Five Steps to Perfect House Painting

Wet & Forget
by Wet & Forget
Easy
A fresh coat of paint can make all the difference in the look of your home. A new paint job not only adds curb appeal to your house, it protects the siding and trim from the elements. Tackling the job yourself can save you a lot of cash. If you're thinking of going the DIY route, home improvement guru Danny Lipford from Today's Homeowner has 5 tips you won't want to miss! Read on to get the 5 steps to perfect house painting.
The first and most important step in painting your house is cleaning and preparing the surface so the paint job will last. A pressure washer works great for this, but be careful not to overdo it and cause damage. If you don’t own a pressure washer, you can rent one at most tool rental centers.
Use a paint scraper and wire brush to remove any peeling paint or loose caulking, and feather out sharp edges around bare spots with 80-grit sandpaper to keep the paint job from having a patched look.
Start by priming bare spots with a quality exterior primer. It doesn’t hurt to prime the entire house, but it’s usually not necessary except when painting over oil-based paint with latex.
While a sprayer can be used for painting the outside of a house, most painting is done with a synthetic bristle paintbrush. A 4” wide brush works best for siding and other flat surfaces, while a narrower tapered brush can be used for trim and window sash.
Clean paintbrushes used for latex paint in warm water with a bit of dishwashing soap, then rinse the brushes thoroughly under a garden hose. Run a wire brush through the bristles to remove as much of the dried paint as possible.
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