When homeowners envision a fresh coat of revitalizing paint throughout their living spaces or exterior surfaces, excitement builds over the impending transformation. However, many underestimate just how critical proper preparation is for achieving flawless, long-lasting paint outcomes that stand the test of time.
Without thorough surface prep beforehand, paint finishes often fail prematurely, regardless of the quality of materials used or application techniques leveraged. Chalking, cracking, peeling, and chipping plague surfaces that haven’t been properly cleaned, repaired, and primed prior to finishing painting.
As a leading residential exterior painters serving homeowners across the Miami area, Michael Grant Painting emphasizes the immense value of diligent surface preparation when completing interior and exterior house painting estimate projects of all sizes. Read on for a detailed overview of essential preparatory steps our team executes so clients can enjoy durable, beautiful results for years of pride and joy.
Comprehensive Cleaning
The very first order of business when our team of professional house painters tackles an upcoming interior or exterior paint job is comprehensive cleaning from top to bottom. All surfaces must be entirely free of dirt, debris, grease, mold, and mildew before painting can commence. Otherwise, the finish paint won’t properly adhere, no matter how meticulously we apply it.
Power washing is leveraged to blast away chalky residue or stubborn grime sitting on exterior siding, brick, and stucco surfaces. Specialized cleaning solutions help strip walls down to the bare substrate indoors, so they present the ideal blank canvas for accepting new paint. Our crews scrub every nook and cranny to eliminate contaminants that could impede ideal paint bonding.
Touching Up Surface Imperfections
After a thorough cleaning, the next preparatory step our professional painters take is touching up any cracks, nail holes, divots, and other surface imperfections throughout the areas being painted. Exterior flaws like gaps between siding allow moisture seepage that ruins paint jobs quickly, while bumps and dents on interior drywall eventually telegraph through finishing coats.
Our crews properly seal all cracks and fill nail holes with putty/caulk. More significant wall damage gets patched up with durable filler compounds. Textural irregularities are smoothed over through thorough sanding and scraping for the ideal uniform foundation to support flawless paint coverage.
Applying Specialty Primers
The benefits of primers are too significant for our professional house painting interior colors
team to overlook—especially when painting exterior surfaces. Quality primer helps the paint adhere properly across slick or glossy materials, along with enabling greater hide and vibrancy of finishing color coats. Using specialty primers also helps paint withstand environmental rigors better over time.
For example, exterior wood surfaces painted without proper priming often reveal tannin bleed-through over time as the wood continues interacting with oxygen. Untreated metals eventually cause the finished paint to bubble or peel. Applying primers tailored to each exterior surface type solves these issues. Our painters also prime heavily stained interior walls for superior hide and drywall patches to prevent flashing.
Repairing Rotted Materials
Left unaddressed, rotten exterior clapboard, fascia boards, and trim work prevent paint from adhering and continuing to protect underlying structures from moisture damage. Unfortunately, the deterioration often goes unnoticed beneath existing coatings until it’s too late. That’s why our professional exterior painting preparations always include inspecting for and replacing any rotten wood materials.
Fresh boards are worked into place with proper flashing installed to divert future water seepage. Repairing or replacing decayed substrates prior to painting allows the new paint job to last beautifully for years rather than failing within months. Our team takes pride in these preventative preparations supporting gorgeous exterior transformations.
Schedule a Complimentary Paint Consultation
We hope this closer look at essential surface preparation for house painting estimate gives you assurance regarding the care, quality, and diligence our professional painters bring to every residential project. Please reach out to Michael Grant Painting to schedule a complimentary consultation focused on your interior or exterior residential painting needs today!
