exterior-wall-painting

Many people choose vinyl siding over exterior-wall-painting. However, if you choose to paint your exterior walls and trim, you'll want to remember a few things.

First of all, anything outside has to be tough enough to withstand the elements.

Because of this, you want a good acrylic or oil paint primer. The primer puts down a protective coat for the final paint to adhere to.

If you use acrylic for the primer then use acrylic for the final coat(s). If you use oil base primer paint, then use oil base paint for the final coat(s). Oil doesn't stick well to acrylic, nor does acrylic stick well to oil.

You need to purchase enough paint at one time to do the entire house. If you purchase the paint in gallon cans rather than 5 gallon quantities, you need to open the gallons and mix them all together in a large container so the color is identical. Usually you cannot depend upon the colors being exactly the same in small quantities. You can return the paint to the gallon containers after mixing.

Personally, we purchased our paint in 5 gallon buckets to eliminate that headache.

You paint the trim first before doing the walls and unless you have an exceptionally "steady" painting hand, you'll probably want to mask around the windows.

Always start at the top and come down, top to bottom, so you don't have drips on the already painted area. Trim, soffit and facia requires a lot of brush work.

If you roll the paint on the walls, then you have to "cut-in" the edges next to the trim and windows. If you spray paint the walls, then you will need to mask the windows and trim. Covering the windows with paper helps prevent the spray from reaching the glass.

Use of a ventilator is probably less necessary when painting outside, because the paint is able to disapate easier outside. However, it wouldn't hurt to wear a dust mask.