How to Prepare Your Home for Painting

If your home in Pasadena needs to be refreshed, a new coat of exterior paint is a fast, inexpensive way to improve its appearance. 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 enlist a professional painter to do the job for you.

Painting a home is a huge job, but it isn’t an impossible job for some homeowners. You just have to do your research to know how to prepare the exterior surface by scheduling residential pressure washing, as well as what brushes and paints you need to use.

You can compromise with a professional painter by completing all of the prep work by yourself, but then having their team come over and do the painting with their best tools, safety equipment and professionally selected paint.

Whichever direction is right for you, you’ll still need to know exactly how to prepare your home for painting. Here are the most important things to consider.

6 House Painting Preparation Tips

1. Choose which parts of the home to paint, gather the ladders and other safety equipment. If you are preparing to do the painting by yourself, you’ll be glad you did. Having a plan will make the painting go much faster once you get started. Collecting your equipment ahead of time guarantees that once you begin painting, you won’t have to stop and search for needed supplies, meaning you’ll be able to maintain a wet brush 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 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’s a lot less messy and easier to clean up. The flat surfaces require more of a flat, or matte, finish, versus semi-gloss for the trim. You’ll need to us synthetic fiber brushes for latex paint. Rollers and sprayers are efficient options.
3. Pressure wash. Finally, it’s time to begin prepping the surface of your house for its brand new paint! Put time into pressure washing your house (or hiring a local pressure washing service) to remove any cracked or peeling paint. The extreme pressure is the recommended way to eliminate old paint, and it also cleans the outside of your house. Some of the sections of paint may peel right off 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 surface. Then sand 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 cleaned and have the edges sanded so the new coat of paint goes on the home smooth.
5. Prime. Do not skip priming! Primer is a very important part of preparation because it covers up any previous paint (especially important with dark paint colors), results in an even color for your new coat, and a smooth surface with minimal imperfections. Let the primer dry according to the directions so that the first layer of paint won’t blend into it or produce a rough patch.
6. Plan to paint on the best day. A professional painter is able to look at the forecast and determine the most opportune day for painting a house. That’s why they’re professionals! If you plan to do the painting on your own, wait for a day that is 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 does a brand new paint job make your home look several years newer, it also provides a layer of protection for the overall structure of your house.

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

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

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

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

Hiring a Local Professional Painter in Pasadena

After prepping is finished, you have the option to hand the project over to a professional painter in Pasadena (if you hadn’t already chosen that from the beginning!). Hiring a painter is affordable. It also guarantees that the results will exceed 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 big mess. Their results will be neater, with no extra paint splattered or spilled around home.
• Due to their skill and experience, your new exterior paint will probably last a lot longer than if you did the job by yourself.
• A professional painter will have the safety equipment needed to paint areas above ground level.

Based on your DIY skills 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 eliminating old paint and pressure washing the exterior to applying the paint.