Paint your home's exterior like a pro

Asha Bogenfuerst Asha Bogenfuerst
Green Retrofit, Lambourn Road, Granit Architects Granit Architects Casas modernas: Ideas, diseños y decoración
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Investing time, money, and effort into painting your home's exterior is worthwhile as it will not only give your house a facelift, but protect it as well, and make it last longer. In addition to that, a fresh paint job will enhance the curb appeal and resale value of your home too. Your home's exterior is the first impression, and it's best to make first impression as positive as possible. 

Painting your home's exterior should be done as soon as you notice paint starting to crack, blister, and peel. Neglecting these warning signs will lead to a much more difficult and expensive paint job. This idea guide features DIY tips to painting your home's exterior like a pro. Here you will find good advice about paint options, surface preparation, tools to use, and painting techniques. We hope you will find some helpful tips here to help you paint your home's exterior like a professional. 

Paint options

The two basic types of paint for house exteriors are water-based latex and oil-based alkyd. The advantage of water-based latex paint is that it dries quickly, it can easily be cleaned with soap and water, and it doesn't have much odor. On the other hand, oil-based alkyd paint requires paint thinner for cleaning, dries very slowly, and has a very strong odor. However, it is more stain-resistant, durable, and dries with fewer brush marks. 

In conclusion, both types of paints have their own advantages and disadvantages and being aware of them can help you choose the right paint for your home's exterior. Last but not least, keep in mind that if you're planning to paint over an existing alkyd paint with a latex paint, you should prime the surface to make sure that the second layer of paint sticks to the first one. 

Paint prices

When choosing the right paint for your home, you may also need to take the price of the paint into consideration. In today's market, there's a wide variety of paints with various levels of quality so it can be quite difficult to make a choice. The best thing to do is to plan how much you want to spend and then buy the best paint you can afford. Paints that cost more usually produce a longer lasting protective coating. 

Last but not least, don't forget to read the labels as there is a lot of useful information on the paint can itself that will help you produce a professional paint job. Pay special attention to the instructions about surface preparation. 

Surface preparation

In order for the new layer of paint to stick to the old layer, the surface needs to be properly cleaned. The easiest way to achieve this is to use a power sprayer or use a stiff, bristle brush to scrub the surface and remove all dirt, grease, and chalky residue. Any holes in the wall should be filled with putty, and any place where the old paint has blistered should be scraped off. 

Use a paintbrush and a roller

The most efficient way of applying paint to your home's exterior is with a paintbrush and roller. When applying paint onto edges and narrow surfaces, use a paintbrush. Large and long surfaces are best painted with a roller as it takes less time to cover large areas with a roller. Browse through modern style houses on homify for more ideas and inspiration. 

Start from the top

homify Casas modernas: Ideas, diseños y decoración

As a general rule of thumb, you should always start applying paint from the top of the house and end at the bottom. Remember that you should apply paint to the butt or bottom of the siding first and then start painting all the broad surfaces. Brush marks can be avoided by painting from one wet surface to another wet surface. The lovely house pictured here painted in an unusual shade of dark grey is designed by Edmimarlik Interior Studio, interior architects based in Turkey. 

Paint in the shade

Avoid painting in direct sunlight or on a sun-baked surface as it will make fresh paint dry too quickly. It will also make it harder for the new layer of paint to stick to the old layer of paint as it will blister and flake. So, remember to paint in the shade – choose an overcast day as opposed to a sunny day to paint the house. We hope you have found some helpful tips through this idea guide to help you paint your home's exterior like a pro. For more related inspiration and ideas, have a look at 6 colour schemes for house exteriors

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