Checklist of the Groundwork of Exterior Painting
For any job, it is necessary to have a perfect preparation. If you want to handle yourself of your home exterior painting or if you want to hire the professional painters, here are some major instructions for the preparation or groundwork of exterior surface.
- Lead-based paint test: If your home is more then 20-30 years old then it may contain lead based paint, which is poisonous. Lead is very toxic and really harmful for humans, especially for pregnant women and kids. It is advisable to ask any professional painter or professional painting service like Melbourne painters before trying to remove the lead-based paint.
- Protection of the garden and yard: At the time of exterior painting, it is advisable to have full protection of your outdoor things. Generally the people are habitual to protect some common things such as outdoor furniture, car, and plants from paint sprays or damage. But it should make sure that the yard also properly protected as it is vital for safety reasons prune or tie back shrubbery Plastic or fabric drop cloths can be used to cover decks, lawns and driveways.
- House wash: Some specialized equipment like power washer or hand scraper is used to remove any grease, dirt or loose paint. So, you have to be careful if you want to do same work by yourself without any prior experience of handling such machineries. The power washer can blast mortar from the joints if you can’t use it properly. You should wait till your home dry completely before you starting to paint or scrape. It is better to hire any professional painting service for you’re the whole paint task including house wash.
- Loose paint remove: Removing loose paint the hardest part of the preparation. If you want to do it yourself then you should wear the safety equipment such as safety glasses, dust mask and gloves. There are some ways for removing loose paint such as wire brush, metal scraper, chemical or heat gun, which is depend on your requirements.
- Cover and seal. You should have to re-seal around windowsills, door trim, sliding and any other important areas of the home to avoid water damage. It is also advisable to cover patch holes, nail holes with re-putty windows and wood filler.
- 6. Prime whole surfaces. In any home, it should be checked the status of the existing paint. If it is clean and sound then it won’t need a primer coat. But scraped and bare wood parts require spot priming. Make sure that the primer is well-matched with your materials and the final choice of paint. There are some primers available that can be dyed the final paint layer of your home. It will save your extra coats.