With Spring rearing its head shortly, many homeowners look outside and get a better glimpse of what their home needs caring for the most. For some, it’s deck repairs and landscaping improvements, while others envision their home’s siding needing a new coat of paint and/or vinyl siding adjustment.
Keeping those ideas fresh in mind is one thing. Acting upon them is a completely different story.
So if a homeowner decides to remodel with house painting in mind, they must stow away a few painting tips and ideas to make their improvements not only last, but truly stand out among the rest of the homes in the neighborhood. To accomplish both, they would be wise to follow a few of these guidelines and ideas.
1. DIY or Contract The Work: Before picking out paints and supplies, homeowners must decide whether they have the time and creativity to paint their home or if they should call upon a local painting contractor come in and do the job. It’s a preference, really, because there are some who love to put their paint skills to work themselves and then there are those who simply don’t want to hit a snag with DIY painting, thus calling upon professionals to do it for them.
2. Make The Right Call With Supplies: Whether you choose the contractor or DIY route, you still need to pick out which color fits best. Unless you have cash to burn, picking out a color pattern is important because it’s going to be a permanent reminder for about 5 to 10 years or longer if you touch-up the house every now and then. Regardless, everyone should take a few days to bounce color schemes around, going to the home improvement store for guidance, asking friends or your spouse which one’s the best fit, etc.
3. Stockpiling Good Supplies and Paints: Real quick, if you’ve opted for the contractor, then this rule and anymore afterwards really don’t apply. But if you’re still in DIY mode, then you should know that spending a few more dollars on high-quality paints and supplies can save you in the long run. Reason being, high-quality paints tend to be thicker, bolder and bond to the siding longer than second-hand paints. Same goes for supplies. If you buy cheap paint brushes, the paint strokes might be lighter in tone or separate more easily because the bristles aren’t of the highest order. So, set aside a little extra cash for cream-of-the-crop supplies instead of worrying about buying up extra paint for a second coat when in reality, more recognized paints in most instances would only need one.
4. Prime, Edge and Roll: If you’re not using primer after you’ve scraped loose paint chips away, you’re doing a disservice to the rest of the paint job from here on out. Priming is essential for making the already solid bond of the paint hold longer. Skipping this step might cost the paint’s lifespan by about 2 years at least. With that squared away, it’s on to edging. Edging around delicate corners, under vinyl siding overhangs and around windows cuts time and error. Time, because the next job is simply filling in the open blank spaces with the roller. Error, because if you’re like me and my first go at painting, you won’t have to worry about rolling right up on the window sills because the corners weren’t properly prepped. And rolling? Well there’s not much to say about this except always apply top to bottom for less paint drips onto you or the grass below.
So if you’ve decided to take the leap, whether you’re attempting a house painting job in Kansas City on down to Miami, these rules should apply to everyone out there.. It’s not as labor-intensive as say, window replacement or retiling the roof, but it’s got enough of a workout to make someone feel they’ve accomplished a big task. That being said, happy painting everyone!
