Painting the exterior of your home

The outside of your home is an expression of who you are or what kind of homeowner you are. If you are in need to improve the look of the outside of your home, the best place to start is with the paint of your home on the outside. When people look for homes to buy, more than likely the first thing they notice is what shape the outside of the home is in. If the paint on the siding is peeling or faded, they are more likely to pass up the opportunity to buy the home. It can be a simple procedure if you have the right tools and enough time.

When you go to buy your paint you must consider not only what color you'd like but also how much to buy. You figure this out by calculating the area of each side. Although most figures out the area by length time the height, you must remember that on most houses there is a peak on the sides of the house. You will have to calculate this into your formula as well. After you've figured out the exact area of the exterior of your home then you are safe to get your paint. The label on the paint can, will tell you approximately how much area that particular can will cover.

To get started on your painting here is a list of what you need:

- A ladder
- A hose or power washer
- Scrapers
- Scrub brushes
- A bucket
- Caulk and a caulk gun
- Primer
- Paint
- Brushes and rollers

Before you begin painting you have to consider exactly how you want to make the decision of what kind of color you want your home. You have to take into consideration of the trim and also decide whether or not you are going to paint it a different color or keep it the same color as the rest of the house. To make your home stand out there are a variety of techniques and styles to choose from when you update the exterior of your home.

The first thing to do is clean the existing siding. You can use either a hose or a power washer to clean the siding and trim but it is recommended that you scrape loose paint. If you do not scrape the paint that is chipping and just repaint over it, it can result in the new paint falling off with the old. If you scrape the paint off of the house just remember that most paint contains lead. Scraping the paint can cause lead poisoning so one recommendation is to wear a special mask you can buy at your hardware store. If you still find this too risky then you could have a professional come in and scrape the chipping and peeling paint off of your house.
After you've cleaned, scraped and scrubbed your house, then you have to apply a primer to the siding. The primer will help the paint stick to the siding better. The worse case scenario is if you don't do any preparations for painting your siding, it will end up chipping and peeling which means you basically have to start over from scratch all over again. Don't worry about the color that the primer comes in because more than likely you will paint more than one coat of your primary paint on the house.

Before you prime your house, you will want to caulk window and doorways to prevent paint from seeping in between them. If you are painting your windows and door a different color than the rest of the house then you can put masking tape along the edge of the sills and doorways to prevent color getting on them. When you paint, your color will probably not look like what you expected but be assured that when the paint dries it will take shape for the direction you are looking for.

You may want to paint the outside of your house for maximum coverage and color.
The weather is a very big factor when you are painting your house. If you can, don't choose either a hot or wet day because this effect how your paint dries. This also can be a hazard to you. You can result in heat stroke on hot days and possibly slip on wet days. Wear the appropriate clothing when painting. On hot days you must also remember to wear sun block to prevent yourself from becoming a lobster. You will also need to wear the right shoes such as tennis shoes so you can prevent slipping from the ladder plus you can prevent yourself injury from nails that may have been removed in your preparations.

Painting your house can be rewarding when you get done but you must consider all angles before starting so you can finish your project safely and efficiently.