How To Prep A House For Painting

No matter how you want to go about your house painting project, there is a stage you wouldn't want to skip. Either you or your house painters will have to prep your house for painting.

As such, you should know how to prepare a home for painting so you can understand what to expect. Read on to learn how to prep a house for painting, the benefits of power washing your home, and how professional painting contractors can help with painting jobs.

Prepping Steps for House Painting

Painting your home can seem overwhelming. That is why you should do it right and take the proper steps to ensure a good home painting job. Here are some practical steps for preparing your home for house painting:

How to prep your house for exterior painting

If you intend to perform an entire house painting job, then you should divide the project into interior and exterior painting jobs. Here is a guide on how to prepare your house for exterior home painting:

Step One: Wash the exterior of the house

This is an essential exterior painting prep step. You need to remove all sorts of dirt, dust, and residue. This is to allow the paint to stick properly.

Step Two: Scrape off flaking or loose paint

After ensuring a dry surface, check for flaking or loose paint and scrape them off. You can utilize a putty knife or paint scraper.

Step Three: Perform needed repairs

Now, check for areas you need to repair. This includes exterior wood patches and holes on surfaces.

Step Four: Sand off old paint

Sanding will help to prepare the surface for an even finish. This is a crucial step to help create a mechanical bond between coats of paint. The risk of failing to rough up the surfaces properly is that the painting job will begin to look bad after a few years. You may want to think that you can simply start painting over oil-based paints. However, you still need to perform an adequate sanding job before painting.

Step Five: Re-caulk and fill gaps

Here, you can perform exterior caulking or re-caulking if it is needed. Fill out gaps and cracks to ensure a tight seal. Adding caulk along the juncture of contrasting surfaces like brick and siding helps give added protection.

Step Six: Protect with painter's tape and drop cloths

It's time to use painter's tape to protect trims and frames. You can apply painter's tape to protect around doors and windows. This will stop potential spills from messing up your trim or frames. Likewise, putting down drop cloths will help protect your shrubs or lawn from excess paint. This is one measure for proper lawn care during painting.

Step Seven: Apply primer

Priming is known to increase durability. As such, it is good to prime surfaces if you're applying a new color over an old one. The fresh paint can more easily stick to the previously painted surfaces. It is helpful to prime the entire house, not just areas with old paint.

Exterior home painting prep tips

If you intend to hire a painting professional for a residential job, they usually take care of the prep work. However, you may still need to perform some prep tasks:

• Professional painters may need a water supply. You can leave the exterior water spigot on so they can rinse tools and perform other tasks.
• Close all windows so paint and smell do not stuff your home.
• Also, remove outdoor furniture such as cushions and patio furniture.
• Professional painting contractors may find accessing the sides of our home's exterior easier if you trim back your plants.
• Painting crews can handle the above tasks. However, it may raise the cost of the exterior painting job.

How to prepare for interior house painting

After prepping your home's exterior for painting, you are now ready to prep your home's interior. Indeed, if you want to do a long-lasting interior paint job, you must prepare the surface properly.

Here are some home interior painting prep tips:

Step One: Remove household items

You can begin by removing household items that cover surfaces. This can include décor, wall hangings, and curtains. Also, move more significant items, such as furniture, to the center of the room and cover them up. Remember to unscrew and remove outlets and light switch covers.

Step Two: Protect against paint slip

Do this by applying painter's tape over doors, basements, and windows. You can easily remove it later; it won't peel paint as it comes off.

Step Three: Use drop cloths to protect the floor

This will help protect the floor from excess paint drips. Experienced house painters often do this.

Step Four: Protect ceiling fan and light fixtures

You may need to cover these fixtures with plastic and protect your recessed lights. You may also need to take out the bulbs. While at it, a pro tip is to protect your hands by wearing PPE (Personal Protective Equipment) like latex or nitrile gloves. This protects your hands from latex paints and enamel paints.

Power Washing Your House Before Painting

It is advisable to power wash before you paint your house. Power washing helps to remove ingrained dirt, debris, and loose paint. Ultimately, your surface will become clean and dry, making it easier to paint on.

You can use power washing to help you remove tough stains from exterior surfaces. However, if you work on delicate surfaces like wood and vinyl siding, you may want to use soft washing instead.

Consequently, power washing is best done before painting, while soft washing is used to maintain paint. However, it is not advisable to power wash freshly painted houses. The paint can crack or peel due to the high pressure.

In addition, be careful when power washing the exterior of your home. You do not want to power wash close to electrical outlets to avoid electrical failure and severe health hazards. Similarly, it is best not to use harsh chemicals when power washing.

Benefits of power washing

Power washing is often used to clean homes to avoid scrubbing off dirt and grime. You can clean your home annually using power washing. The benefits of power washing include the following:

• Can help improve curb appeal.
• It reduces the need for repairs.
• You can maintain your home's exterior.
• It is an environmentally friendly option.

When can you paint after power washing?

You can generally paint your house when the surface is dry enough. This is usually within the next 24 hours. However, perform a touch test to confirm that the surface is dry. Meanwhile, you should not exceed 30 to 60 days before painting after power washing your house.

Precautions for Handling Lead Paint Contaminants

Lead paint has been banned in some regions. However, some homes still have walls painted with lead-based paint. If you suspect that is the case with your walls, do not attempt to scrape, sand off, or perform any washing. Lead is a health hazard for humans.

As such, you must invite a certified and professional painting contractor to perform lead abatement services. This includes testing and removing the paint before any exterior prep work begins.

How Can Painting Contractors Help?

You may not have the knowledge, skills, or time to perform a good prep and paint job. That is where a professional painting company comes in. You do not necessarily have to dig deep into your home finance as their rates are usually fair.

Here are some ways a commercial or residential painting contractor can help out with your painting project:

• They can adequately prep, prime, and caulk various surfaces, including wood siding and brick.
• A professional home painting company is experienced at protecting surfaces from the elements.
• You can call on them for wallpaper installation and different types of cabinet painting, such as kitchen cabinet painting.
• They can perform containment and disposal according to local rules.

Hire Professionals for Your Home Painting Needs

After reading this piece on how to prep a house for painting, you should be familiar with the steps and processes. However, there is still a lot that a professional painting contractor can do for you.

They can help you choose the right type of paint and handle all aspects of residential and commercial painting jobs. So why not contact a professional painting contractor to prep your house for painting? You won't regret it!