What You Should Do Before Painting The Outside Of Your House
Painting the outside of your house is an excellent way to get better curb appeal, entice home buyers if you decide to sell, and simply to have more pride in your house's appearance. Before getting out your brushes and rollers, do these things first.
Make Repairs to the Walls and Siding
Before you do anything else, inspect all the exterior walls of your home and the siding to look for damage. You should repair holes, dents, and other types of damage before even cleaning the walls, since the repair job might also cause more messes that need to be cleaned up. For holes and dents, a simple wood filler is fine for wood exterior walls. However, consider the material of your siding if it is not made of wood. Use the appropriate filler, using mesh to cover larger holes. Make sure the filler product makes everything flush, and sand it afterward.
Wash the Walls Thoroughly
When painting a house, you need to make sure all the exterior walls are completely clean and dry. It might not seem obvious right now, but with a fresh coat of paint, you will notice those little fingerprints and dirt smudges very easily. An easy way to get all the walls clean is to use a pressure washer. These tend to have longer handles so that you can wash even the top of your house's siding without difficulty. If you don't have a pressure washer, there are cleaning companies that provide pressure washing services.
Protect the Surfaces
The last thing to do before you start choosing your paint and other supplies is to protect all surfaces not being painted. This includes all trim not currently being painted, the edge of your roof and gutter, windows and doors, and your garage door. Painter's tape will work great, but for windows, you might also want to cover them in plastic, especially if you are using a paint sprayer.
Choose the Supplies
Once this has been done, you can choose your paint and other supplies. With the paint, make sure you use samples on the house first before you dive in with the chosen color. It should match the style of your home and other homes in your neighborhood so that it doesn't stick out like a sore thumb. If you get the paint custom-mixed, make sure to get some extra cans of paint for touch-ups later on.