How to Prepare Your Home for Painting

If your home in Daly City has to be refreshed, a new coat of paint is a quick, inexpensive option to improve its curb appeal. So if your house is looking worn down or if you are just ready for something different, consider painting the outside of your home yourself or enlist a local painter to do it for you.

Painting a home is a huge project, but it isn’t an unreasonable job for some homeowners. You just 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 to use.

You can even meet in the middle with a professional painter by doing all of the prep work by yourself, but then having their crew come over and do the actual painting with their best tools, safety equipment and professionally selected paint.

Whichever direction is best for you, you’ll still want to know 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 of the home to paint, gather the ladders and all other necessary safety equipment. If you’re planning to do the painting by yourself, you’ll thank yourself later. Having a plan will help to make the actual painting go much faster once you begin. Organizing your tools ahead of time guarantees that when you begin painting, you shouldn’t have to stop and look for all of the supplies, meaning you’ll have to maintain a wet edge the whole time you are painting.
2. Choose good paint and brushes. The best part of painting your home is deciding the color or color combo. You will also want to choose the right paint finishes for each part of the home. 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 need more of a flat, or matte, finish, versus semi-gloss. You’ll want synthetic fiber brushes for latex paint. Rollers and sprayers are efficient options if possible.
3. Pressure wash. Finally, it’s time to begin prepping the surface of your 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 high pressure is the recommended way to remove peeling paint, and it simultaneously cleans the outside of your home. Some areas of paint should peel off 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 original paint has been loosened, get more of it off with a metal or plastic straight edge, being diligent not to dig into the wood. 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 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 with dark paint colors), results in even color for your new coat, and a smoother surface with less imperfections. Let the primer dry based on the directions so that the first 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 can look at the weather forecast and tell you the most opportune day for painting a home. That’s why they’re experts! If you plan to do the painting yourself, wait for a day that is somewhere between 75 and 85 degrees, and with very 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 several years newer, it also creates a layer of protection for the overall structure of your home.

Paint will help prevent insects from eating or clawing into your home’s exterior. It also stops wear and tear from the elements. High quality paint stops wood from rotting and dirt cannot adhere to paint the same way it does to wood.

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

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

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

Hiring a Local Professional Painter in Daly City

After the prepping is complete, you have the option to hand the work off to a professional painter in Daly City (if you hadn’t already decided that from the start!). Hiring a painter is cost effective. 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 optimal way to do the job, which means the paint will look much better and the project will go a lot quicker.
• Companies don’t typically make a mess. Their results will be neater, with no extra paint splattered or spilled around home.
• Due to their skill and knowledge, your new paint will last a lot longer than if you did the job by yourself.
• A professional painter will already have the safety equipment necessary to paint surfaces higher than ground level.

Depending on your DIY abilities 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 actually applying the paint.