How to Prepare Your Home for Painting

If your home in Huntington Beach has to be refreshed, a new coat of exterior paint is an easy, inexpensive way to improve its curb appeal. So if your house is starting to look worn down or if you are just ready for a change, consider painting the outside of your house yourself or pay a professional painter to do it for you.

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

You can team up with a painter by doing all the prep work on your own, but then having their team come over and do the painting with their tools, safety equipment and professionally selected paint.

Whichever option 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 remember.

6 House Painting Preparation Tips

1. Decide which parts to paint, collect the ladders and other safety equipment. If you are preparing to do the painting by yourself, you’ll be glad you did. Having a clear plan will help to make the painting go a lot faster as soon as you begin. Organizing your materials ahead of time ensures that once you start painting, you shouldn’t have to stop and look for all of the supplies, meaning that you’ll be able to maintain a wet edge the whole time you are painting.
2. Choose the right paint and brushes. The best part of painting your house is deciding the color or color combination. You’ll also want to choose the right paint finishes for all parts of the house. Latex is better than oil-based paint for home exteriors. It’s less messy and easier to clean up. The flat surfaces need more of a flat, or matte, finish, versus semi-gloss for the trim. You’ll want to us 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 your house for its beautiful new paint! Invest time into pressure washing your house (or hiring a local pressure washing service) to wash off any cracked or peeling paint. The extreme pressure is the recommended way to remove peeling paint, and it also cleans the outside of your house. Some sections of paint should peel right off as soon as you spray them. That’s a sign that the paint was aging and had to be replaced!
4. Remove peeling paint. Now that the old paint has been loosened, get more of it off the house with a plastic or metal straight edge, being careful not to dig deep into the wood surface. Then sand surfaces for a smooth finish. It isn’t necessary to sand each surface down to the bare wood. Any areas where the paint is still adhered just 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 step because it conceals any previous paint (especially with dark colors), results in an even color for your new paint, and a smoother exterior with minimal imperfections. Let the primer dry based on the directions so that the original layer of paint won’t blend into it or leave behind a rough patch.
6. Plan to paint in good weather. A professional painter can look at the forecast and tell you the most opportune day for painting a house. That’s why they’re experts! If you want to do the painting on your own, wait for a day that is somewhere between 75 and 85 degrees, and with very low humidity. This will lead to the best adhesion.

Why Painting Your Home is a Good Idea

Not only can a new paint job make your home look several years newer, it also creates 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 the elements. Good quality paint stops wood from rotting and dirt won’t adhere to paint the same way it does to bare wood.

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

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

Painting is a good idea if your house doesn’t seem to “fit in” in the neighborhood (but you want it to). If your home’s exterior color makes it stand out too much, or if the opposite is true and you want it to stand out, a different color can completely change its vibe.

Hiring a Local Professional Painter in Huntington Beach

After prepping is finished, you can turn the job over to a professional painter in Huntington Beach (if you hadn’t already decided that from the beginning!). Hiring a painter is affordable. It also ensures that the results will exceed expectations with little effort from you.

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 a lot better and the project will move a lot faster.
• Companies don’t typically make a mess. Their results will be neater, without extra paint splattered or spilled around home.
• Due to their skill and knowledge, your new exterior paint will probably last longer than if you painted by 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 do all the pre-painting preparation, too. Most companies are prepared to handle each part of the project, from eliminating old paint and pressure washing the exterior to applying the paint.