Here are five important things to consider before painting the exterior of your home yourself.
(1) Proper preparation of all surfaces to be painted is paramount. Improper preparation is the leading cause of paint failure and/or reduced finish life. Surface preparation can take as little as a few hours, while some require days to complete properly. All this time and work and you still have to open your first can of paint! For some, the time required and knowledge required for this step was all they needed to hear before calling us, but not for all. Others who completed projects on their own were happy with the result for the first few years after painting. It wasn’t until the eventual premature failure coupled with the thought of how much time and money they had spent repainting on their own that they finally decided to leave it to the professionals the second time.
(2) It’s not that tall… or it is. The height of your house can be a bit deceiving from the ground, and let’s not forget to try to get a ladder safely up on a garage roof to paint the side of the second story. The proper equipment, such as the correct ladders and ladder leveling tools needed to safely perform prep and painting of high-reach areas, can be very expensive. Aside from these costs, if you have a fear of heights, painting a two-story house may not be the best option.
(3) Painting is not always painting, as some would say. Using a good quality paint is very important for several reasons, but let’s look at the two most important for our current and past customers. First and foremost, using a high-quality paint versus a low-quality paint will increase the time between repainting your home, saving you time and money in the future. Second, and possibly just as important to many DIY house painters, higher quality paints provide better coverage per coat, reducing the time needed to apply additional material to the surfaces being painted. Time and money always seem to come down to these two things. Every paint manufacturer has a good, better, and better line of paint in their coatings arsenal. My recommendation is that you’d be better off staying away from lower grade paint options as they won’t meet most people’s expectations. While it may save you a few bucks today, at some point in the near future, you’ll pay the price both in dollars and in the time spent repainting before you have to.
(4) Let’s not forget the physical aspect of these types of projects. Applying paint to the exterior of your home can be hard on your body. 100% of all homes that will be repainted will require physical activity. Of this 100%, 100% of these houses will require extended periods of time on the stairs (of course, I’m not counting any of the dog houses to be painted!). And more, 100% will also require you to stretch and bend your body in ways you may not have known were possible. While you may be in good shape, the repetitive nature of painting, stretching, and going up and down stairs will take a toll on you physically. Be honest with yourself when considering your fitness level before committing to completing such an important project on your own.
(5) So, the above information has not changed your mind and you have decided to do it on your own and bypass the services of a professional painting contractor. I applaud your determination and I hope everything goes well for you. So one last piece of friendly advice. All those cans of paint you just bought, please, please, please… don’t use them one at a time. While you may have bought them all at the same time, if you’re like most, you decided on a different color than the one the manufacturer originally put in the can, it doesn’t match! Buy some empty five-gallon buckets and put the material in a “box” to make sure the paint matches once it’s applied to the surface. The “boxing” paint is for mixing it all up. Pour the gallons into a five gallon bucket and then five to five until all the paint has been thoroughly mixed. This will blend the slight variations in color from can to can and produce a more consistent color for the finish coat.
For more information on exterior paint, visit RedRock Finishes http://www.redrockfinishes.com/exterior-painting/