How Can I Extend the Life of My Exterior Paint?
Adequately painting your home’s exterior is certainly handy in boosting curb appeal and hindering wood rot, moisture damage, and other wear due to weather changes.
However, once you paint your home, it might not be best to walk away and forget about it. Maintenance is vital to guaranteeing the painted area stays in good shape. A good number of homeowners tend to overlook this crucial exterior home painting step, which could end up being a costly mistake.
Here’s how to make exterior paint last longer in your home:
Prior to Painting
It goes without saying if you choose the right paint, the quality of the final finish will be good. Low-quality paints don’t offer smooth and reliable longevity as the top-quality alternatives. They aren’t able to adequately stand against the weather elements for a long time.
If you aren’t certain which paint to go for, consult your local hardware owner or check reviews online. Additionally, if you’re considering hiring the services of a painting contractor, it would be best if you let them pick the paint.
Clean surface
The preparation of the surface is a highly essential part of painting your home’s exterior as it impacts the final appearance and longevity of the paint. Ensure your home’s exterior is properly cleaned before you begin painting.
Even though the paint’s quality may stick quite well to the dust and dirt on your home’s exterior, it might not be as good when the dust sticks long-term.
Begin by power washing the wall to eliminate loose debris, and give the wall time to dry completely before painting. If your home’s exterior is made of timber, removing the old layer of paint or other stains might be a good idea before you start power washing.
In summary, your home’s exterior needs to be extremely clean, despite the material it’s made from.
Assess the weather
While you can’t control the weather, you can indeed choose when you paint your home. Generally, it would help if you considered painting it during temperate seasons when the temperatures are moderate.
Painting during the summer under the hot sun can impact the drying process and leave behind brush strokes and unevenness on your home’s exterior. Nonetheless, painting during winter could result in blistering or bubbling on the surface within a short while.
Apply primer
Most homeowners presume that painting alone is enough for a quality and durable finish, though this is not sufficient. To extend the lifespan of the work done, you’ll want to use a primer. This works to make it simpler for the paint to stick to your home’s exterior, hence an even appearance.
It functions as a case coat and provides the exterior an even look with fewer blemishes that could have resulted in the paint’s peeling, chipping, and bubbling.
After painting
Fix the damages as soon as they appear
Debris, snow, wind, and sun can substantially affect your home’s exterior surface after some time. If you spot water damage, rotting, or any other issues with the paint or the surface, it is of utmost importance to have them repaired as soon as possible.
This will hinder more damage and subsequent expensive siding replacement.
Always keep the exterior clean.
Don’t allow dust or mildew to accumulate in your home. Apart from them making your home look visually unappealing, they can negatively affect the paint if not dealt with on time.
It would be best to clean and trim annually to increase the paint job’s durability.
In conclusion
We all want our homes to look good, and one of the ways to achieve this is to paint their exterior. But painting shouldn’t just be painting; you need to paint such that it will have an even finish and last long.
Hopefully, these tips will come in handy! Give Quality Painting of West Florida a call for your next exterior paint estimate!