So you’ve noticed the hands of time have been ticking, the seasons have been passing, and the exterior of your home is beginning to show its true age. It’s that time again, time to get outside and put in some labour to get your house cleaned up, its been a while, and you know it! Before you start painting the exterior of your house, there are a few tips you should follow in order to get the best possible outcome.
It’d be best if you did this job right, as the exterior of your home gives off that first impression to many people. An excellent fresh coat of paint can achieve a great first impression. Don't settle for just any paint. Choose one that's suitable for your location's climate. Most paint companies have a wide range of paints for you to choose from. And if you're unsure of what you need, they have an online tool to help you figure it out.
If you try the concrete render technique, your home exterior will look like a professional working on it. It’s an exterior finish known for its strength and durability. It’s achieved by combining a mixture of cement, sand, and water. You can also paint it a colour of your choice.
Many variables are involved when painting a home's exterior, as every home's surfaces, structural design, size, and layout vary greatly. Some exterior painting jobs are much harder than others. But if think you are ready to take on the challenge of DIY and painting the exterior of your house, we have a few tips that will make your project a lot easier.
1. Plan Before Painting
Before you start on anything, you need to take a step back and gauge your work ahead. Figure out exactly what it is you want to achieve, decide what colour and types of paint you want to use, and any trees or shrubbery that you may need to trim in order to be able to complete the job. Write everything down so you are organised before you go into it.
Remember to factor in your safety. An exterior paint job can be a dangerous task. You must have the proper safety gear like harnesses, ladders, scaffolding, and PPE. Make sure to follow safety precautions to prevent any accidents and injuries.
I have seen this step missed countless times, and often ends in a less than desirable end result, especially when you forget to consider how the colour of paint will look when the whole house is painted and end up with an eye sore!
2. Get the Right Materials for the Job
This is another part of the planning process that neglect could end in disaster. Imagine you have started painting a wall, and halfway through, you run out of paint. You run to the local paint shop and come back to continue the wall, only to find the first half has dried, leaving an obvious line through the middle of the wall. You don’t want that! And it’s easy to avoid.
Another thing to remember is that getting suitable materials will ensure a high-quality and long-lasting finish. You don't need to be bothered painting again in the next few years.
There are a number of useful painting tools and accessories that you will need to get the job done right. Here is a rough list of some of the things that will help you achieve the best result.
- Paint! (Of course)...choose a good quality masonry with all acrylic paint.
- Painters Drop Sheets or old bed sheets.
- A variety of sizes of brushes and rollers.
- Paint thinners.
- Sandpaper, filler, and putty.
- Masking tape.
- Scrapers, a wire brush.
- Rags for cleaning up paint.
- Appropriate-sized ladders.
You’ll want to have all the materials you plan on using during the project before you start. So it helps to write them down as a list during the preparation period.
3. Before You Begin Painting - Clean The Walls
Houses are exposed to the elements, so suffices to say that they get dirty quickly. The exterior walls old your home will have much more dirt, dust, and grime on them than the interior walls.
You need to clean these walls before you begin painting the walls, do not paint over dirty and grimy walls. The end result will look horrible. Depending on what the surface of your walls is made of and how grimy they are, you may want to use a power washer, but nothing too powerful, just the kind of power washer you would use to clean your driveway or car.
Some walls need to be scrubbed using a soft-bristled brush and mild detergent, especially if there is dirt that wasn't removed by the power washer.
4. Rather Than Brushing the Paint On - Use a Paint Sprayer
Using a paint sprayer over traditional brushes has a number of benefits for painting home exteriors. Using an airless sprayer gets the job done way quicker and is much easier to cover larger areas.
This is particularly convenient for painting larger walls. Another main advantage to using a spray gun over brushes is their ability to apply an even coat of paint over uneven surfaces, for example, a bricked wall.
While there are obvious advantages of painting with a sprayer, there are also some disadvantages. When working outdoors, you are with the elements, wind blows! You obviously only want to paint the walls of your house, not the windows, pipes, trimmings, and pavement.
So before painting with a paint sprayer, you must ensure that you properly mask up areas that you don’t want the paint to get on. This means covering everything with drops and plastic sheets before painting.
5. Prepare the Wall for Painting
The preparation before painting a house is one of the most crucial parts of the project. The more time you spend on preparation, the more time you will save on extra work and cleaning up afterward.
You will need to completely prepare the walls for painting, this means filling in any cracks, removing mould, dirt, and grime, and basically just cleaning it up. Sand down any rough areas, filling in any holes and cracks.
Preparing the wall is crucial to ensure the paint adheres well to the surface. By doing this, you'll be sure the colour will look better and last longer.
6. Factor in These Weather Conditions
When painting the exterior of your home, you need to factor in weather conditions much more than you need to when you are painting interior walls.
Certain weather conditions are more ideal for priming and adding coats of paint to the surface of your home. As a general rule of thumb, the ideal temperature for painting your home is between 10 and 32 degrees Celsius, ideally on days that are not too sunny, windy, and not too wet.
Painting in unideal weather conditions can result in long-term consequences. Here are some of the conditions you should avoid when painting the exterior of your home.
Wet surfaces
Moisture affects the way paint dries. Even if the wall doesn't appear to be wet, it may still have latent moisture. Painting over a wet wall will not allow the paint to dry properly, and you will end up with less-than-desirable results.
In the Cold
The majority of latex paints should not be applied when the temperature is below 10 degrees Celsius, this is for a few reasons:
- Paint dries slower in cold temperatures.
- Wet paint collects more dirt, pollen, and insects.
- Multiple coatings aren’t easily applied since the paint doesn’t dry quick enough between coats; blistering occurs.
In Hot Weather
Weather that’s too hot or sunny is also not ideal for painting. The opposite occurs. Rather than the paint drying too slowly, the paint dries too quickly.
If you are planning to paint your house in the summer, there are a few things you should avoid:
- Avoid painting when temperatures exceed 32 degrees Celsius.
- Try not to paint in direct sunlight.
- Avoid days that are too windy.
Conclusion
Painting your home exterior is challenging and time-consuming. But at the end of the task, you'll feel rewarded and proud when you look at your beautiful home. You'll thank yourself for being meticulous, as the result will speak for itself.
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