Published March 18th, 2020 | Updated June 22nd, 2020 | By Mike Monyak, Founder of Mr. Happy House
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In this House Painting PRO Guide, I am going to walk you through step by step on how to paint your outside home or exterior like a professional painter would.
Have you ever tried painting a portion of your home or maybe your door and somehow, the paint just starts to fall off a couple of days later?
There are many homeowners who try to save money on home costs by simply doing the house painting themselves or hiring the cheapest person to do it for them, then end up regretting it later because the job was done poorly or without any knowledge of painting.
In this House Painting PRO Guide, I am going to show you a simple painting process we follow when painting the exterior of any residential home.
My name is Mike Monyak, owner and founder of Mr. Happy House, I have been a house painting contractor since 1991 and have completed many interior and exterior painting projects in The Woodlands and Magnolia areas.
Mr. Happy House is a local business and we have many happy customers in The Woodlands and have an A+ rating on the BBB.
As a trusted professional painter, I am here to show you my steps and tricks to painting your home the right way.
1) Finding the Right Colors for Your Exterior
Some of the nicest looking homes are often painted with two varying colors, for example a tan colored home with dark brown trim, or white with purple, but white often blend in with colonial homes and not exactly the typical homes you would see in neighborhoods in The Woodlands, TX area.
If you have a fairly new stucco home, then a tan or light color would look better and would match with the area. If your home has siding instead of stucco, then white would not be recommended because it would be harder to sell since people looking for homes in The Woodlands area won’t want to see a completely white colored home. Later in this House Painting PRO Guide, I will show you how to prepare a house painting project right.
If you have trouble with selecting the colors of your home, visit ColorSnap, which is a free paint tool that can be used to test our colors on different areas and different styles of homes.
Now once you have selected the paint color you want, now is time for the tools and equipment.
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2) Tools and Equipment for the Paint Job
Getting the right tools and equipment for the house painting job is very important because you don’t want to turn your dream home into a haunted house, which could happen if you don’t have the right equipment.
Here is exactly what you need:
- Tarps or Drop Cloths
- Cleaning Supplies & Rags
- Paint Brushes and Rollers
- Buckets
- Ladder
- Caulk Gun & Caulk
- Sandpaper
- Knives, Hammer, Pry Bar (to take out rotted wood)
- Air Compressor and Nail
- Gun (to install new siding if needed)
- Primer & Paint (preferably Sherwin Williams)
- Hardie Plank siding and trim (if needed)
- Putty
- Paint Sprayer
- Gloves
3) Preparing Your Home for Painting
Once you have all the tools and equipment listed above, now is time to prepare your exterior home for the painting.
1) Take Out Rotted Wood
One thing I have noticed in many odd or poorly done paint jobs is that those painters just paint right over rotted wood or old paint, which should never be done because the paint could just peel off.
You would use a hammer or a pry bar to remove old rotted siding first, then install new siding and nail it, I typically recommend Hardie Plank siding and Hardie Trim (learn more about Hardie Plank Siding here), which does not rot and is much more durable than wood or vinyl siding.
2) Caulking & Hole Filling
Once you replaced your siding, you need to caulk any edges and open seams so no moisture or water will come in and ruin your paint job. Caulk open seams and small holes and rub it with our hands from side to side to make it blend in with your siding.
3) Covering Up Your Home
Now is time to cover up your home, not everything but only the areas you will be painting. Cover up any windows and doors with painters plastic, cover any door knobs and electrical sockets with tape and your grass, dirt, or deck (depending where you are painting) with tarps.
4) Time to Finally Paint Your Exterior House
I first recommend painting or applying a primer first or a paint that has a primer and paint in it so that the paint will bond with your siding or stucco. Priming is very important and should always be done before a paint job.
Paint large areas with a roller and have a bucket of paint to apply it towards the roller for an easy paint job.
Use small hand brushes for small areas around your windows, doors, soffits, and fascias.
For stucco homes, I prefer to hand paint because this would increase the bond of the paint which would look better and last longer on your home.
When hand brushing, make sure to use a side to side or up down motion as this will make the paint look better. You don’t want to be painting in all directions.
Remove Tape and Plastic Slowly
Now that everything is done and you have painted the outside or exterior of your house, wait a few hours for the paint to dry and then carefully take off any plastic or tape.
If you take off the plastic or tape off too fast, it could rip off some paint which would look not so pleasant. If you are a beginner in painting or even an expert, go slowly and don’t try to rush it. A quality job is always better.
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If you need a professional house painter in The Woodlands, Texas, give Mr. Happy House a call and we can make your house HAPPY!
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7 Responses
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No problem Anne, Mr. Happy House loves to help people with their roofing, siding, and house painting needs!
I just love this house painting guide! What other kinds of services do you offer Mr. Happy House?
We offer residential roofing, siding, and exterior/interior house painting.
I like how you said that you can easily mess up your house if you try to paint it without the right equipment. I think it is extremely important for homeowners to have a house that looks great so it can be sold easily. It would be nice to put a powder coating on it so it lasts longer but I’d want a professional to do it for me.
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I’m Glad You Loved It!