Unlike painting the interior of your home, painting the exterior of your house is restricted by climate, temperature and moisture. The best time to paint is the summer or spring when you have a nice stretch of dry, warm weather extending fort least the next couple of months. Outside of that perfect time, you'll need to be aware of how far you can be stretch the painting season. With the new paints available, some premium paints can be applied in temperatures as low as 40 degrees F.
For picking the color of your house you should choose at least two different colors (A field color and a trim color). Consider the colors of the houses adjacent to you. You don't want to be all painted the same color. It's hard to picture what your house will look like from scratch go to the hardware store and look at the gallery of different colors. Also determine if you want to use a satin or flat finish.
Don't think your going to be able to paint your house in a couple days. Consider each side of your house a project by itself that will take some time. Consider getting a paint sprayer instead of a roller to help speed up the process.
Before painting your house you should give it a cleaning to remove any excess dirt. This can be done by hand or with a pressure washer. A faster method is to use a hose to spray all the sides of your house clean. This won't clean it as well but will save a lot of time. You should also remove any planters or anything else that may get in your way while painting.
The hardest part of painting your house is scraping the old paint off. This is best done through multiple methods. A heat gun helps remove paint quickly with a scraper without causing any damage. You can also use an oscillating tool with a scraper attached to remove paint faster although its harder to not cause any damage using this. The Bosch Multi-X 3.0 fitted with a scraper is a great oscillating tool to remove paint fast.
After all the loose paint is scraped off, you will need to paint the house with primer before you apply the paint. If you'de like to speed up the process you can use a self priming paint instead of using primer and then paint. You should still apply two solid coats.
Contrary to what some people believe you do not need a paint sprayer to paint the whole exterior of you're house. In fact painting with a brush or roller is cheaper because the sprayer is requires more paint while a roller conserves the paint much better. While there are benefits to using a roller, using a paint sprayer will be a lot faster. If you use a paint sprayer use an airless gun that draws paint directly from the paint can. The Graco Magnum X5 airless paint sprayer is a excellent paint sprayer. It retails at $300-400.
When painting, wipe any excess dripping paint of your roller or brush before applying paint. Try to keep your strokes in the same direction up and down. Applying to much paint to one spot can cause deep brush marks. Do your best to apply an equal amount of paint throughout. The roller is great for large open spaces but in corners and crevices you will need to use a brush.
The trim should be the last area you paint after you are finished with everything else. You should apply painters tape to the edges before painting so as not to drip anything on the other color paint. If you drip any you can always go over it later.
It may take some time and commitment but overall it is not an insurmountable task to paint your house by yourself. It can be done without any painting experience or skill and you might even have some fun painting your house yourself. If you don't enjoy painting just think of all the money you will save by not having to pay a bunch of money to some guys to come spray paint on your house.
Contrary to what some people believe you do not need a paint sprayer to paint the whole exterior of you're house. In fact painting with a brush or roller is cheaper because the sprayer is requires more paint while a roller conserves the paint much better. While there are benefits to using a roller, using a paint sprayer will be a lot faster. If you use a paint sprayer use an airless gun that draws paint directly from the paint can. The Graco Magnum X5 airless paint sprayer is a excellent paint sprayer. It retails at $300-400.
When painting, wipe any excess dripping paint of your roller or brush before applying paint. Try to keep your strokes in the same direction up and down. Applying to much paint to one spot can cause deep brush marks. Do your best to apply an equal amount of paint throughout. The roller is great for large open spaces but in corners and crevices you will need to use a brush.
The trim should be the last area you paint after you are finished with everything else. You should apply painters tape to the edges before painting so as not to drip anything on the other color paint. If you drip any you can always go over it later.
It may take some time and commitment but overall it is not an insurmountable task to paint your house by yourself. It can be done without any painting experience or skill and you might even have some fun painting your house yourself. If you don't enjoy painting just think of all the money you will save by not having to pay a bunch of money to some guys to come spray paint on your house.
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