Call Epic Painting Services Today! (321)231-8966
Blog Layout
DIY Exterior House Painting
Detailed step by step guide for exterior painting
You may have stumbled across this article because you have decided to paint the exterior of your home either by yourself or with the help of family and/or friends. I will do my best to provide you with a detailed roadmap to take on such a task. Even if you decide to hire a professional, this article may serve as good guidance as what should be expected from the process. If you find yourself having additional questions or would like me to expand on anything, feel free to leave a comment below and I will try and answer you when I find the time.
COLOR AND SHEEN SELECTION
There are usually three components of a exterior color scheme. There can be many more, but I am just going to stick to the three. There is the body, the trim and the accent color. If you picked the color from the wall of colors at your paint store, you may want to confirm with the store if they are suitable for exterior. Some colors have colorants that are much more susceptible to fading. If you are selecting from a pamphlet designed for exterior colors, then you should be safe as they are already deemed to be safe. If you have a Home Owners Association, make sure to get your selections approved. Yes, they can force you to repaint your home if colors weren't approved. Why only paint your house once when you can paint your house twice for twice the cost (Contact reference).
The body will consist of the exterior walls. Usually the surface will be stucco, block or siding. There is an unlikely chance that what you think is stucco is actually a surface called EIFS. It is unlikely on a residential home but not unheard of. It is found usually on commercial buildings, but a lot of residential homes have foam cast decorative trim casings (more on that later). Siding will usually be wood, composite (hardie), vinyl or aluminum. If you have vinyl, then you need to make sure the product you want to use is vinyl safe and never paint it darker than the original color. It will cause the vinyl to buckle and deform from the extra heat being absorbed. There are certain products that claim you can paint in approved darker colors, but I wouldn't trust. It's vinyl after all, just do a thorough clean and should look close to new again. Usually the sheen for the body will be either a flat/matte, eggshell or satin. It is really a choice of preference, but generally the eggshells and satin finishes can be a little easier to clean and maintain. If you have wood or composite siding exterior, be aware that applying a higher sheen can be difficult if you are untrained. There is a much higher chance for flashing if not applied right ( the paint will appear blotchy at an angle). You may be better off going with a good quality flat paint for siding.
The trim will consist of you architectural and decorative bands around doors, sometimes the windows, and areas on the front exposure. The trim can also include the soffits and fascia (eaves and overhangs) depending on your color scheme, and some doors or garage door depending on your color scheme. It is a good idea to use a satin or semi-gloss finish for these surfaces.
The accent would be any areas you want to introduce that third color. Shutters, front doors and sometimes a drip edge (metal flashing directly under the roof shingles) can be an accent color. These areas are also usually done in a satin or semi-gloss/gloss.
Disclaimer: If your house was built prior to 1978, have a lead test performed. If you have positive results for lead, than you should hire the appropriate professional to handle that.
NOW FOR THE FUN PART - THE WORK
PRESSURE WASHING
The first thing you will want to do is trench around the perimeter of your home. Any areas you have mulch, rocks, or other decorative cover should be pulled away from the house and you should also pull away some of the dirt to expose the subterranean portion of your walls. You will want to identify any areas where mildew, mold or other stains are on the house and have a plan to pretreat these areas before power washing with the appropriate cleaning solution. You should now identify if any areas on the exterior are chalking. You can do this by just rubbing your hands along the surface. You should do this on every side of your home and on multiple surfaces. If you have chalking, it is ok, many homes do that are in warmer sunny climates, but it is absolutely imperative that it gets addressed through he combination of pressure washing a sealing/conditioning (more on that later).
If you already own a GAS
pressure washer than you are ready to go. If you have an electric powered one, then do yourself a big favor and rent a gas powered pressure washer
from your local Home Depot or Lowes. You want something that is at least 3500 psi. If you have aluminum soffits, then be careful with the pressure. Too much pressure can push the panels out of place. You are better off soft washing these surfaces. If you have drywall ceilings in a front or back porch, than do not wash at all. Once you start washing, you will want to start from the highest surface and work your way down. This will ensure any dirt or chalk gets pushed down and eventually on the ground.
