How To Properly Prep Your Home for Exterior Painting
If you are going to take on the challenge of painting your house, you must make sure that you do all the proper prep work before you even touch your paint brush. Prep work must be done properly to make sure that the paint or stain adheres correctly to the surface you are working on. Prep work is by far the most important step in any exterior house painting process, as the paint or stain can only be as good as the surface it is applied to. The best way to prep your house is to take a 2 step process, which involves power washing and scraping/sanding.
Power Washing
The first step to ensure you prep your house properly is to power wash your house about a week before you decide to paint. Power washing is very important because it removes any dirt or mold from the surface of your home. It is crucial to get dirt and mold off of your house, as paint is usually made to adhere to certain surfaces, such as wood, stucco, or vinyl. If the paint is applied on a surface that it is not meant to be applied to, such as mold, it will not last very long. Basically, the cleaner the surface is, the better the paint or stain will adhere; the better the paint or stain adheres, the longer it lasts.
While power washing, it is very important to make sure you do not damage the surface of your house by getting to close. Make sure you start far away from the house and work your way in as needed. There are different nozzles that can be used for different distances and situations, so it is important to read the instruction manual and become familiar with your power washer before using it.
While the task of power washing may seem very expensive and daunting, it is a crucial step to making sure your paint or stain lasts a long time. Pressure washers usually cost between $300 to $500, depending on the quality. This might seem like an expensive investment, but it is cheaper than having to repaint the whole house on a more frequent basis because the surface was not properly prepped.
Scraping/Sanding
The second step you must take before painting your house is to scrape and sand the surface. Scraping and sanding can be done with very inexpensive tools, such as a Purdy 5 in 1 tool and any standard sandpaper. The process of scraping involves running a 5 in 1 tool over the surface of your house to remove any loose paint. This process is critical because it allows you to get down more to the surface of the house, which prevents you from painting over loose paint. If you do not remove the loose paint and you just paint over it, the paint will chip off. This will leave your house with the appearance of missed spots, as areas where the loose paint fell off will not be the same color as the rest of the house.
Once the loose paint is removed, you must make sure you sand over the areas you have just scraped. The house must be sanded to smooth the surface before painting. Smoothing the surface is important because it prevents the paint job from looking as if there are irregularities. Sanding makes the paint job look even and level, which makes it look more visually appealing and neater.
Video Tutorials
If you need a visual idea of how to prep the surface, follow the links to see how power washing, scraping, sanding, and painting are done. Prep work is an incredibly important aspect of a good paint job, so make sure you understand the process before beginning.
