House Painting Ideas, Tips & Advice

At Color Touch we know there are two major components to any great paint finish: One is its esthetic appearance and the other is its durability. We always provide the maximum of both, according to each client’s needs and expectations. We feel that great interior and exterior painting jobs should not only look fantastic but last a long time as well. That said, the painting process needed to make great things happen is not random. A project that seems daunting at first can be handled through sound strategies and a series of calculated steps.

This is why we adhere to sound painting principles, tried and true strategies and use top quality materials. We want to share some of our house painting ideas, tips and advice for anyone looking to upgrade their homes through interior or exterior painting.  House painting seems like a simple task at first, but it takes a lot of practice and skill development. That said, we can share ideas that might save you time and aggravation. Here, we will share some trade knowledge that will help you understand or even perform the work yourself.

Start by cleaning, which entails manual scrubbing or 1500-2000 psi removal of dirt and other organic material from the building. If necessary, bleach is used to kill mildew, and use a bucket and stiff bristle brush to remove any organic material left by the power washing process. Care must be taken not to use the power-washer near windows and doors so as to avoid getting water into the house. Window frames can be washed by hand and allowed to dry. Afterwards:

• Always protect flooring and landscaping before starting. We use 4mm plastic to contain lead-based paint chips on older homes.
• Completely remove loose or imminently failing paint using high-quality scrapers. On widely cracking surfaces, heat guns may be used.
• Sand rough blemishes with a coarse grit of sandpaper, we recommend Norton 3x.
• Replace any failed window glazing early in the process as it takes over a week to cure.
• Pre-prime using specialty primers, such as rust converting primer on rusty metal and a wood hardening primer on soft wood. Use a masonry primer on Stucco and Acrylic primer on bare galvanized metal.
• Prime all bare wood using appropriate (interior or exterior) stain-blocking alkyd (oil-based) primers. Be sure to use a slow-drying alkyd primer outside for a more flexible base coat. Avoid fast-drying alkyd or shellac-based primers outside, as these are more brittle.
• Fill gouges using epoxy fillers or the appropriate patching compounds. Never use exterior spackle as it will absorb moisture and bubble.
• After sanding, apply high-grade Elastomeric or urethane-reinforced caulking. For extreme movement, one may opt for industrial caulks such as Sika-Flex or “OSI Quad Max“. Never use Silicone caulk, as it is not paint-able.
• Use an elastomeric stucco patch to bridge hairline cracks in masonry and stucco. Ready mixed stucco patch can fill deeper blemishes.
• Re-prime as needed, using a quality exterior acrylic primer.
• Finish with two high-quality finish coats of acrylic paint.

• Always protect flooring, countertops, furniture and appliances. We use drop-cloths and rosin paper, along with high density plastic.
• Establish a “shop” or base of operations, where most of your tools and paint will be kept. Excess clutter creates trip hazards and wasted time.
• Remove electrical cover plates and all window and door hardware. Tape the screws to plates and hardware and keep in a safe place.
• Clean surfaces as needed using a mild tsp solution. heavy grease may require ammonia or “greased lightning“.
• Sand blemishes with a medium to fine (120-150) grit of sandpaper. De-gloss trim by sanding with fine paper and wipe down with de-glosser.
• Patch gouges in wood using bondo. Use lightweight spackle for small nail-holes and 5 minute mud for larger holes in walls. Do not over-apply.
• After sanding, apply caulking to gaps between trim and wall surfaces. Do not caulk first, as you may hit the caulk while sanding.
• Prime as needed, using a universal primer such as Bulls-eye 123 for drywall and BIN shellac stain blocker for water stains.
• Finish with two high-quality finish coats of paint.

Window Glazing

Window glazing takes over a week to cure before painting, so try to get your failed glazing removed, primed and replaced as soon in the exterior sequence as possible.

Sanding

After all loose paint has been removed, sand the scraped areas/paint edges to remove loose matter and minimize the profile to help prevent further peeling. Sanding can also be used to de-gloss shiny paint. Overall, sanding is mainly cosmetic.

Filling Holes

The bottom line with filling is don’t use exterior spackle; it absorbs moisture and bubbles later on. Use epoxy fillers like bondo or better yet, the slower drying but far superior “restore-it”.

