How To Paint Your House! "Exterior" 5 Step process

Daytona Beach Painting Contractor

I began my career in 1991 while painting houses during college vacations.  All of my professional experience is in managing painting projects of all types and sizes.  My objective now is to help both professionals and homeowners understand the key processes to achieve a lasting and beautiful finish.  That is why i Have created this webpage to teach you how to properly paint your house exterior.  Our plan has the 5 P's or a Professional Painting Process

1)Planning   2)Preparation  3) Painting  4)Pick Up  5)Punch Out

1) PLANNING!  How To Paint Your House Exterior!

First thing to all painting projects from a professional standpoint is to determine the tasks to be performed and the conditions you will encounter during the project.   A thorough site visit requires taking notice of the following:  

Rigging requirements..  Sometimes a step ladder can get you to all areas of the home that you plan on painting other times you may need to rent scaffolding or even a man lift.  Pay special attention to trees and bushes and the grade of the ground you will be working off of.  

Square Footage..  Always measure the items that you going to paint.  This will help you understand how much material to purchase and how long it might take to paint this item.  

Existing Condition..  Inspect each item you painting to get a general idea of special circumstances.  These conditions are broad in range but you must ask yourself this question...

"After some scraping, primer, caulk and paint will the  "_____" look good and endure mother natures onslaught till it needs to be painted again?"

If  the answer is no or maybe, I will bring it to the attention of the homeowner.  Paying special attention to these "Existing Conditions" is how a professional keeps his jobs on budget.  Everyone hates it when the quoted price is different than the amount billed.  This can be minimized when you plan a job properly and notify the homeowner of potential problems before the contract has been signed.  

Material List..  Now that you have examined all surfaces to be painted you must come up with  materials list.  Do not overlook the small stuff, these are the items that are often overlooked and then omitted from the project.  Things like sandpaper, scrapers and drop cloths.  

A quick note on type of paint.  I find it funny that every year each paint manufacturer reinvents the Gallon of Paint.  Making such bold claims as "Never Paint Again" or "Primer and Paint" or "One coat coverage guaranteed".  All of this is hype and in my opinion it does the end user a huge disservice.  Do yourself a favor and buy a quality paint and rarely is the highest priced material worth the expense.  iREPAINT uses Benjamin Moore Paints on all residential projects and has no call backs because the process I am outlining here works.   

Color Selection..  I don't claim to be a designer and I am not even allowed to choose colors in my own home, therefore I recommend you at least check this color selection reference out by CLICKING HERE.

If you are choosing to have iREPAINT paint your house we always bring a "draw down" of your color selection for your final approval.  If you are unable to use iREPAINT request a large sample from you local service provider.  This ensures a happy customer 100% of the time.

2) Preparation! How To Prepare Your Homes Exterior For Painting!

Site Prep..  iREPAINT will dig back the soil where items we are going to paint go below grade.  We believe a lasting paint job gets sealed and painted below the frost line.  In Volusia county Florida thats a mere 2 inches.  You might want to consult your local authorities to find out how low you should go.  We also trim back bushes, shrubs and trees to get clearance for our tools.  Some jobs may require moving storage bind furniture, planters etc...

Washing..  I always pressure wash all surfaces when painting a homes exterior.  This is the best method to ensure a clean surface for your new paint to grab onto.  I would recommend no less than 2,500psi with a flow rate of 4 gallons of water per minute.  iREPAINT uses up to 4,000 psi to remove all loose and flaking paint.  If you wipe your hand across the cleaned surface you should see no residue or debris come off onto your hand.  Powerwashing is arguably the most important step in achieving a long life for your paint job.

Abrading..  Once the house has been cleaned we go over all areas with a scrapers or a wire brush to find all other areas of failed coatings.  We scrape or brush to a firm edge.  We recommend orbital sanding or grinding to give a softer edge where paint has been removed.  

Patching and Caulking.. Holes and voids are filled there is a wide range of materials to use but in most cases we use one of the three methods.  

Wood surfaces with nail holes, knot holes or the like get floated smooth with an appropriate trowel with a lightweight vinyl spackling.  

With concrete block or stucco we use a textured elastomeric patching compound that can be applied by brush or trowel.  This works well for holes voids or surface cracks.  

At window and door openings we inspect the preimeter to find and remove loose caulking.  We then will replace wherever it is missing with a elastomeric or urethane caulk with no less than a 50 year product.  

Spot Priming..  Once our areas have been scraped and sanded we go over bare or stained surfaces with specialty primers.  Rusty nailheads get a oil primer with a corrosive agent, heavy stains will be primed with a 

Masking..  We use tape, paper, plastic, masking machines drop cloths and paint shields to protect surfaces not getting painted.

Clear Sealer..  I live along the coast in Florida and perform professional painting services in Volusia County Florida.  We are in one of the most corrosive environment in the United States.  Therefore iREPAINT always uses a clear sealer to bind together any paint residues that might remain after the powerwash.  You should ask your local painting professionals about this step and see if it is recommended for your project.  


3) Painting! How To Paint Your Homes Exterior!

iREPAINT uses all of the tools of the trade on nearly all exterior painting projects.  Brushes, Rollers and sprayers.  A professional painting project always begins with a top to bottom approach.  Finishing the house from your fascia and soffits down to the ground.  After painting thousands of houses we have learned that the best finish always comes from spraying two coats of paint onto the item being painted and working/spreading it onto and into the surface with either your brush or roller.  This ensures you fill all of the pinholes and obtain an even millage of paint coverage.  A professional project is free from runs, drips, holidays and has a even looking finish or shine.  

Search my site for more specific items that we paint and learn how we to do it for yourself.

4) Pick Up!  How to Paint your Homes Exterior!

Cleaning up is the most important part of the job.  You may have followed all of the other procedures to a T, only to leave a sloppy looking finished product.  iREPAINT aims to be the best painting business in Volusia county and our clean up standards are to leave the site in the condition it was found.  

Paint speckles all over the driveway, paint drips on the roof, paint on glass or doorknobs.  From removing all of the tape, paper and plastic to raking up loose paint chips.  All of this is done in this step.  iREPAINT takes our mess with us because we are a full service painting contractor giving our clients white glove painting services.  

We then consolidate our excess paint into a punch out kit for our homeowner to have just a little on hand in case of future repairs or if a need arises for more paint.  

5)Punch Out! How to Paint your homes exterior!

In this step we take out our most critical eye and look for any imperfections or items that need just one last finishing touch to ensure perfection.  This step we go over the final product and straighten cut lines and touch up misc. imperfections.  

We Paint Volusia County

Edgewater Painter, New Smyrna Beach Painter, Port Orange Painter,       South Daytona Painter, Daytona Beach Painter, Holly Hill Painter, Ponce Inlet Painter, Daytona Beach Shores Painter, Ormond Beach Painter, Ormond By the Sea Painter, Pierson Painter, Deleon Springs Painter, Deland Painter, Lake Helen Painter, Debary Painter, Orange City Painter, Deltona Painter, Oak Hill Painter, Osteen Painter