How To Prepare Your Home For Exterior Painting in St. Louis, MO

When you are thinking about painting the exterior of your home, you may think that it’s a fairly simple process that entails just starting to paint — but there are steps that you should take beforehand to prepare yourself.

Some of the things we recommend might seem like they are a bit excessive but rest assured that they will help make your exterior painting project a greater success.

With that being the case, here are some useful tips on how to prepare your home for exterior painting in St. Louis, MO.

Clean First

One of the first things you’re going to want to do in order to prepare your home exterior for painting is to make sure that it is as clean as possible.

This can refer to the actual exterior of your home, but depending on how clean and clear the actual surrounding area is, you may need to clean the area around your home as well.

Cleaning the surface of your home can entail a number of things including removing any mold or mildew that may be there.

This is especially important as you will see mold come through even a layer of paint if you just leave it there instead of making an effort to remove it.

Measure The Area

The next thing you should do — though you are of course free to do this first if you prefer — is to measure the area that is going to be painted — specifically, this refers to the exterior of your home.

There are two basic reasons that you should be aware of how much area there is to be painted on the exterior of your home — first of them being that you can more easily calculate how much paint you will need if you have an idea of how much area there is to paint.

Buying a random amount of paint and hoping that it will cover your home is not the best way to do it — better to know for sure.

Secondly, by having an idea of how much there is to paint, you will know how long the painting project will take.

Prepare Your Exterior Area

Before you paint the first stroke, you will need to make sure that the exterior area is prepared for the paint work that will follow.

For one, as mentioned earlier, you are going to need to make sure there is nothing in terms of mess that needs to be cleaned.

Moreover you should take the time to clear out anything away from the house that can be temporarily relocated during the painting process.

Anything that cannot be relocated and you don’t want to get splattered with paint should be covered, whether with a tarp of some sort or even a plastic material.

Care should be taken to make sure that the lighter coverings do not blow away, for example, if a strong gust of wind passes through the area.

Get Your Needed Equipment And Paint

Before you paint your home of course you will need the paint and the primer that goes on before the coats of paint.

Additionally, you are going to need the actual tools that you will use for the painting — tools for holding paint, for painting, that sort of thing.

The specifics of which tool you’re going to use for painting depend on which you are more comfortable using — for some, painting the exterior of their home with a paintbrush is the best way to do things and for others, the paint roller is better.

For others, it’s better to use a combination of the two — the paint roller for larger areas of your home exterior and the brush for more detailed work.

You are also going to need the equipment that is necessary for the sanding of the exterior of your home as well as the cleanup that is involved when you sand — for sanding is critical to having a smooth surface.

We would love the opportunity to be your go-to exterior painter in St. Louis, MO. Call us at 314-582-5272 to book a FREE estimate, and let us help you enhance the interior of your home so you can focus on other things.

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