You want get pretty aggressive where you can, but be careful for siding, wood and non-masonry surfaces
as too much pressure can damage these surfaces. If you have a very old home with wood siding, you may want to hire someone as these are best done using a soft wash or chemical wash. If you notice that you are removing the paint from surfaces, then you should pause the process and inspect those areas. If you can easily manually scrape away the paint and/or the surface underneath the peeled paint is chalky, then you are doing nothing wrong. In fact keep doing what you are doing. You need to try and remove failed coatings whether through the washing process or manually scraping. Getting as much of that work done with the pressure washer will save you a lot of time and energy later. You will continue this process throughout all sides of your home. If you have a lot of dirt than you may notice a lot of it gets blown back on the house when you are washing the low areas. Do not worry about that. You need to give the low areas as much love as the others. When you are finished with the low areas and that side completely, simply flood the middle of the walls from a good distance. This will cause all that dirt to gently rinse down the house and onto the ground where it once came.
PREPPING THE HOUSE
Once your house is clean and dry, now is time to do the prep portion of the painting. This will consist of removing light fixtures, masking and covering surfaces that you don't want to paint, applying a sealer if needed, and caulking the home.
If you are attempting yo spray your house (more on that later), you will need to fully mask all windows, screen rails and screen on patios, and any other areas you don't want to get paint on. Some areas can be shielded but if you are reading this article, I would advise against that and you should cover EVERYTHING. In fact, probably best not to spray (more on that later). Otherwise cover the areas you feel you need to, only you know what kind of a painter you are and how clean and messy you are.
Remember when prior to pressure washing, you thoroughly checked all the surfaces on your house for chalking? If you found chalk, then it's probably best to seal or condition those areas. A sealer is not really a primer. Traditional primers will do nothing on chalk except peel later down the road along with your paint. Sherwin Williams sells a product called Loxon conditioner. Home Depot sells SealKrete. They come in clear or sometimes guide coat white. This stuff seems harmless, but it is not to be messed with. If it gets on surfaces that are not intended for paint, you will have a difficult or near impossible time removing it. Sealers should ideally be sprayed, but if you are not experienced with spraying there are some tricks to brush and roll. The product is really thin, like water. so it can easily go everywhere. If you are bushing and rolling, you want to cut in areas you normally would, but be careful of runs and drips. You would then load up the roller with the sealer and going slowly, start at the bottom and slowly roll to the top. This will make sure the excess sealer is caught by the roller, reused and pushed to the top. Even with your best efforts, a mess will still be made, so make sure you have covers over pavers, driveways, concrete floors, etc...
Now that you house is chalk free, it is time for caulking. DO NOT buy cheap caulk for the outside. I like SherMax and MaxFlex from Sherwin Williams. Other paint stores will have similar acrylic urethane caulks. Do a detailed check around your windows, trim casing, fascia and the body of your home and caulk all areas as necessary. This also includes siding joints, areas where trim meets body and so on (never caulk the underneath portion of siding). If you have stucco or block, you may have noticed you have cracks on you stucco that follow a similar pattern. This is call stair stepping because the patter looks like the step of a staircase. You will want to caulk these cracks in such a way that you bridge the crack. This means that a thin barrier of caulking will extend a little beyond the crack itself onto the body around the crack. You will want to work the caulking into the crack and feather the edges. They probably make a tool for this, but just use your finger. If you don't rub it in good and feather the edges, you can end up with noticeable veins on the house after the painting is completed. If you find yourself with a gap that is larger 1/8"-1/4" do not use caulking alone as it will never cure correctly. They make some special caulking for these type of cracks and a product called backer rod for large gaps and cracks.
All done, you are now ready for paint. Oh boy, I'm tired just writing this; you must be exhausted ;)
PAINT TIME
We are just going move past brand/material selection. There are many different exterior grade paints. I'd suggest not going with the cheapest.
