The Secret of Exterior Painting: It’s All About Prep

Jan 16

As a family owned professional painting company owner based in Houston, TX I am often asked, “What’s the key to a fantastic paint job?” It’s actually not painting, Painting is not the hardest part, prep is what takes the longest. A painting company that has paid attention doing the prep work will be the difference if when the job is done they feel completely satisfied.

When it’s time to paint your house you need to ask you painting contractor, “How much time are you going to spend on prep?”

dirty house that needs to be pressure washed — Pressure Washing

Paint does not stick to dirt. Have your painting company power wash all dirt, mildew etc and while your at it if there is any paint flaking off the surface you can use your pressure washer to blast it off which will save you time from scraping later.
Do not get too close to the house or you could damage the siding and be extra careful about the pressure of your machine when cleaning windows. Don’t forget to spray any hornets nests!

Scraping and Sanding

The Houston sun in hot and gets beaten by hurricanes and storms. Based off how much upkeep has been happening this process can take an hour or 2 or a full day. Amateur painters think they can skip this step but professional painters know what a difference it makes.
Go around every nook and cranny of the house with a 5 and 1 scraping off all the blistering and flaking paint, sanding large areas with a paint eater. Make sure you use a leaf blower to dust off all debris.

rotted wood at base of chimney needing to be replace — Carpentry

Paint does not stick to rotted wood. Rotted wood is often found any place where water collects. The base of the house, chimneys, places on the roof where the siding is exposed to alot of rain.
Make sure you and your painting contractor do a walk through at the beginning looking for any rotten trim, facia, siding and any loose nails that need to be hammered in.

upper part of house getting caulked and painted — Caulking and Priming

In my experience getting all the cracks and gaps in the house is one of home owners biggest requests. Caulking is key to keeping bugs out of cracks. Making sure you use a caulking that is paintable and go around the house caulking all trim boards, nail heads, back side of facia, soffit vents and any new carpentry you just repaired. Cracks in stucco and brick require a specific type of masonry caulking.
Use a peel bond primer on any surfaces that were sanded or bare wood that was repaired or replaced. Using a oil based slow drying primer makes the difference as the house is exposed to sun and rain over time. The key to a fantastic paint job is using the right paint and the right primer.

man on ladder masking off window preparing to paint brick house — Masking

This step is all about what you DON’T want painted. Almost all exterior painting services involve some kind of airless paint spraying which means you need to mask. The house painters need to take their time making sure the tape lines are straight, no plastic is hanging out and all windows, light fixtures, security cameras, etc don’t get any paint dust on them.

In Conclusion

You can have your house painted properly and still painted in a timely manner. Our crew at The Proud Paintbrush does such a good job painting houses all over the Houston area regardless of the square footage or house requirements. Hit the “Get Started” button to receive a free estimate with competitive pricing within 24 hours of reaching out.