The house painting process

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Interior and exterior painting have processes that should be followed in order to achieve desired results in an efficient manner. Depending on the home and substrates being painted, slight variations will be needed, but guiding principles apply. The processes outlined below are to inform you as to what goes into painting a house the correct way. 

Exterior painting process

The main goal of exterior painting is to ensure that the home is well protected against the elements of nature. The steps are as follows.

1. Power wash the exterior to ensure that substrates are clean and will allow paint to firmly adhere. Dirt and foreign material reduce the paints adhesion and reduce the longevity of the paint job.

2. Scrape and sand areas of peeling paint. It is important to make sure that all new paint has a solid surface with which to bond. By knocking off and smoothing peeling paint, the new paint will bond to the substrate and not to a compromised area. Sanding on an exterior is not necessarily to smooth the substrate out as if it were brand new, but to increase durability of the paint job.

3. Spot priming is the act of coating all areas of exposed substrate that have been sanded or otherwise compromised. Spot priming increases adhesion for the paint and gives an additional layer of protection for the substrate. Performing necessary spot priming aids in keeping a consistent sheen of the finish coat and reduces the appearance of any "dry spots".

4. Masking of anything that is not to be painted. In almost all situations, exterior siding is sprayed. It is important to cover windows, lights, roof shingle, shrubs, decks, driveways etc in order to not inadvertently paint them. 

5. Remove downspouts. This is necessary in order to paint and protect the substrate behind the downspouts. They are removed at this step so that they are off the house for the shortest time possible. 

6. Spray the siding. After masking, siding is sprayed. With modern paint technology, one coat is customary on previously painted surfaces. In some cases, such as on stucco or brick, the paint is sprayed and then back rolled to ensure that it properly covers the nooks and crannies. 

7. Paint trim and accents. This is typically done by hand with a brush and a mini roller. In situations, such as doors, garage doors, shutters, these areas are masked and sprayed. 

8. Remove masking 

9. Re install downspouts

10. Clean up all debris and materials from the jobsite

Interior painting process

Interior painting contrasts exterior painting in that it is more decorative than protective. Being inside also presents a different set of challenges. The goal here is to be clean and have crisp, clean lines.

1. Mask the entire house. This consists of covering all floors. First the bulk of the floor space is covered with rosin paper, plastic or drop cloths. It is important to use tape that has low adhesion so that the floors that are being protected are not damaged by the tape. Next, smaller pieces of paper are used to mask close to the base boards. Finally, a strip of high quality tape is applied to the edges where the floor meets the base board. Furthermore, mask windows, cabinets, fixtures, etc as needed depending on the paint application method. If spraying is taking place, more masking will be needed than for brush and rolling. 

2. Prep the walls and trim. This consists of filling nail holes with putty, caulking any gaps in trim, fixing holes in walls, etc. It is advisable to sand all putty before caulking to avoid ruining the look of the caulking by allowing dust to get into the caulk.

3. Remove cover plates and fixtures as necessary

4. De gloss or sand glossy surfaces. This is important in order to ensure that the paint adheres to these surfaces. Areas previously painted with high gloss don’t allow new paint to adhere as well.

5. Spot prime bare drywall or wood areas. This increases adhesion and ensures consistency of sheen over the substrate.

6. Paint the ceiling. This is true in most cases. In some cases the walls are masked and the ceiling is painted last. Ceilings are often sprayed or rolled.

7. Paint the trim. Trim is typically sprayed, sometimes hand painted

8. Mask the baseboards with paper to ensure that they are not damaged when painting walls. 

9. “Cut in” the ceiling. In most cases we use the tape-caulk method to ensure the straightest possible color transition between wall and ceiling. This is done by applying tape around the perimeter of the ceiling, caulking the edge of the tape, wiping the caulk away, painting the caulked edge of the tape and pulling the tape while the caulk is still wet. Caulking the tape line fills all the gaps in the tape and leaves laser sharp lines. When cutting in corners and the tops of walls, we first apply paint with a brush then follow back with a mini roller in order to match the stipple of the wall roller and reduce brush marks. 

10. Roll the walls. We do this with a roller that matches the mini roller so that the stipple on the wall matches all areas.

11. Second cut the second coat in to the ceiling by hand. No tape caulk method needed this time since the sharp line is already present. 

12. Roll walls second coat

13. Remove baseboard masking

14. Cut in all trim using the tape caulk method

15. Clean up

16. Remove garbage and debris from jobsite.