You can find a ton of great fillers at West Marine or Tap Plastics. Always make sure the substrate is sound. If the wood is aged and gray, use a liquid wood hardener. We’ve used “peel stop” clear binding primer as an eco-friendly alternative for wood that is soft but salvageable. If wood is dry-rotted, remove as much rot as possible and soak the remainder with the “Restore it” hardener before filling with epoxy. Or, replace the rotted sections completely.

Caulking

We use urethane-reinforced caulking (55 year) to caulk all vertical seams and window/door openings. In challenging situations (like front steps) we may use a poly-urethane caulk like Sika Flex.

Repairing Stucco

Make sure the substrate is clean and sound. Wash and prime first, then fill/bridge small cracks with flexible caulking or elastomeric patching compound as required. For larger repairs use a ready-mixed stucco patch, or a cement-based, rapid-setting stucco patch.

Priming

Try to pick an appropriate primer for the job. We like the acrylic multi-purpose primers that stick well, block stains and handle galvanized metal or recently cured concrete. Dunn Edwards “Ultra-Grip” and ICI “Gripper” come to mind.

As a San Francisco painting contractor, we see a fair amount of dry rot repair, redwood trim replacement and deck re-finishing on exterior painting jobs. These all need to be primed before painting.

Dry Rot Abatement

In cases where the trim can be repaired, make sure to remove the really rotted wood, then soak the affected area with multiple coats of a dry-rot hardener such as “restore-it”. Use a two-part marine epoxy as the filler. Often, It’s best to replace the rotted wood completely.

In San Francisco, old trim can be custom milled for an exact replica at Lowpensky Molding, if you provide them with a sample.

Decks

When re-finishing decks, we recommend the following: First, use a brightener to remove discoloration and stains. Second, power-wash the deck thoroughly keeping the tip fairly close to the surface with even strokes.

Use a second round of brightener and more washing if needed. Finally, after a light sand and vacuuming, a clear decking stain (Cabot’s Timber Oil, Penofin, Superdeck) should penetrate the wood, but not sit on the surface.

Avoid applying the stain in excess or in direct sunlight, and wipe off excess stain as excess stain will gel over, and create an un-even and unmanageable finish down-the-road.

Be sure to dispose of stain-soaked rags in a container of water, or hang on a line to dry to avoid spontaneous combustion. Soaked rags left balled up in a hot or sunny location will spontaneously burst into flame. We’ve seen it happen!

Interior House Painting Ideas

First, spend some time in choosing the right colors. Once you’ve done this, I recommend buying a sample and putting it up to make sure you’ve got it right. Very often, paint chips look different than the actual product on the wall.

Next, create a staging area in which to place your tools and paint. You can do this using a drop-cloth, or a layer of plastic sheeting taped down with blue tape and covered with a layer of rosin paper commonly found at paint stores.

If you can, clear out all the furniture and accessories. Take everything off the walls. If you can’t move everything out, place the furniture and lamps in the middle of the room and cover them with a good drop cloth or sheet of plastic.

Our preference is a sheet of high density plastic, covered by a drop-cloth. You can then cover the edges of the room using 3′ wide rosin paper. Tape the rosin paper down using blue tape, and dispose of it later. We recommend creating “walkways” into and out of the area to be painted, using rosin paper, so as to avoid “tracking” of paint.

It’s always better to remove all door-hardware, pulls, hinges and switch plates before painting. Store them in clean containers, with locations marked, for easy re-installation.

After sanding all surfaces to remove the undesired blemishes, fill small nail holes with lightweight non-shrink spackle, and larger holes using a home repair product like “bondo” which sets up in minutes. After sanding major blemishes, be sure to vacuum up the dust and then fill cracks along edges of trim.

Don’t use roller trays. We recommend using 5 gallon buckets and 9″ roller grids for walls, and 1 or 2 gallon buckets for trim. In fact, bathrooms can be painted using a two-gallon bucket with a 7″ grid and roller.

If your project runs over one day, you can cover these buckets using plastic grocery bags, and wrap your brushes in plastic. Leaving the brush in the bucket causes it to warp looking like a banana.

It takes a tremendous amount of time to tape crown moldings, window frames and door frames, and then the results are often unpredictable due to bleed through.

We recommend masking horizontal surfaces, such as baseboards, window sills and flooring to protect them from spatter, and then use gravity to help you “cut in” ceiling lines and vertical window and door edges.

Practice your hand-eye coordination, it will pay off in the long run.