If you are planning on repainting your home’s exterior, make sure you follow careful procedures in doing so. If done right, a nice paintjob can last you nearly a decade. But if done wrong, you may have to end up having to make repairs on your new paint just months later. Much of the success relies on the preparation for your new paint. So here are the steps you should take before repainting your home.
- Inspect Your Home
Before doing any work to your home, go around and perform a careful inspection. You are looking for issues that may make it hard for you to apply new paint or issues that may affect the appearance of your new paint. During your inspections, pay close attention to splitting wood, mildew, popped and rusted nails, and peeling paint. Make sure you do not overlook smaller areas around the doors and windows.
- Repair Any Issues And Clean The Outside Of Your Home
Once you have detected the problems, take care of those issues before washing the exterior or your home. Scrape off all loose paint pieces with a putty knife. Make sure you do not scrape the wood in the process. Particularly thicker pieces of paint can be removed with a heated paint remover device. To deal with holes and cracks in the wood, use wood filler to fill the areas and allow it time to dry. The next step is to take use 80-grit sand paper to sand down the larger scraped areas. You can use 120-grit for smaller areas. You can sand smaller areas manually by wrapping the sandpaper around a block of wood and larger areas with an orbiting power sander. Stay away from disc sanders as they can leave swirls in your wood.
When your repairs are done, you can then wash the exterior of your home and peel off the old paint. For smaller homes, you can use a large scrub brush to remove particles and stains. Then you can just take a simple garden hose to wash off the exterior of your home. For larger homes, a pressure washer is recommended. If you found mildew during your inspection, mix bleach into your washing water. After washing the outside of your house, it is important that you give it time to dry. Depending on what type of paint you plan to use, you may have to wait a whole week.
- Create Space To Work
The next step is to remove anything that might get in the way of your job. This includes lighting fixtures, shutters, or trees and branches. If you have a tree or a bush touching your exterior walls, make sure you have a method of confining the branches from making contact.
- Pick Your Primer
Do not overlook primer. It sets a layer for your exterior paint and will give it a very satisfying, smooth look. Be sure to get the correct type of primer for the type of paint you are planning to use. Cover all areas you plan on painting over with primer.
- Paint Your Home
Working from top to bottom, apply your first coat of exterior paint. Be sure to use a brush on wood and a roller on other material. Once your first coat is dry, apply a second coat following the same instructions.
