleans the exterior of your house. Some of the sections 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 metal or plastic straight edge, being diligent not to dig into the wood. Then sand bumpy surfaces for a smooth finish. It isn’t important to sand each 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 coat of paint goes on smooth.
5. Prime. Do not skip priming! Primer is a very important part of preparation because it conceals any previous paint (especially with dark paint colors), results in an even color for your new coat, and a smoother exterior with less imperfections throughout. 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 on the surface.
6. Plan to paint on the best day. A professional painter is able to 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 yourself, wait for a day that is 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 new paint job make your house look years newer, it also adds a layer of protection to the overall structure of your house.

Paint helps prevent insects from eating or boring into your home’s exterior. It also reduces wear and tear from the elements. High quality paint prevents wood from rotting and dirt cannot stick to paint the way it does to wood.

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

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

Painting is a good idea if your house doesn’t 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 paint color can completely update its vibe.

Hiring a Local Professional Painter in Oceanside

After prepping is done, you can turn the job off to a professional painter in Oceanside (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 little effort from you.

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

• A professional painter knows the most efficient way to complete the job, which means the paint will look much better and the project will move a lot quicker.
• Pros don’t make a big mess. Their results will be neater, with no 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 needed to paint areas above ground level.

Based 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 project, from eliminating old paint and pressure washing the exterior to applying the new paint.