A New Paint Job Can Bring Life To Older Homes, But Wooden Siding Requires Careful Preparation Before Priming And Painting

I really enjoyed updating our home, so I'm writing this blog to give other homeowners helpful information about painting and wallpapering their homes.

A New Paint Job Can Bring Life To Older Homes, But Wooden Siding Requires Careful Preparation Before Priming And Painting

A New Paint Job Can Bring Life To Older Homes, But Wooden Siding Requires Careful Preparation Before Priming And Painting

12 January 2018
 Categories:
, Blog


Older homes with wooden siding need special care when preparing the area for exterior painting; the whole house must be washed, damaged old paint must be scraped off, and the exposed wooden surfaces from the scraping need to be sanded down to allow paint to adhere to them. In the end, it can be fairly labor intensive to prepare wooden siding for painting; to accomplish the job faster, you might consider hiring an exterior painting contractor with experience in painting wooden siding. If you want to do it yourself, here are the steps you need to take to prepare your home for priming and painting.

Wash The Exterior With House Cleaner And Rinse Well

The first step in preparing the exterior of your home to be painted is to wash it thoroughly to remove dirt, oil, and mildew. Residue on the exterior will prevent paint from adhering easily to the outside of your home. Give your exterior a spray of water from the hose to wet it, then scrub vigorously with a brush. You'll want to use diluted trisodium phosphate (TSP) to clean the outside of your home; make sure you wear eye protection and follow manufacturer instructions when mixing the cleaner, as it is highly corrosive. Work in sections, rinsing the cleaner off your exterior before it has time to dry.

While it may be tempting to use a pressure washer to clean the outside of your home, this should be left to an experienced exterior painting contractor. It's easy to accidentally cause deep gouges in the wood if you use too high of a pressure setting on the washer and use it too close to your home. You also run the risk of breaking windows or shutters.

Scrape Damaged Old Paint Off The Exterior

If any of the existing paint is peeling, cracking, or bubbling, it will need to be removed. Scraping the paint is a labor-intensive process, but it's best to do it manually with a hand scraper. Using an angle grinder or sander can damage the wood underneath the paint. Before you begin to remove the old paint, make sure that it is not a lead-based paint. If you are unsure, send a sample to a laboratory to have it tested for lead. Removing lead-based paint from the exterior of your home requires special tools and filters to prevent small particles of lead paint from becoming airborne and settling around the exterior of your home, where it can be inhaled by your family or enter into the environment.

Once you've finished scraping off all of the damaged paint, take a moment to inspect all the wood for areas that have rotted. Once the paint is off, it's much easier to spot potential problems before they become major structural issues. If a large segment of your exterior is rotted, you'll need a professional carpenter to replace these segments.

Sand Exposed Wood To Help Paint Adhere, Blending It Into Painted Areas To Provide A Smooth Gradient

In order to help the primer and paint adhere to the surface of your wooden exterior, you'll need to sand the exposed areas. You'll also need to plug any chips or holes in the wood with wood putty to create an even surface to paint on. You can either rent a power sander or manually sand the wood with sandpaper. The objective is to feather the exposed wood into the areas with old paint using high-grit sandpaper so that the exterior is even after painting.

After you've finished preparing your home for exterior painting, you will need to let the wood dry for two or three days before priming and painting your home. Being thorough when you prepare your home by scraping off damaged paint and sanding exposed surfaces will ensure a smooth and even appearance to the final paint job. For more information, contact a company such as D B Osborne Company.

About Me
Update Your Home Affordably With Paint and Wallpaper

Hello, my name is Donna King, and I want to welcome you to my blog that's all about painting and hanging wallpaper. After my husband and I purchased our home we wanted to do some updating inside the house, but we didn't have a lot of money to spend. Since neither one of us had ever done this kind of work before, we researched the tasks before starting the project. We bought new paint for the walls, and we put up wallpaper in the kitchen. My husband's cousin is a painter and wallpaper hanger by trade, and he told us many helpful tips and tricks. We really enjoyed updating our home, and I'm writing this blog to give other homeowners helpful information about painting and wallpapering their homes.