Importance of Sanding Before Priming
Are you in the beginning stages of repainting the exterior of your house? You may be unsure of the necessary steps for completing this project. This article will outline some quick and simple steps for you to know what you should be doing in preparation for painting your home!
The first step you need to consider is conducting a thorough cleaning of your home’s siding. You will likely need to pressure wash or power wash the areas you are hoping to repaint. A power washer will differ from a pressure washer in that it uses heated up water to clean the surface. However, both techniques will use a pressurized stream of water to clean debris and tough stains off the siding of your house. You can hire a professional to do this if you want. The challenge that may come with this kind of intense wash is that it may end up being such an aggressive way to clean your siding that it may actually cut into your siding. After you have used the pressure washer, you need to remove any loose or flaking paint that did not come off during the commercial cleaning.
After you have adequately cleaned your home, it’s time to starts sanding and scraping. You may be wondering what kinds of tools are necessary to conduct this kind of work. To do it correctly, you will need:
- A scraper
- A putty knife
- A Purdy five-in-one tool
After all of the loose paint has been removed, you need to sand the remaining edges down so that the siding is nice and smooth. Older homes usually have a thicker coating on the edges, meaning that you will have to feather sand those ick edges of paint with either a palm sander or by hand. A palm sander is useful because it uses a pad of sandpaper attached to an orbit so that the sandpaper can be moved in small circular motions.
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It’s essential that you thoroughly remove flaking paint during this step in the process before repainting because the new paint will peel more quickly if the siding is not thoroughly cleaned first.
After you have done a thorough job of cleaning, sanding, and scraping, you are finally ready to apply the primer and paint. Choosing a higher quality primer and paint in addition to the deep cleaning you’ve done previously will ensure that your new paint or stain will last for many years.
Lotz of Logic
It’s no wonder so many people don’t DIY for the exterior of their home maintenance. It’s a very lengthy process and needs to be done just right or you can have a huge mess on your hands just a few years later. One of the first major steps is making sure you get a very thorough sanding job done. So hopefully this article and video I’ve made for you has cleared up how important this one step is (of many steps). Give me a call or shoot me an email if you need any help.
Don’t forget, if you need an estimate on painting your home’s exterior, give me a call. My team and I have been serving the Downers Grove, Oak Brook, Elmhurst, Lombard, Carol Stream, Westmont, Willowbrook, Woodridge, and all of Chicago area for 30+ years.
