In one way or another, we’ve all had a little hands-on time with painting around the house. Whether it was helping your parents paint the inside of a room (yours in particular) one summer, going it alone and doing the entire house DIY-style, or if you’re a professional painting contractor who’s mastered the ins-and-outs of painting, the fact of the matter is, most of us have had some experience with it.
But just because we’ve had a go at it, it doesn’t mean we’ve mastered it by any means. As a matter of fact, there are a number of rookie mistakes one can make with any painting job. In particular, I myself was the king of errors back when I tried my hand at painting during my teen years. I rushed through a specific area of the home by using a roller to make up for lost time and by chance, had gotten specs of paint splattered along the window frame inside the sill I was painting. Instead of using a brush like you’re supposed to, I paid dearly for it by not catching the paint spots quickly enough and taking the easy way out with a roller.
And really, that’s just one of the problems faced with a house painting project. Here are a few more that can happen when you’re not paying attention.
- Painting Like Speed Racer: Painting is a job of patience and accuracy. Disregarding either of the two can lead to trouble. For one thing, painting too fast and too hard against the surface can send hundreds of tiny paint particles flying all over the house and down below on unsuspecting landscape. Not only does the blow-back from paint stain unprotected areas, it can slowly add up to lost paint, and on a given house of incredible depth and size alone, that could potentially mean more money spent on paint.
- Skipping A Beat: Using an air brush on a select area of the home that’s best served with a bucket and brush is one thing. Forgetting to prime entire areas of the home is another. Not that it’s a common mistake, but skipping the priming step is a crucial mistake that can lead to uneven paint coats and sooner-than-expected chipping or fading of the paint. Seeing as how primer is crucial for bonding the paint coats and providing a smoother surface to gloss to, no painter (novice or professional) should bypass it.
- Not Surveying The Environment: This a problem and a juxtaposition with painting. Trying to paint around Mother Nature can be a tricky proposition. For painting contractors, they have a set number of days to get a project done, especially if they have multiple projects lined up. As for the DIY crowd, the days are more flexible, but that doesn’t make up for the fact that there are many who choose to unwisely paint during days of upper 90’s temperatures with a bright sun shining down on them. Painting in extreme cases of humidity can make your paint sweat off of the house, cause abnormal drying spells and so on.
Depending on who you ask, these problems are either a rarity or all too common. Nonetheless, they are problems that can pop up and compromise particular sections or the entire project altogether. The simple fix is to take your time, map out a process and follow each and every step accordingly and know your surroundings and what limitations a certain week might have on others to complete a project. Preparation is key and will make exterior house painting fun and satisfying in the end.
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