How to Prepare Your Home for Painting

If your home in Fontana needs to be updated, a fresh coat of exterior paint is a fast, affordable option to improve its appearance. So if your home exterior is looking shabby or if you are simply ready for a change, consider repainting the exterior of your home yourself or enlist a professional painter to do the job for you.

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

You can also partner with a professional painter by doing all the prep work by yourself, but then having their crew come to your home and do the 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 the most important things to consider.

6 House Painting Preparation Tips

1. Choose which parts to paint, gather the ladders and all other necessary safety equipment. If you’re preparing to complete the painting yourself, you’ll be glad you did. Having a clear plan will make the painting project go much faster as soon as you begin. Organizing your tools beforehand guarantees that once you begin painting, you shouldn’t have to stop and search for all of the supplies, meaning you’ll have to maintain a wet edge the entire time you are painting.
2. Choose paint and brushes. The best part of painting your home is choosing the color or color combination. You will also want to pick the right paint finishes for each part of the home. Latex is a lot better than oil-based paint for home exteriors. It is 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 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 begin prepping the surface of the home for its beautiful new paint! Put time into pressure washing your home (or hiring a local pressure washing service) to wash off any cracked or peeling paint. The extreme pressure water is the best way to eliminate peeling paint, and it cleans the exterior of your home. Some areas of paint should peel right 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 the house 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 sections where the paint is still adhered just need to be cleaned and have the edges sanded so the new paint goes on the home smoothly.
5. Prime. Don’t 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 coat, and a smoother surface with minimal imperfections. Let the primer dry based on the directions so that the original layer of paint doesn’t blend into it or leave behind a rough patch.
6. Plan to paint on the best day. A professional painter can look at the weather forecast and find the most opportune day for painting a home. That’s why they’re experts! 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 result in the best adhesion.

Why Painting Your Home is a Good Idea

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

Paint can help prevent insects from eating or boring into your home’s exterior. It also reduces wear and tear from the elements. Good quality paint prevents wood from rotting and dirt cannot adhere to paint the same way it does to bare wood.

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

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

Painting is also a good idea if your home doesn’t 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 color can completely change its look.

Hiring a Local Professional Painter in Fontana

After prepping is done, you can hand the project off to a professional painter in Fontana (if you hadn’t already decided that from the beginning!). Hiring a painter is affordable. It also guarantees that the results will exceed your expectations with little effort on your part.

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

• A professional painter knows the best way to complete the job, meaning the paint will look much better and the project will move a lot faster.
• Pros don’t typically make a big mess. Their results will be neater, without extra paint splattered or spilled around home.
• Because of their skill and knowledge, your new exterior paint will probably last a lot longer than if you painted yourself.
• A professional painter will have the safety equipment required to paint anything higher than ground level.

Based on your DIY skills and desires, you can trust your painter to complete all the pre-painting preparation, too. Most pros are fully prepared to take care of each part of the job, from eliminating old paint and cleaning the exterior to applying the new paint.