Now that your house is cleaned and prepped. It is ready for the topcoat. If you have or will be painting your soffits, fascia (eaves), I would suggest painting that first. If you have aluminum soffits and fascia then they will need to be sprayed. If you attempt to brush and roll them, the heavy application that is inevitable with a brush and roller will fill all the small venting holes on the soffits. This is what helps your attic space breathe and they also look really bad when most of the vent holes get filled. You can probably forgo painting your aluminum soffits and fascia all together, as painting them is done for aesthetic purposes only as they will not deteriorate from not being painted. If you have wood soffits and fascia, they will need to be painted. They can be brushed and rolled or sprayed. In either scenario, if you are spraying you will probably need a shield here. The shield would be placed between the drip edge and the shingles to ensure that you do not get any paint on your roof shingles.
After your soffits and fascia are painted, you can now paint the body. This is where my previous note about spraying refers to:
So you bought a new sprayer for the sole purpose of painting your house....
I don't want to burst your bubble, but many cheap sprayers are not worth the problems they can create. If it has a cup or some type of reservoir then it was most likely not designed for this. You can probably spray trim, soffits and other surfaces with this, but you probably shouldn't attempt using it on your body. You can rent a proper airless sprayer from your local rental place, but please read further to decide if that would be a wise choice. Most non-painting professionals probably do not realize this, but for most surfaces outside and even some inside, the sprayer is only a more efficient delivery method for the paint. This means the primary function is to put a good heavy even mil coat on the wall surface that still must be back-rolled. You didn't misread that. After the sprayer applies the paint to the wall, the roller is still needed to push all that paint into all the nooks and crannies (this is especially true for stucco). If you have a smooth siding or wood, the spray alone can be enough but it probably will not look good when it's done. Sure it will be the color you picked, but you will most likely have spray lines everywhere and flashing from where ever you stopped and started again. If you read all that and still want to push forward spraying then I wish you the best of luck. You will probably want a helper to back-roll immediately after you spray. You do not want the finish to start to setup and dry before rolling.
Whether spraying or rolling, here are some experience tips I can offer: Try to avoid painting in the direct sun. This may cause the paint to start drying too quickly. For the most part painting the body is like any wall inside. I personally like to do my cut-in first and then roll. If you have any recessed windows you need to cut-in, you can either do this first or last. Do not try and do this the same time you are cutting and rolling the large walls as it will just cause unnecessary delays. If you bought one of those contractor pack of roller naps, then you can put them back in the garage. They will not help you here. You want a roller pole to help save your back, shoulder and elbows. Use a 3/4"-1 1/4" inch nap. I really like the Purdy Colossus naps and lambskins are also nice. I would avoid using any type of a roller tray also. The best choice is an empty clean 5 gallon bucket with a metal roller grid. This will get your roller loaded up fast and it holds a lot of paint. I would also suggest getting one of those brush covers (as seen on shark tv). Sherwin Williams sells them and I think Home Depot does too. Whenever you are done cutting in a section, you can put your brush in the case and it will prevent it from getting ruined in the outside sun. If you do not or can not find one, you can wrap your brush inside some plastic wrap or plastic shopping bag. Always try to keep your brush and roller wet, especially when you are done with a section and wont be using it for any extended period of time. Set your paint setup somewhere in the shade too. If you are doing a second coat, then you can proceed with that. You don't want to take weeks off in between coats. It's best not to procrastinate and get going shortly after the first coat.
After the body is done, now is the time to paint the trim bands, doors, garage doors, shutters, etc... If you've survived this long into my ramblings, then I probably don't need to expand on that any further.
All done. Take a step back and admire your hard work. You did it!! You probably won't do it again but If you took the time and did it right, you should have a nicely painted home that can last 10+ years. Sherwin recommends every 5-7 years, but they are in business of selling paint after all.
