How to Prepare Your Home for Painting

If your house in Oxnard needs to be refreshed, a fresh coat of exterior paint is a fast, inexpensive way to improve its appearance. So if your home exterior is starting to look worn down or if you are simply ready for a change, consider repainting the outside of your home yourself or hire a local painter to do it for you.

Painting a house is a huge project, but it isn’t an unreasonable job for some homeowners. You just need to do your research to understand how to prepare the exterior surface by scheduling residential pressure washing, as well as which brushes and paints to use.

You can also team up with a professional painter by doing all of the prep work yourself, but then letting their team come in and do the painting with their tools, safety equipment and professionally selected paint.

Whichever option is best for you, you’ll still need 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 to paint, collect the ladders and other safety equipment. If you’re preparing to complete the painting yourself, you’ll be glad you did. Having a plan will make the painting project go a lot faster once you begin. Organizing your equipment beforehand ensures that once you begin painting, you shouldn’t have to stop and search for needed supplies, meaning that you’ll have to maintain a wet brush edge the entire time you are painting.
2. Choose the right paint and brushes. The best part of painting your house is choosing the color or color combo. You’ll also need 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 much easier to clean. The flat surfaces require more of a flat, or matte, finish, versus semi-gloss. You’ll need synthetic fiber brushes for latex paint. Rollers and sprayers are efficient options.
3. Pressure wash. Finally, it is time to begin prepping the exterior of the home for its beautiful new paint! Put time into pressure washing your home (or hiring a local pressure washing service) to remove any cracked or peeling paint. The high pressure is the recommended way to eliminate old paint, and it cleans the outside of your home. Some sections of paint may peel off as you spray over them. That’s a sign that the paint was aging and had to be replaced!
4. Remove peeling paint. Now that the old paint has been loosened, get more of it off the house with a plastic or metal straight edge, being careful not to dig deep into the wood surface. Then sand bumpy surfaces for a smooth finish. It isn’t important to sand each surface down to the bare wood. Any sections 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 priming! Primer is a very important part of preparation because it conceals any previous paint (especially with dark colors), results in even color for your new coat, and a smooth exterior with minimal imperfections throughout. Let the primer dry according to the directions so that the first layer of paint doesn’t mix with it or produce a rough patch.
6. Plan to paint in good weather. A professional painter is able to look at the weather forecast and tell you the most opportune day for painting a home. That’s why they’re professionals! If you want to do the painting yourself, wait for a day that is between 75 and 85 degrees, and with very little humidity. This will lead to the best adhesion.

Why Painting Your Home is a Good Idea

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

Paint will help prevent insects from eating or clawing into your home’s exterior. It also prevents wear and tear from inclement weather. 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 your paint is peeling, you need to go ahead and have it repainted in order to protect the wood beneath.

Worn paint takes a toll on your home’s appearance. If you’re concerned about curb appeal, painting your home is one of the best 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 exterior color makes it stand out, or if the opposite is true and you want it to stand out, a different color can update its look.

Hiring a Local Professional Painter in Oxnard

After the prepping is done, you have the option to turn the job over to a professional painter in Oxnard (if you hadn’t already decided that from the start!). Hiring a painter is cost effective. It also ensures that the results will exceed your expectations with less effort from you.

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

• A professional painter knows the most efficient way to complete the job, which means the paint will look much better and the project will be done a lot faster.
• Companies don’t typically make a big mess. Their results will be much neater, with no excess paint splattered or spilled around home.
• Because of their skill and experience, your new exterior paint will last a lot longer than if you painted yourself.
• A professional painter will already have the safety equipment necessary to paint areas above ground level.

Depending on your DIY abilities and interests, you can trust your painter to complete all the pre-painting preparation, too. Most pros are fully prepared to handle each part of the project, from removing old paint and cleaning the exterior to applying the paint.