House Painting Tips
We can all use house painting tips. When applying exterior painting on your house, you have to remember that it achieves two very important things. It provides for good first impressions, for good aesthetics, for good show.
In short, the right type of exterior house paints adds beauty to your home. And more importantly, it provides protection against the ravages of the natural elements like rain and sun as well as mildew, among other things. In the long run, this is the most significant decision you will ever undertake in house maintenance.
Fortunately, there are practical house painting tips that you can apply even when you are not a master house painter. Indeed, you can save on professional painter costs when you do it yourself! And in these recessionary times, a penny saved is truly a penny earned.
First, you have to prepare the surfaces on which exterior painting is to be done. You just don't paint over the old layers. Instead, you have to perform many pre-painting jobs like:
- Remove rust stains on overhangs, sidings and foundations
- Repair downspouts and gutters
- Replace loose caulking
- Eliminate mildew
- Take down house accessories like screens and shutters, awnings and light fixtures
These are very necessary steps because you want your new paint to last longer and therefore, protect your house longer. Of course, it does not look good to have rough spots and house accessories that look like it has been painted over and most sloppily at that.
Second, you have to choose the best method with which to paint your house as well as the best paint for it. There are no hard and fast rules for this aspect so you can basically make your own decisions based on your experience, the type of paint you are using, the painting tools available, and the house's construction.
You can choose from among many painting methods like:
- Brushing and rolling - Applicable to smooth surfaces within the reach of the brush or the roller. Also excellent for low homes. Be very careful about using the ladder as most painting accidents happen on it.
- Using a power sprayer - This will require more skill on your part but you will be able to save on money and on time because the job can be done in lesser time.
Of course, these methods will be used in combination. There are, after all, areas of the house's exterior that cannot be properly painted
with a power spray like trim work and primer work. On the other hand, a power spray often provides more optimal coverage than the roller does.
Third, and most important of these exterior painting tips, you have to do the job well the first time around. Of course, you can paint and re-paint all you want to but that would be a waste of your money and of your time especially when you are undertaking exterior painting as a DIY project.
Also, doing the job wrong from the very beginning will only add up in higher costs in the long run. This is because the very foundation of your paint job is faulty! And you know what happens in faulty foundations - they crumble sooner than later!
Indeed, one of the best house painting tips you will hear is that painting your house is a serious matter - treat it as such.
