Dos and Don’ts In Painting Your Home’s Exterior Wall

Whether you’re painting your home’s exterior wall to increase your home’s value, enhance its overall appearance, or simply to protect your investment, this is actually an excellent home remodeling choice because a fresh coat of paint is enough to transform your shabby and unattractive house into an a fresh and attention-grabbing home. But before you get started with your paint job, you should know its dos and don’ts.

Dos

• Hire a professional unless you’re obsessive in doing things on your own. Remember, unless you’re willing to put all that kind of sweat like climbing ladders, getting spattered with paint, or working in a warm weather, then you’re better off hiring a professional painter to help you get the job done.
• Decide the type of paint you will use – latex, water or oil based. This is important as the type of paint you’ll apply depends on the surface of your exterior wall, the durability, as well as the ease of cleaning you prefer. Latex is actually a smart choice since it can resist UV-fading compared to alkyd. Plus, it’s less likely to crack or peel.
• Check the weather report regularly. Before painting, be sure to check the weather report for that day because you need to avoid painting on a rainy day, overly windy or humid day since such weather conditions can affect the finish. To achieve the best results, it’s recommended that you paint on days with a temperature of 10 to 30 degrees Celsius.
• It’ll really be helpful if you mix all cans of paint of the same color into a bucket before you start painting. This ensures uniformity because if you use two cans of the same color, there might be a slight different in their color concentration.
• Invest in the right tools for your project. If you’re going to use latex, you’ll need to invest in high-quality synthetic brushes to paint your shutters, trims and other areas. This also means choosing the correct width roller and the type of roller suited for your home’s exterior surface.

Don’ts

• Never choose low quality paint because extreme weather conditions, rain or even sunlight may cause the paint to crack or peel. Premium paints last much longer than their cheap variety plus they have better outcome.
• Never paint over surfaces that have peeling paint, mildew or are dirty. You have to make sure the surfaces are dry and dull before painting so wash the surfaces and then sand it if necessary.
• Do not choose Technicolor if you live in a quiet street where houses have almost the same aesthetic and palette. Keep this in mind especially if you plan to sell your home in the future.
• Don’t be lazy especially if you’ve chosen to do the job all by yourself. Never over reach to paint a larger area as this is not only dangerous, it can also lead to a poor and patchy paint job.
• Don’t start the project if you won’t be allotting enough time to finish it. Nothing looks worse than having a half painted house.

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