Just like any project, painting your house can be easy or hard. Sometimes the easy way often leads to poor results and homeowners would rather just have stucco siding panels installed to save them the hassle of painting. There is also the cost implication of hiring a painter instead of doing the paintwork yourself. Also, if your budget is constrained, you may not be able to get a good painter and have to resort to do the painting yourself. If you are able to hire an exterior house painting service then that would be the best way to get great results for your home, but if you want to paint the house yourself, you can use the pro tips below to paint your house effectively.

Wash the house

Before I began the paintwork, I made sure to wash down the house first. If you do not think that the house is that dirty, then do a quick swipe of the house exterior using a white cloth. When I did the swipe, it revealed years of accumulated dust and soot that needed a proper washdown. Funnily enough, I also wasn’t aware of how poor a state our gutter guard was in until we started this job. Looking for a new gutter guards installation service is definitely on my to-do list.

The best way to wash your house is by hand, which is quite demanding.

However, I used a pressure washer to spray down the house two times before rinsing it with water, and I still got a pretty clean house. If you do not have a pressure washer, you can hose down the house. The main aim of cleaning was to remove visible waste like leaves, wasp nests, and spider webs, as well as eradicate dust and soot. This is also a good opportunity to check your home for any pest infestations too. If there are pests, it might be a good idea to contact a pest control company, like https://www.pestcontrolexperts.com/, to see if they can remove the pests before you start painting the exterior.

Stick to the Same Colour

To decrease the amount of work when painting my house, I chose a color that matches the house’s original exterior color. If you choose a lighter color coat than the initial color, this increases your work since you have to apply multiple layers. I opted to paint using the original color of the house, and the two blended in quite nicely.

At first, I was not sure of the exact paint color, so I just pulled off an area that was peeling off and took it to the store. If there is no peeling area in your house, then you can get a painted item such as a strip of molding or a dryer vent. The paint store will know what the color is. If you are still determined to change the color, then choose a darker color than the previous one to reduce your work of painting.

Priming Is Not a Must

Not all houses need a primer before painting. The paint in my house was in good condition, so I did not need to apply a primer before repainting it. However, I noticed some problematic areas, such as bare wood areas and areas stained by rust that needed a small amount of primer. After priming, remember that most primed areas will be visible through the paint, so you need to apply an extra coat to hide this or use pure white paint.

Reduce Paint Scraping

I do not love paint scraping because it is demanding and takes a lot of time. One of the issues with scraping is that once you begin scrapping one area, this area leads to another, and then before you realize you have to scrape almost the whole house. However, I realized that not all areas need to be scrapped, and if I notice the paint edges are solid, I can leave the spot alone. The new paint coat will seal the edges and keep the paint in place.

Paint Roll With Ease

Paint rolling saves you time since you can cover large areas fast. However, not all spots will benefit from paint rolling due to the sliding effect. I discovered that the best areas to paint with a paint roller are flat areas or areas with flat siding.

Paint Sprays Also Work

Spray painting can either save or waste your time. Hand spraying helped me cover large areas quickly and efficiently and helped me reach areas with many details. However, the preparation of spray painting is time-consuming since it involves making sure that any non-paintable area and any other area within 20 feet, has to be covered. Spray painting will also save you money and time if you need a detailed paint job.

If you want to save some money and time without getting a poor quality job then apply the above tips.