How to Paint a House

How to Paint a House Painting the exterior of a house requires an enormous amount of preparation. If you have a solid experience of painting houses from before, then you can easily go for it but if not then it is better advised to leave this job to the experts! Amateurs can try out their skills in painting the exterior of a house only if they are very careful about not making any mistakes. This is because; any small error while painting the exterior of a house becomes visible by everybody. So you will have to be very cautious while choosing the products from the paint store making sure that they are the right ones.

The following points shall help you in the task of painting the exterior of a house:

The process and intensity of preparation for painting a house depends a lot on its surface. You will have to begin by repairing and replacing any damages, cracks or holes on the surface of the house.
Rent out a high pressure water sprayer to wash off the entire surface of the house and wait till it has dried off properly.
Now you will have to scrape out any loose, blistered, chipped or cracked paint by using sandpaper. Use a drop cloth to catch all the loose paint and debris while you are scraping them out. Incase you want the exterior to be sandblasted, it is best recommended to hire a professional.
All the nail and screw holes, gouges and cracks need to be patched up.
Use a high grade exterior caulk like silicone which will resist breaking down by bonding to the surfaces like glue. Now start caulking places of seams and corners, places where trim meets siding, above door and window trim etc.
If there are existent problems in the woodwork, then use epoxy filler to repair them.
You will have to use a stain blocking primer to cover all stains made by wood knot, old paint and wood stains. Nowadays there are even special primers available for mildew.
Since paint requires a rough surface to stick onto, hence you will have to sand all glossy surfaces. This task can also be accomplished by using paint de-glosser on the glossy surfaces.
Remember to unhook and cover all light fittings, electrical switches, house numbers and plumbing outlets.
It is very important to remove all the screens from the doors and windows of your house. Paint stains are very hard to remove so you will have to be careful not to spill them on your curtains.
Use the primer and apply it all over the surface of the house. Surfaces like paint, metal, wood and stucco require different primers.
Leave the primer to dry and then apply about two coats of exterior paint. Keep the manufacturer’s instructions in mind while allowing the coats to dry. It is recommended to use a brush to paint over woodwork and a roller/spray machine to paint over all other surfaces.

Watch a video instruction on how to paint a house