Welcome to the topic 10 Exterior Painting Tips and tricks.
When spring and summer arrive, so does the desire to spend more time outdoors. There’s nothing better than sitting on your porch with a cold glass of lemonade and watching the birds flit about your yard. But if you have an older home or are just not super thrilled with the aesthetics of your home’s exterior, it’s time for a paint makeover.
Painting your home is one of the quickest ways to give it a brand-new look. Whether you want to go bold or neutral, there are plenty of options for exterior paint colors. This blog post will show you ten ways to exterior prep walls for painting and how to paint like a pro.
10 Exterior Painting Tips and Tricks
1. Decide on a color
The first step in your exterior painting prep is to decide on a color. While you can paint any surface any color, there are some things to remember. For example, darker colors like black and dark red tend to get really hot in the sun. If you want your paint job to last, you’ll want to choose a cooler color like taupe or sandstone.
Similarly, you want to avoid painting your home with a light color in the winter. White, yellow, and light blue will be washed out by snow and ice. You might want to consider painting your home gray or brown during winter. Choosing an exterior paint color isn’t something to do haphazardly. Think about the look you want for your home and the surrounding environment.
2. Apply Primer
Primers that are white, gray, or tinted provide an even base for topcoats to adhere to and a uniform canvas from which to survey your work. Primer can also be tinted with color. Small cracks in joints and those found around doors, windows, and other places where horizontals and verticals intersect will stand out in great relief, revealing the areas that require caulking to fill in the gaps.
3. Protect the area around your home
Whether hiring a pro or doing the painting yourself, you’ll want to protect the area around your home. Ideally, you’ll want to cover the ground with tarps and tape off any flower beds or other areas you want to protect. That way, you don’t end up getting paint on your lawn or garden. If you’re hiring a pro, you can have them use disposable tarps and drop cloths. If you don’t want to go with disposable, you can buy reusable drop cloths.
4. Scrape, sand, and prime now.
If your house is older, you’ll want to scrape and sand the areas you want to paint. This will help remove any loose paint that could flake and chip off your house over time. Plus, it will give your new paint job a smooth surface to adhere to.
If you don’t scrape and sand the area, your new paint won’t adhere, and your house will look tacky. It will look like you painted over old, peeling paint. This is an amateur mistake that no one wants in their neighborhood. You’ll want to scrape everything from your siding, fascia, and even your gutters. You can rent a power scraper or hire a contractor to do the work for you.
5. Don’t forget to paint your windows.
While you’re painting your home, you’ll want to paint your windows too. It’s important to protect your windows from UV rays and heat; painting them can do just that. You can paint your windows any color you want, but we recommend staying away from bold colors.
Instead, go with neutral colors like white, taupe, or gray. These colors will look great on any exterior and will help protect your windows from harmful UV rays. If you’re painting the windows in your home, you should prime them first. This will help the paint adhere to the surface, and the entire job will last much longer.
6. Check for cracking and fading spots.
While you’re scraping and sanding, you’ll want to check your home for cracking and fading spots. If you see any, you may want to repaint that area before you paint your entire home. That way, your painting project will go a lot more smoothly. You can repaint the fading and cracked areas before you paint your home. It might seem like you’re wasting time and money, but it’s well worth it.
Once your paint job is done, you don’t want people to look at your house and see faded or cracked spots. Grab a brush with a fine tip if you notice any fading or cracking. Use latex paint that is a similar color to your exterior paint. This will help you blend in the cracked or faded areas so that no one will notice.
7. Re-caulk before you paint
You may notice your windows are a little leaky or the caulking around your home is wearing away. If so, you’ll want to re-caulk before you paint your exterior. You’ll want to use a latex caulk that’s similar in color to your paint. Not only will re-caulking your home save you from a leaky mess, but it will also look much better.
When you paint over a worn-out caulking job, it can look messy and unsightly. It’s best to re-caulk before you paint and make your home look brand new. It might be time for a new window if you have a leaky window. If you can re-caulk the window, you can continue to use it.
8. Add metal edging for durability.
If you’re painting outside your home, you may want to add metal edging. This will allow your paint to adhere better to the surface of your home and last longer. If you paint your edging, it will provide a more durable surface that will repel moisture. It will also help your paint last longer by preventing chipping and peeling.
9. Keep in mind it’ll take more than one coat.
Painting the exterior of your home will take more than one coat. This means that you should plan on painting your walls once and maybe doing another coat after a week or two. Why does it take multiple coats? Well, the first coat will be rather thin and might only partially cover your walls. You’ll want a second coat to ensure you get the coverage you need.
Plus, the first coat will help seal your walls so your paint will last longer. If you’re painting your home, you should plan for it to take a few weekends to complete. While you can paint your house at the weekend, you may want to do a couple of touch-ups before you call it finished.
10. Hire the pros
If you’re painting the exterior of your home, you’ll want to hire professionals like X-Act Care. That way, they can take proper care of your home, and your paint job will last for years to come. Plus, hiring a pro will save you hours of hard work and frustration. If you do the work yourself, you’re going to have to invest time, effort, equipment, and money. On the other hand, if you hire a professional painter, you’ll only have to invest a little money.
You don’t have to save time, effort, or money – hiring a pro does all three. Not only that, but a professional painter will have the tools and skills to get your house painted in a timely fashion. You’ll want to make sure you hire a reputable company like X-Act Care with plenty of experience in your area.
Conclusion
Deciding on a color, hiring the pros, protecting the area around your home, scraping, sanding, and priming now, checking for cracking and fading spots, re-caulking before you paint, adding metal edging for durability, and keeping in mind it’ll take more than one coat are all essential parts of the exterior painting process. This will help you get your house painted in no time and with finesse.
Have any questions regarding the topic 10 Exterior Painting Tips and tricks? Feel free to comment below.
Also Read: Why do you need a house cleaning service in Rockwall?