Getting ready to paint your home is something that you must take seriously. You can’t just get started as soon as you get the urge to paint. It’s necessary to do quite a bit of preparation work before the actual painting can begin. Many people don’t know how to prepare things for painting, though.
Keep reading to learn everything you need to know about preparation before painting your home. This will help you to get optimal results when painting. If you take the time to prepare things well, it’ll be far easier to finish the painting job. So exercise patience and read the information below before you get started.
Preparing the Exterior of the House
You’ll approach preparing the exterior of the house differently than you will the interior. First, you’ll learn about what you need to do to get the outside of the house ready. You’ll start by simply washing the house thoroughly. During the washing process, you want to take things slow and try to remove as much dirt, grime, dust, and other types of residue as you can.
After the exterior of the house looks clean, it’ll be time to get rid of any loose paint. Using paint scrapers, you’ll need to scrape away loose and peeling paint. Only attempt this after the house has dried. This can be a tedious process, but it will allow you to get better results when painting.
Now you need to repair the house a bit to solve any problems before painting. For example, there could be cracks or other problem spots that you’ll need to take care of. Go around the house and look for things that need to be patched up. Once you’re done with this, you should sand the exterior.
It might be necessary to caulk certain areas of the house, too. You want to make sure that the seal is tight when you’re repairing cracks or holes. With this handled, use painter’s tape to protect windows and doors. It’s also good to put down tarps or drop cloths to protect your lawn, plants, patio, and other areas.
Finally, you should prime the exterior of the walls before painting. Priming makes sure that the pain will apply properly. If you follow all of this advice, it should be easy to get fantastic results when painting the exterior of your home.
Preparing the Interior of the House
Preparing the interior of the house follows many of the same principles. You’ll want to remove decorations from the walls and pull your furniture out. Clean the walls thoroughly and then make necessary repairs. Apply caulk to fix cracks.
Use painter’s tape so you don’t get paint on your baseboards, electrical outlets, and other sensitive spots. You also want to put down drop cloths to protect your floors and the furniture. You might need to remove ceiling fans and other types of lighting if you’re painting the ceiling. You can protect recessed lighting by covering everything with plastic and then using tape to keep the plastic in place.
Of course, you’ll also use a primer before painting. Take the time to do things right and don’t rush the process. With the prep work done, the interior painting process will go well.