The external painting of a commercial or residential building can be a daunting task. But once you plan the strategy and follow some of the tips below, you will see that it might not be so overwhelming. You know what they say about the first step of a journey, it is often the longest. Sometimes you just need to stop thinking and start.
In this post, we will be suggesting some of the best tips to prepare your house for the external painting. We hope you will read until the end. We have painted many houses in Melbourne over the years and have seen pretty much everything.
One thing that can have the biggest affect on the outcome of a paint job, is the hard work executed before a brush hits the building or the wall. Painting a poorly prepped wall will likely give you unwanted results. So, let’s get started and prepare your strategy, and your walls to get the best result you can.
1. Get rid of stains
You never want unsightly stains peeping out from your newly painted walls. Either soon after the job is done, or even years down the track. This means you have to remove stains and also materials likely to cause a stain before you start painting. Check for brown, green, or yellow colored stains in particular on all the surfaces and make sure to remove them. This might require sanding or even bleach. These stains may just have a fuzzy appearance, but aside from showing through, they could also make your new paint look dull.
A bleach solution with water in the ratio 3:1 is often sufficient to remove stains such as these. You could also buy specific products from the hardware store for this task. Rust is another one to look for. It pays to remove any rusty nails and replace them with new ones.
2. Make all the needed repairs and smooth damaged surfaces
You will need to look over your entire house carefully and closely to make sure you don’t have any peeling paint. This includes any corners or hidden surfaces of the house. Remove all unwanted paint. This is when you should also fill holes and caulk any required areas too.
You can use a stiff metal wire brush to scrape many irregularities off the wall surface. If you do not follow this step, there is a good chance you will be disappointed with the finished job, or have the feeling, “i could have done better”.
3. Clean your walls of residues
If you want your new paint to adhere and stick to your walls evenly, make sure your buildings walls are as clean as possible. If your house walls have already some paint you can power wash the entire house. This will ensure that there is no loose paint, mold, moss or dirt residue left on your walls.
Pressure cleaning is not a good idea on all surfaces, so you should take that into consideration before blasting into your walls.
4. Sand all the external walls
Sanding is the process which helps create a mechanical bond with the coats of paint and your walls. It is not just to smooth things over, on the contrary. If you don’t rough up your walls, your paint job may look good when you first see it. Over time however, the paint will start to show all sorts of irregularities. These issues may arise, especially when you are dealing with oil based paints.
Different sanding methods may be needed for different sheens of paint, such as gloss.
5. Prime all your external walls
Priming is also an important procedure that should be done to any bare wood, before you even consider the top coats when you are painting the exterior of your house. The process of priming will help protect the wood or other materials you are painting on to, and also help the paint to stick to these surfaces properly. Again, you will get a longer lasting finish, that you will appreciate in the years to come.
6. Caulk the trims
Make sure to fill all the gaps between the house and trims around the doors and windows using an exterior caulk. This is done to ensure an even texture and it can also prevent rotting, insect nesting and other issues.
If your house has different or mixed surfaces you can use the caulk to fill the holes where the different materials meet. Nail holes and other imperfections can also be filled at this stage.
7. Protect the surfaces not getting painted
If you are getting a new external paint job done, you don’t want to get paint on stained doors, windows, and light fittings. Many a home handyman has thought to himself, “I can do this bit without getting paint on the window”, only to be there trying to scrape paint off the said windows a few days later. Usually with a grumpy wife pointing out the next one. To avoid this situation, you need to cover the surfaces not being painted with either plastic, paper, tape or a mix of all three.
8. Pet patrol
If you have pets that are wandering around your home, you need to think about them too. Some things to consider include keeping them away from freshly painted areas of course. But also to make sure they have fresh air to breathe. You don’t want them to sample and scraped off paint and they can also know over a paint time for example. Keep them safe, and preferably, away from any paint or filling products.
9. Use the best type of brushes
Depending on the type of paint that you are going to use to paint your walls it is important to use the right type of brush. Getting by with the wrong brush may leave your walls painted with an uneven texture. You can also end up with more pronounced brush strokes or other issues.
10. Pay attention to the temperature
In Melbourne, the weather is always something to be thinking about. It is very important when painting outside too. Aside from avoiding rainy periods as much as possible, the temperature can affect your finished job.
For the best results, paint on the days with low humidity, where the temperature is around say 23, to 28 degrees. Make sure your painted walls are not exposed to direct sunlight if possible as they may develop heat blisters or just dry too quickly.
11. Think about your cleanup
When the job is done you should try to dispose of left over paints, brushes and all other consumables as environmentally friendly as possible. Make sure you have enough space in the right bins to recycle or get rid of you mess.
If you pay attention to the above tips, or steps, then you will be well prepared to apply a perfect coat of exterior paint to your home or commercial building. It is a big job. If you need help, we are always here to paint any home in Melbourne for you.