The outside of your house says a lot about you. A nice, well maintained exterior reflects positively on a homeowner and tells the world that you care about cleanliness and keeping your surroundings nice and tidy. In the long run, taking care of your paint job home reno with well-timed exterior painting sessions will keep your property in top condition and keep it’s resale value high. With exterior painting as with other endeavours, it might be said that the devil is in the details. It might be a bit challenging to take care of the small pieces of trim and external fixtures compared to painting wide swathes of flat walls, but paying attention to keeping your trim in pristine condition is key to your home’s neat and well-cared for appearance. If you decide to do some of your exterior painting yourself, here are some tips on how to deal with trim.
Painting trim can be time-consuming, but you shouldn’t let this discourage you. In the end, a well-done job will ensure that your fixtures always appear fresh and new. It’s good practice to begin from the top down when you’re painting trim. You should start with your gutters, eaves and gables, then work your way down to the second-storey windows and so on. This ensures that drips and spatters aren’t a problem. If any occur, you can scrape them off later and paint over them when necessary.
When painting sashes, jambs and windowsills, work from the sashes and out to the frames. The windowsills are usually in worse condition than other parts of the window because they are the most exposed to the elements. Wind, rain and sun will fade paint and make it crack or peel. In this case, you might have to use additional coats on the sills. If you’ve done repairs to cracks and holes prior to beginning your exterior painting project, make sure that any putty or caulk is dry and that you paint over it without scrimping.
If you have to paint a door, try and get it off its hinges and lay it flat. This will make it easier for you to deal with any carving or recessed panels and raised trimming. You’ll also have to remove any metal hardware like latches, knobs and knockers. Nothing is more unsightly than paint smears on your door fixtures. Finally, take out screen doors and windows and paint those as well, replacing and repairing screens where necessary.
If you are in the Calgary area and looking for help in painting, check out these Calgary exterior painters.
