This Is How To Prepare A House For Painting Inside And Out

Learn How Painters And DIYers Should Best Prepare Their Home In Vista, California For Painting
Preparing a house exterior for painting

How to prepare a house for painting is different for exteriors and interiors. You will be using painter’s tape and drop cloths for both.

Find out the rest below-

Painting Preparation is KEY

“10 minutes of prep can save 1 hour of work,” David points out.

Michelle strikes what she thinks is a philosophical pose. “And proper preparation makes for a better project. Speaking of which, how do we prepare a house for painting?”

David laughs. “I’m not too sure. I don’t want to guess and miss something so let’s look it up on Google.”

Michelle walks over to where David is as he pulls out his phone. She stands next to him and watches as he looks it up on Google. She remembers they did this when they were looking for the best exterior paint.

Here is what they find-

How To Prepare A House For Painting

Man painting home exterior with roller
  1. Get your tools and materials
  2. Choose the right time
  3. Clean the house exterior
  4. Scrape off any loose paint
  5. Make any repairs
  6. Re-caulk as needed
  7. Put down drop cloths on plants
  8. Prime your house exterior

The best time to paint is when the temperature is between 50 and 85 degrees Fahrenheit. Partly cloudy days are best because the paint won’t dry too quickly. Watch out for rain!

For cleaning, we recommend using a pressure washer with TSP (trisodium phosphate). It’s a mild cleanser that’ll get rid of most things. Clean walls are important because paint doesn’t stick to dirty surfaces. It peels more quickly and looks worse. Then you’ll be painting again.

Painting over damaged areas isn’t a good idea either. They become easier to see and also can lead to worse problems in the future. This includes caulking.

Preparing A Room For Painting

Preparing a room for painting by moving the furniture out
Photo by Sunset Removals – creative commons license 2.0
  1. Clear the room and walls of any objects you can
  2. Move anything else to the center of the room and cover it with a tarp
  3. Unscrew any outlet and light switch covers
  4. Put painter’s tape around windows, doors, and baseboards
  5. Lay down drop cloths
  6. Make any repairs if needed
  7. Clean walls
  8. Prime
Putting painters tape on a wall

For ceiling fans, remove the blades and cover the fixture with plastic. For recessed lights, remove the bulb and pull down the fixture trim a little bit. Release the cover and tape plastic over it. Hanging lights should have a cover plate that slides down.

You can clean walls with TSP, warm water, and a sponge. Be careful not to scrub too hard!

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“Great, now we can prep our house inside and out for painting,” says David. Michelle gives him a thumbs up. “Yeah, we can! Let’s see what else this blog has to offer.”