How to Prepare Your Home for Painting

If your house in Arlington Heights has to be updated, a fresh coat of exterior paint is a quick, inexpensive option to improve its curb appeal. So if your home exterior is looking shabby or if you’re just ready for a change, consider painting the outside of your home yourself or enlist a local painter to do the job for you.

Painting a house is a big project, but it isn’t an impossible job for some 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 meet in the middle with a painter by completing all of the prep work by yourself, but then letting their team come over and do the actual painting with their best tools, safety equipment and professionally selected paint.

Whichever direction is best for you, you will still need 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. Choose which parts of the home to paint, gather the ladders and other necessary safety equipment. If you’re preparing to complete the painting yourself, you’ll thank yourself later. Having a plan will make the actual painting project go much faster as soon as you begin. Organizing your tools ahead of time guarantees that once you begin painting, you shouldn’t have to stop and look for needed supplies, meaning that you’ll have to maintain a wet brush edge the entire time you are painting.
2. Choose paint and brushes. The fun part of painting your house is deciding the color or color combo. You’ll also need to choose the right paint finishes for all parts of the home. Latex is a lot better than oil-based paint for home exteriors. It is a lot less messy and much easier to clean. The flat surfaces require more of a flat, or matte, finish, versus semi-gloss for the trim. You’ll need synthetic fiber brushes for latex paint. Rollers and sprayers are time-saving options.
3. Pressure wash. Finally, it’s time to begin prepping the exterior of the home for its brand new paint! Invest time into power washing your home (or hiring a local pressure washing service) to wash off any cracked or peeling paint. The extreme pressure is the recommended way to eliminate old paint, and it simultaneously cleans the outside of your home. Some of the areas of paint may peel off as you spray them. That’s a sign that the paint was aging and needed 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 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 smooth.
5. Prime. Do not skip the primer! Primer is an important step because it conceals any previous paint (especially important with dark colors), results in even color for your new coat, and a smooth exterior with minimal imperfections. Let the primer dry based on the directions so that the original layer of paint won’t mix with it or result in a rough patch.
6. Plan to paint on the best day. A professional painter is able to look at the weather forecast and tell you the most opportune day for applying exterior paint. 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, with very little 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 house look years newer, it also adds a layer of protection for the overall structure of your home.

Paint will help prevent pests from eating or boring into your home’s exterior. It also prevents wear and tear from inclement weather. Good quality paint stops wood from rotting and dirt doesn’t adhere to paint the way it does to bare wood.

Peeling paint is an obvious sign 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 surface.

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

Painting is a good idea if your home doesn’t to “fit in” in the neighborhood. 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 look.

Hiring a Local Professional Painter in Arlington Heights

After the prepping is finished, you can turn the project off to a professional painter in Arlington Heights (if you hadn’t already decided that from the beginning!). Hiring a painter is cost effective. It also guarantees that the results will exceed expectations with minimal 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, which means the paint will look a lot better and the project will go a lot quicker.
• Companies don’t typically make a big mess. Their results will be much neater, without excess paint splattered or spilled around home.
• Due to their skill and experience, your new exterior paint will probably last a lot longer than if you painted yourself.
• A professional painter will already have the safety equipment necessary to paint areas higher than ground level.

Depending on your DIY abilities and interests, you can trust your painter to complete all the pre-painting preparation, too. Most services are fully prepared to take care of each part of the project, from eliminating old paint and pressure washing the exterior to actually applying the paint.