Painting your home has been shown to be one of the most cost effective ways to change the appearance of a home, and it can also increase your home’s value. It is a major job, with a lot of very specific steps you must take to ensure that the paint job lasts for several years. If you have a few days off this summer, and want to tackle this home improvement project on your own, College Pro Painters has provided some home painting tips below to ensure a top quality job. If you find that you do not have the time to tackle such a major project, you can also call the experts at College Pro Painters and they can provide you with a free, written estimate on your home painting project.
Determine scope of project: As we stated above, painting the entire exterior of your home is a major project that can take multiple days to complete properly. You should first take a walk around your home to determine what actually needs painting as it is not always necessary to paint the entire exterior. If there are multiple areas of peeling paint or exposed wood, those are the areas that need to be tackled first. No failing areas? It may not be necessary to paint, and you can instead choose to change the appearance of your home by focusing on accent work—painting the doors, shutters, or trim can make a huge difference in the overall look and feel of your home.
“Bathe” your home: We all love a good, long, hot, soapy bath, and your home is no different. If you are moving forward with your exterior home painting project, the first step is to give your home a thorough wash to remove years of dirt to provide a dirt-free foundation on which the new paint can adhere. Depending on the size of your home, you should work from the top down, and can use a garden hose or a power washer to soak the home. For caked-on, stubborn dirt, manually scrub it using a scrub brush or sponge and a pail of warm water mixed with a good cleaning solution. When mildew is present, you must use bleach or a special cleaning solution to remove. Exercise extreme caution when using a pressure washer as the powerful spray can damage your home and can injure you! Allow the home to dry for a couple of days prior to starting any prep work.
Prep the home: This stage is the most important in your home painting project as it will ultimately determine the life span of the paint job. Do a poor job here and the paint will likely fail more quickly, but do a good job here and the paint job could last, on average, 5 to 8 years! This stage involves scraping all loose and peeling paint, sanding where necessary, and priming all bare wood areas. Also important is resetting popped nails, removing any rust stains, replacing any loose or missing caulk, repairing any leaks in gutters and downspouts, and removing storm windows, screens, awnings, light fixtures, and house numbers to make painting easier. You may even want to remove downspouts as they can be tricky to paint around. Lastly, your landscaping can get in the way of your painting, so be sure to cover and move where necessary.
Exterior home painting: Plan your painting day so you follow the sun, working in the shade after the sun has dried off the early morning moisture. If you have to stop, you should finish an entire course of siding across the home, otherwise you may leave lap marks. Start high, work your way across the home, painting all the same level, then move the ladder down to finish the middle and lower sections. Exercise extreme caution when using ladders and follow proper safety precautions. The trim work is typically done after the siding, and involves painting the dormers, eaves, gutters, window and window trim, porches, stairs and doors.
These are just a few tips for your home painting project. If you have questions, and want a free estimate from the experts at College Pro Painters, you can contact them at 1-800-32-PAINT (1-800-327-2468), or www.collegepro.com. You can also visit your local Sherwin Williams store and they can provide you with tips and suggestions for your home painting project!
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This a great article, but it sounds like painting would not be a fun way to spend a weekend. I would definitely hire a company like College Pro to do it.
As painters and handymen we’re are often approached by customers asking us for home improvement and painting tips. This post is spot on and very informative!
- Don
Hey there,i am a bit confused as to how i use this, i made a teairrn applied a texture, placed the scripts on the teairrn and went into play mode, at which time a screen popped up and i could choose between some options but i couldn’t actually draw anything. Any help? also i don’t see your example when i click on the link above.cheerscormac
the translucent aclryics works. just apply a layer of protective film / liquid (ask the art shopkeeper, i forgot the name) . after applying the coating, it will stay.and do not buy the cheap kiddy ones. buy Daler and Rowney brand or Caran Dache.
Wow that\’s a lot of space ..you\’re gonna burn out those shoulder, neck and arm msclues!My suggestion would be:1. figure out how much paint for each room needed.2. Find out what brand of paint they want .contractor grade or premium grade.3. Calculate the cost of each room (brushes, paint, trim tape, drop-clothes, cleaning fluids, rollers, etc.)4. You should have a price method ..total cost to you times four.cost $ x 4 = your price to charge for painting.(most painters charge any where from 3 to 10 times their cost)Oh, don\’t forget to add your transportation cost (gas/fuel)And most important .make sure they have homeowners insurance, in case you get hurt on their property. Very Important!Have fun..!PS if they are going to supply all the stuff, then $ 8 to $ 10 dollars an hour is fair because you\’re going to need to visit a physical therapist for all those aches and pains.
My personal opionin is that bedrooms, bathrooms, office, dens basements can all be painted different colors since they usually all have different themes anyways. But if rooms don’t have defined separate spaces (my kitchen, eat in area, family room and foyer has an open floor plan), then paint it all the same color. But it doesn’t have to be neutral. For example in my house:Office: Greyish purple1/2 bath: YellowMaster bedroom: Sage greenMaster bathroom: Sage green brown2nd bedroom: Purple (daughter)3rd bedroom: Pink (daughter)4th bedroom: Blue (son)Kids bathroom: YellowKitchen/family room/foyer: Chocolate brown TaupeLiving room/Dining room: Taupe