This is also a regularly asked question again and again; one without a definitive answer for every scenario. Cheap paint generally contains less resins than premium paint. These resins help with coverage, durability and adhesion. Lower cost paint is not to be avoided in every situation though. Low cost, medium quality paints work great for ceilings and walls in some scenarios. This has a lot to do with how they dry and how flat the sheen dries. They are very forgiving when they are applied, which means you don't need to worry as much about lap marks and drying too quickly. Some of them have what is known as a dead flat finish (no sheen at all). For this reason, they touch up well. Got a small water stain that appeared on a ceiling? Wouldn't it be great to be able to spot prime and touch up just the stain without having to paint the entire ceiling? They are also great (in my opinion) for rental properties. Sure, they scuff and mar easily, but when a tenant moves out, the space can be returned to its original state using far less labor and materials because they touch up so well. I wouldn't recommend the cheapest option for walls in your home, but there is nothing wrong with medium quality paint for everyday interior use. The debate isn't settled on how much of an advantage is gained by using a premium or the top of the line paint for interior walls as opposed to middle and good quality paints. Crayon, dog scratches and water stains are not discriminatory on what quality of paint they affect. That being said, there are times where it pays big to go with a higher quality paint. I prefer to use high quality paints on all my exterior home finishes. I also like higher quality paints for trim and doors. Another instance would be for the coverage advantage. Let’s say that you want to repaint a bedroom in your home, and the color is not changing much. A better-quality paint can save you in time and materials. The difference between and $20 gallon of paint and a $60 gallon may seem steep, but if you factor in your time for having to apply two coats as opposed to one, and not having to purchase the extra gallon that would be required for the cheaper paint; the $20 is a small price to pay for saving you hours of your time. Who has time for that? Go with the better paint and spend that extra time with friends and family. Or better yet, call me instead and free up all your time.
If I had to pick the most widely asked question that I get asked on a regular basis, it would be: What sheen do you think is best? Unfortunately, there is no right answer for every scenario, but by understanding the pros and cons of each; it might make you decision a little easier. Flat finish: This is the lowest sheen available and would be considered a dull finish in comparison to a semi-gloss. Some advantages to flat finishes are that they can help hide wall defects. Flat finishes also touch up very well without flashing (flashing is observed when everything looks good from a straight forward perspective, but appear blotchy from an angle). Flats are also easy to apply for homeowners and novice painters because of their tendency not to flash. You don't have to pay special attention to cutting-in and rolling at the same time or be too concerned with one drying before the other is applied. The disadvantage for a flat finish is durability. They finish does not dry as hard as higher sheen paint, and because of this, they tend to scuff easy. They are also more difficult to clean. For the reasons above, flat paints make an excellent choice for ceilings, walls in moderate to low traffic areas and on exterior walls. They should be avoided in areas like bathroom walls, behind kitchen stoves, on trim and doors, mud rooms, and areas prone to lots of scuffing. Of course, this can all change if you prefer this type of finish and are willing to touch up every now and again. High quality flats also offer much more durability and are easier to clean than cheaper paints. Matte finishes, low sheen and velvet flat offer greater ease of use without adding much more shine, and are all between flats and satins in terms of the sheen observed. Eggshell and Satin's: These are technically different sheen's with eggshell being slightly less shiny than satin's, but some manufactures don't distinguish from them greatly and sometimes only offer one or the other depending on the brand of paint. They offer greater durability and clean-ability compared to flat paints and fall right between and flat and semi-gloss on a scale of shiny-ness. On the downside, they don't touch up very well. This holds especially true in rooms with lots of natural lighting or with darker colors in general. They can also expose more surface defects than a flat paint. A general rule is that the shinier and darker the paint, the more defects will be visible. Eggshell's and satin's make great choices for kitchen and bathroom walls, cabinets, some trim work and exterior walls and trim. Semi-gloss, gloss and high gloss: As the names suggest, these will be the shiniest of all the coatings. They dry hard and are much easier to keep clean than flat paints. They are often considered too shiny for use on most walls inside and outside, but to each their own. They are the go-to finish for doors and trim, and can be used in bathrooms and on cabinets as well.