Weekend Warriors: Painting the house

If you're considering painting a house this summer, whether an investment property or your own home, take a look at these tips before you get started.

1. Prepare your surfaces properly

No matter how much you spend on paint or hiring the right equipment, a paint job will never turn out perfect without proper preparation. Hire your scaffolding or trestle early and work your way around the entire house looking for surfaces that need a bit of TLC before you apply your first coat.

Get ready to remove paint by scraping and sanding. For rough timbers that have been painted, like cedar, a compact cordless drill with a wire brush paint removing attachment will get into all those fine crevices. This is also a good opportunity to fix any loose flashing or patch up any imperfections on your cladding.

Not only does your surface need to be prepped, it needs to be clean as well, so grab a pressure washer and go at it!

2. Choose your colour wisely

You're ready for your first coat. Some paints will need a primer first, so make sure to check the instructions or talk to your supplier about the best paint system for your environment.

While choosing your paint colour is important, making sure your skin stays the right colour is vital too. Over-exposure to the sun can easily happen when your working outside on a house all day. Make sure you are applying sun screen and taking regular breaks to get some shade and water.

If possible, try and paint in the morning or evening to avoid the heat of the day.

3. Grab a mate

Any DIY painting project is better when you have someone else to help you out. Not only can you spend some time with your spouse, kid or mate, but you can get it done quicker and better. Many hands make light work!