You have decided to save a little money and do your exterior painting yourself.  You’ve decided on the color, bought the primer and paint, and purchased or borrowed the other equipment you’ll need.  You’re ready to begin.

DROP THE BRUSH, ROLLER, OR SPRAYER, AND BACK AWAY FROM THE PAINT CAN SLOWLY!  You’ve got a few things to do first.

First, do an inspection of the exterior, and see if anything needs repairing or replacing.  This includes cracks or holes in the wood and fascia boards.  Small cracks or holes can be repaired with wood glue or epoxy; however, larger areas of damage may require replacing whole sections. 

This is also a good time to inspect your gutters and downspouts.  If they need replacing, just go ahead and remove them.  That’s just less stuff you’ll have to paint around.  If they don’t need replacing, go ahead and clean them out.  That’s just one less job you’ll have to do later.

Next, you have to remove anything and everything that you do not want to get splattered with paint.  This INCLUDES outdoor plants, patio or porch furniture, pets and their bedding, food, and water (not only will Rover or Fluffy not appreciate being painted, but—on a more serious note—the fumes and/or the chemicals in the paint may actually harm them).  If you can’t move it out of the way, you must cover it.

And, don’t forget to consider that you will be walking around while you are painting.  You might want to protect concrete walks and steps, so that you won’t have a messy clean-up job later.

Now, grab that pressure washer or garden hose with a nozzle that sprays a strong stream of water.  Start at the top and work your way down to the bottom, a section at a time. 

If your water pressure is strong enough, you will not only clean the exterior surfaces, you will knock off any loose paint.  The more paint you can get rid of in this way, the less you’ll have to scrape and sand off.

That’s your next step—scraping and sanding.  Remove as much of the old paint as you can (that didn’t come off with the pressure washing), and sand any extremely rough or jagged areas.  Give the exterior a good rinsing and allow it to dry to some extent.

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