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Articles By Syndicated Columnist
Dan Thomas
© Copyright Home
Improvement Inside And Out
Preparing Your
Surfaces For Painting Or Staining
Careful preparation is the key to a good paint job. It could take you two or
three times as long to prepare the surfaces as it will to paint. If you attempt
to get by this stage of the house-painting chore, you will be repainting very
quickly. Make an inventory of all required prep work by inspecting your house
thoroughly.
Scrape all loose paint with a wire brush or wide-blade paint scraper and sand
surfaces. Washing before you scrape will loosen paint chips and make scraping
easier. An orbital electric sander can save time on this job if you have a lot
of sanding work to do.
Correct any problems or defects in the previous paint job.
(see
identifying paint problems for guidance).
For particularly heavy deposits of paint, you may need to use a heat gun. Hold
the heat gun above the surface and scrape off paint with a putty knife right
behind it. Be sure to follow the manufacturer's instructions for proper use of
the heat gun. If the wood is old and dry, extreme caution must be used with the
heat gun.
Use a hammer to reset popped nails. Tightly nail any loose boards
back into place.
If your house is not too dirty, wash it with a garden hose to remove
dust: for caked-on-dirt, use a scrub brush or
sponge and a pail of warm water
with a strong house hold detergent. For a major job, rent a high-pressure spray
cleaner to remove grime and peeling paint, Scrape peeling paint: sand to feather
the edges.
Caulk around windows, doors, chimneys, etc. with a high-quality exterior caulk
that accepts paint or stain: use caulk to fill large cracks.
Replace any loose glaze in windows.
Tie back and cover shrubs and trees that
would impede our movements: cover light posts and sidewalks. This step is
particularly important with stains. Which are thin and tend to spatter much more
than paint
Loosen downspouts, light fixtures, and
other accessories for easier painting.
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