4 crucial steps for painting a house

Throughout our lives, we sometimes make a number of large purchases, but few are as significant as a home. It's uncommon for something we buy to represent such a major step in our life, but purchasing a home can be that much of a milestone.

It stands to reason then that, after pouring so much of ourselves - not to mention our finances - into acquiring this asset, you'd want to do everything you can to take care of it. Sure, general cleaning and maintenance is easy to address, but every so often your home will require greater attention.

One of the biggest DIY projects you can carry out on your home is painting. That said, it's a job that Australians seem to love. Research by Master Painters Australia found that, from June 2012 to 2013 alone, we bought almost 52 million litres of house paint.

Whether you're sprucing up a single wall, one or two rooms or the entire exterior of your house, you're going to need to make sure you're well equipped for the job.

Step 1: Out with the old

The first thing you'll want to do when DIY painting around your home is remove whatever was on your walls previously. If you're painting timber walls outside, this will mean stripping away the old paint with a heat gun. Paint is best applied to clean, smooth surfaces, so it's a good idea to follow up with thorough cleaning, possibly even a light sanding.

For interiors, you might be in the unfortunate position of needing to remove wallpaper. It can be an unpleasant job, but with a steam wallpaper remover from Kennards Hire, you'll be able to get the job done without too much hassle. Again, once you've stripped your walls, give them a thorough cleaning before beginning to apply your paint.

Step 2: Prepare your workspace

Even the most experienced and careful painter will tell you - it can be a messy business. If you're working on exteriors, rogue drips and splashes are probably not too much of a concern, but when you're indoors there's nothing worse than spilling a 10-litre pail all over your carpet.

To protect your home from any unexpected accidents, you're going to need to cover up any at-risk areas. At Kennards Hire, we have tarpaulins in various sizes, the perfect shield for your carpets and furniture.

Once you're satisfied that no unwanted paint can accidentally end up around your home, you'll need to ensure your brush can reach every area that it needs to. Once again, this will possibly differ depending on where you're applying paint. If you're working inside on a fairly standard room, you may get away with simple brushes and rollers, as long as you have various handle lengths.

If you're painting a house on the outside, however, you may find yourself in need of ladders and trestles. To be certain you are doing a good job, having the consistent and stable standing surface offered by a trestle can be a lifesaver. Likewise, if you have a multi-storey house, to get right up into those high corners, a strong, safe ladder is essential. 

Step 3: Start painting!

Finally, all your preparation has been done, and you can really get down to business. To get started, use a smaller brush to paint along the edges, in the corners and where the wall meets the floor or ceiling if you're indoors. 

Once you are happy with this border of paint around the surface, switch to a roller for the most efficient application of paint. It pays to stick to one wall at a time, making it easier to see streaks and missed spots before they have a chance to dry. 

There's really not much more to it than that. Make your way from wall to wall or room to room until you're complete, then you'll simply have to wait for it to dry. 

Step 4: Drying

That's not to say that waiting isn't a crucial part of the process, in fact it's just as important as the application itself. It may not seem like the most enjoyable part of the job, but despite what an old adage would have you believe, you don't have to sit and watch paint dry. 

Making sure your fresh paint is left alone is really the most important issue for drying, so if you're outdoors you need to hope that the weather is on your side. Inside, you should leave all of your covered surfaces under wraps, to catch any last drips, and most modern paint hopefully shouldn't take too long to completely set. 

If you would like to speed up the process, however, Kennards Hire may have the solution. Come and speak to us about our heat lamps, which can significantly reduce your indoor paint drying time, and enable you to get back into your renewed rooms without any worries. 

When you're ready to get serious about DIY painting around your home, speak to the experts at Kennards Hire.