Last Updated on August 18, 2023 by Kravelv
It goes without saying that painting your exterior makes a massive impact on the first impression that your home makes. Aside from this, it’s probably the most efficient way to increase your home’s resale value. Nevertheless, if you’re not careful, you risk wasting a huge amount of money without making any effect or, in case of ignoring the effect of splash damage, making things even worse. Not to mention that this includes some work on great heights, which, on its own poses a considerable risk. Therefore, here are several tips you may want to consider.
1. Stick to the same color or go a bit darker
The number of coats you’re supposed to lay depends on the previous hue, as well as the color you decide to cover it with. So, for a simple and effort-less face-lift, you should probably stick to the same color or even decide to go a bit darker. In this way, you can go for a one-coat painting that saves your effort (literally cuts the amount of effort in half) and reduces the amount of materials you’re supposed to use. One of the problems that people encounter here is the inability to find the matching paint. The best way to deal with this is to simply peel off a bit and take it to the store. Moreover, there are some recognition apps that you may find particularly helpful.
2. Focus on problem areas
Another thing you need to keep in mind if working on a tight budget is the fact that you should only prime problem areas and that there’s no reason for you to do this for the entire house. Sure, if you had time and will to cover the entire place that would be great but committing to such a thing is in no way mandatory. These so-called problem areas are mostly parts that show signs of dried wood and raw wood. In this way, you’ll make the future painting much simpler. Even if you get the experts to carry out the work for you, there are many exterior home painters that have warranties in place, for example, this house painter offers a 7-year warranty so if the damage reappears in years to come, which makes it even easier for you!
3. Get the necessary equipment
As for the process of painting itself, you need to start by providing some basic equipment and supplies, not unlike the situation in which you’re supposed to paint the exterior. The problem comes when you start planning on what to do with those high, hard-to-reach spots.
Painting your home is not something you can do without proper equipment, which leads you to one of three choices. First, you may decide to work from the ladder, which is A) unreliable, B) restricting and C) inefficient. The only thing that actually goes in its favor is the fact that it’s a low-cost solution to your problem. Another option you have is to go for a scaffold, which needs to be constructed and deconstructed, later on. Needless to say, this significantly adds to the minimal amount of effort necessary for this project.
At the very end, you could look into local boom lifts hire agencies and rent out one of these pieces of heavy equipment for a couple of days. This helps you get a perfect balance between cost and efficiency.
4. Wash it down
Your eyes are so accustomed to your façade’s current hue that you probably can’t even remember what it looked like before. Dust and dirt, on the other hand, don’t rest, which is why you may expect them to interfere with your painting project in a number of ways. First, they may alter the color and second, they may cause small lumps on your façade that will make the end-result somewhat less impressive. You can do this on your own with a bucket or a hose, yet, it’s far better to simply rent a power washer and thoroughly spray down the entirety of your house.
5. Spraying saves time
Some areas need to be covered with a brush in order to look elegant, yet, when it comes to some of the largest, featureless areas of your home, spraying might be a preferable solution. The problem with this method is that it requires a large amount of preparation, due to the risk of spraying your doors, windows and similar surfaces. In areas where there’s no such risk, this option should be more than recommended. Needless to say, this is one of those time-saving ideas that can drastically cut the painting time (even with the lengthy preparation taken into consideration).
In conclusion
Once you’re done with the façade, there’s so much additional work to be done. Proper landscaping, window replacement and even an upgrade to your driveway all affect the image which your home’s exterior create. Sure, painting the home makes by far the greatest difference, yet, it would be a proper shame to allow these minor elements to overshadow such a vast improvement. Nevertheless, this is definitely a story for another time.
