How to Prepare Your House for Painting
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Painting your house is a big job. It can be a lot of work, but it’s also a very rewarding experience. The end result is a fresh, new look for your home that can brighten up the entire neighborhood. Make sure surfaces are clean and dry. Removing dirt, grease, and moisture from your house surface is critical for a high-quality paint job. When painting exterior wood, there’s a lot of aluminum that needs to be removed by sanding or chemical stripping before applying primer and paint. You should also remove any loose paint by scraping it off with a scraper tool while the surface is still wet. This will leave you with a smooth base for your new coat of paint.
Prepare your house for painting
A few days before you paint your house, it’s important to do a lot of cleaning. Wash windows with soap and water, scrub down walls with a sponge or cloth dipped in soapy water, clean up any stains on the floor and remove clutter from closets. You should also take care of outside details like weeding or trimming trees that might get in the way of painting. When you finally paint your house, make sure not to spill any paint on nearby plants because it can kill them if they come into contact with it for too long. The best time to paint is when the weather is warm but not hot; this will help dry out all those wet surfaces quickly after you finish painting them and allow fresh coats of paint to bond well to the underlying surfaces.
Remove all furniture and decorations from the walls
The best way to prepare your house for painting is by removing all furniture and decorations from the walls. If you don’t, then when you paint over them, they will come back with a vengeance in the form of ugly stains on your newly painted surface. Your home’s fresh new look will be ruined before it even has a chance to impress any guests or potential buyers. Before starting this process, make sure that every item of furniture is empty so as not to risk damage during removal. Once everything has been removed from the room, use painter’s tape and masking paper to cover up anything left behind such as light switches or electrical outlets. You should also cover up any window panes with newspaper or other material so that stray paint doesn’t drip onto the glass.
Remove any fixtures that are permanently attached to the walls
If your house has wall-mounted clocks, lights, or other fixtures, unscrew them from the walls and remove any extra screws that may have been left behind. If you’re unable to remove these items for whatever reason, skip over this step and go straight to priming the surface using a high-quality sealant or primer. If you don’t, then whenever you paint over them, they will come back with a vengeance in the form of ugly stains on your newly painted surface. Your home’s fresh new look will be ruined before it even has a chance to impress any guests or potential buyers.
Mark off where all outlets are located along the floor with painter's tape
Use a piece of painter’s tape and place it over each electrical outlet that has been covered up using newspaper or another type of material. The easiest way to accomplish this is by marking off where all outlets are located along the floor with painter’s tape. Once you’ve done this, remove any remaining spare pieces of tape and push them down into the wall and against the cover-up materials to eliminate any gaps between them. This process is important because it will help prevent paint from accidentally dripping onto the previously covered areas when nobody is looking.
Cover all furniture legs with masking paper
The next step in preparing your house for painting is to cover all furniture legs with masking paper. In doing so, you will reduce the risk of stray paint damaging your freshly painted surface. Take a look at the image below to get an idea of how this process works.
Cover all nearby fixtures with masking paper
Take your roll of masking paper and use it to cover anything nearby that may also be accidentally damaged by spray paint, such as cabinets or shelves directly adjacent to where you plan on painting. The easiest way to accomplish this is by using painter’s tape and placing it between each section that you want to be covered up. If you don’t do this step then when you spray over them, they will come back with a vengeance in the form of ugly stains on your newly painted surface. Your home’s fresh new look will be ruined before it even has a chance to impress any guests or potential buyers.
Place heavy items on top of furniture that's too heavy to remove
If you are unable to remove some furniture from the room then place heavy items on top of them to prevent any paint drips from dripping onto them before they can dry. If you don’t, then when you spray over them, they will come back with a vengeance in the form of ugly stains on your newly painted surface. Your home’s fresh new look will be ruined before it even has a chance to impress any guests or potential buyers.
Allow primer/sealer enough time to dry before painting
Once all of the necessary preparations have been made, allow enough time for the primed surface to dry thoroughly before applying any additional coats of paint. If you don’t, then when you spray over them, they will come back with a vengeance in the form of ugly stains on your newly painted surface. Your home’s fresh new look will be ruined before it even has a chance to impress any guests or potential buyers.
Patch up any holes or cracks in the walls before painting
The next step in preparing your house for painting is to patch up any holes or cracks that are present in the walls. If you don’t, then the paint will go directly onto these spots. Once it does, they may begin to flake off and/or peel away from the wall entirely. This type of damage is difficult if not impossible to reverse. If you want your home’s new look to last, then be sure to take care of this step before moving on to the others.
