These Common Painting Mistakes Can Cost You
Painting the exterior of your home can save you lots of money, if you do it right. Do it wrong and it can cost you not only money but peace of mind. Depending on the type of mistake you make, it could cost you right now or a few years down the road. Either way, the best way to prepare yourself for painting the exterior of your home (or any building) is to inform yourself before you start. Here are 5 of the most common exterior painting mistakes to avoid:
1. Insufficient Surface Preparation
This can be hard work and time consuming especially if the exterior paint surface has greatly deteriorated. To start, you need to thoroughly clean the surface either by hand washing or using a pressure washer. If you use a pressure washer, be careful. They are powerful enough to etch a design into your wood siding. Once the surface has been cleaned, let it dry. Now is the time to identify places which need to be scraped, sanded or both to create a flat even surface for the paint. When you have finished sanding or scraping, you need to fill any holes or gouges in the surface with putty or (paintable) caulk. This is also a great time to caulk around the windows. Finally, prime the entire surface (recommended for heavily deteriorated paint surfaces or never before painted surfaces) or spot prime the damaged areas.
2. Not masking the windows or trim.
This is another step in the preparation of exterior painting that often gets overlooked. If you are painting the trim and exterior walls of your home different colors, you will need to use masking tape to create a clean line and protect the surface of the area you are not painting. Failure to do so can result in an uneven sloppy look. You also need to protect your windows from paint splatter and spills by covering them with masking tape and paper (newspaper works fine).
3. Choosing the wrong kind of paint.
You can't just paint latex or water based paint on top of oil based paint. I recently experienced this firsthand. All the other rooms in the house I was painting had been painted in latex so I had no reason to think the last one was painted in oil. However, it became clear that it was as I tried to paint the wall. The paint just wouldn't stick. I painted a patch anyway because I wanted to know the result. After it had thoroughly dried, I was able to scratch the paint off with a fingernail. Imagine if this was the exterior of your house! So be sure the paint is the same kind if you are repainting. Or if you want to change types, do the extra prep work of sanding and priming the paint surface. You will find that you can't scratch paint off the wall anymore.
4. Choosing the wrong paint color.
Nothing is worse than painting the whole side of your house to find that you hate the color. This can happen because paint colors look different on your house and in the sunlight from the color on a swatch of paper. So ask the store for a small sample of the paint or purchase a pint or so to test it out. Paint a decent size square on the back or side of your house to see if it really is the color of your dreams. Realize that the color will look different after it thoroughly dries so don't make your final decision until the next day.
5. Painting the 2nd coat too soon.
This is an easy mistake to make as you are finally painting and want to be done n-o-w. Just as in prepping, this is an area where you have to put in the time. The 1st coat of paint must have adequate time to dry. If you paint the second coat before it is completely dry, you it won't stick as well and will result in cracked paint condition called alligatoring. This effectively weakens the paint and reduces its lifetime.
Plan ahead and save. You can have a successful and stress-free do it yourself exterior painting project by avoiding the 5 most common exterior painting mistakes discussed.
Source: ar blue clean ar383 pressure washer
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