Tips To Help You Succeed At Painting The Exterior Of Your Home
Painting your home's exterior improves its appearance and value and maintains your exterior to protect it from the elements. But it is important to complete painting in a proper manner. Here are some tips and insight to help you successfully paint your home's exterior.
Clean the Exterior
The outside of your home can become quite a bit dirtier than your home's interior, so preparing your exterior for paint application is very important. Wash the exterior of your siding with a bucket containing a mixture of water and liquid dish detergent. Use a long-handled scrub brush to clean the exterior surface. After brushing it clean, rinse the soap residue with your garden hose, working from top to bottom.
If you have access to a pressure washer, this will make the cleaning easier, as you only need to spray it onto the surface to remove dirt and residues without scrubbing them off by hand. A pressure washer will also help you remove any peeling paint from the surface of your home's exterior, which helps you skip having to sand them off in preparation to painting.
Repair Wood Damage
After you have cleaned the surface of your siding, you will need to look for any damage to the wood trim or wood siding on your home. It is important that you repair and patch any wood rot or cracking and holes before you paint over the top.
On wood siding or trim, look for soft areas of the wood that are spongy to the touch or that easily allow you to poke the head of a screwdriver into the wood. These signs indicate wood rot and the wood will need to be removed and replaced. If it is wood siding, cut out the damaged section and replace it with a new length of matching-sized trim.
Cut out any rotted and damaged wood trim and replace it with new trim or patch it using a two-part epoxy. Use the epoxy filler to fill in any cracks or holes. Mix up the epoxy and press it into the damaged area with a putty knife, smoothing it to match the surrounding areas. Allow the epoxy to dry and sand it smooth with a fine grit sandpaper.
Apply Primer and Paint
Select a good quality exterior paint and primer. It is recommended to choose a high-quality brand because this can result in your paint lasting many years. Using a sub-standard primer and paint will end in your having to repaint sooner.
Set painting tarps around the exterior around your home to catch any paint drips, and remove or cover with plastic any exterior fixtures to protect them from paint. Apply primer onto any repairs you have made to the siding and wood trim, and if you plan to change the exterior color from a dark to a light color.
If you feel you cannot do this on your own, it is best to contact professional exterior painting services so that your home can be painted properly and las for a long time.
