Techniques for Painting Your House's Exterior

EXTERIOR PAINTING MADE EASY.

I have split this subject into different areas in order that someone seeking advice does not have to plough through information which is not relevant to them. The headings are as follows :

1.What kind of work are you proposing ?
2.Deciding the right materials.
3.Preparation.
4.Protecting bare wood.
5.Exterior Walls.
6.Undercoating wood areas and railings.
7.Top coating.

1.What kind of work you are proposing.

On the outside of a house, there are many areas that need a home owners attention. Wall painting products are abundant on the market, as well as products promising things that they cannot fulfill. Railings and exterior ironwork need upkeep as do windows and doors, and, at the start of each season, it is helpful to work out exactly what you want to achieve in the coming year, so that you can decide the order in which you will tackle the tasks efficiently. It is not much use painting walls for example underneath windows where you are liable to be painting later, and risk splashes against newly painted walls. Order is everything, and doing the tasks in the right order can actually help you achieve a professional look. List the items that you need to do and here, it's a good idea to walk around the outside of the house and decide priorities, so that when you get to the stage of purchasing materials, you will have a good idea of what is needed to complete the job in hand. All too often, people approach the work in the wrong way, guess paint quantities, don't think in advance of the job as a whole one, and end up with the exterior of their house actually reflecting their disorganisation.

2.Deciding the right materials.

Here, it is important having listed the jobs that you have to perform to decide what materials you will need in order to perform the tasks in hand.

Windows :

Do the windows have cracked putty ?
Is the wood on the windows and doors solid or flaky ?
Are the exterior walls clean or do they need washing ?
Have the walls ever been painted before ?