Well, my house painting project is almost done. I got stopped by the weather. This is not good, becasue I may have lost my enthusiasm by the time the weather warms back up. I must say it does look very good, I’m really glad I did it, and I feel good about the entire project. Here are a few things I’ve learned from painting my house:

Ace Royal Satin Exterior Paint really is good stuff! Yes, I’ve known this for years, but after applying 12 gallons of it I can really stand behind it. (That is to say I can really endorse it.  Heck, I can always stand behind it, in front of it, even on top of it, but that’s another story)

One cannot have enough ladders to paint a house. My house is only a two story mid-’60’s bi-level, and I still couldn’t reach parts of it without great pain. The problem isn’t the ladders, they’re plenty tall enough. The problem is all the crap around a house. The deck in the back, porch in the front, trees, bushes, chimneys, etc. that don’t allow you to put a ladder where it needs to be. Not to mention the uneven ground. So lots of “fun” balancing on ladders, reaching too far out, standing too close, etc. Next time: One of those fun hydraulic, articulating lifts from the rental store!

I think the most important thing I learned is to paint your house every five years, even if you don’t paint it. Huh? I’ll explain. Five years ago, I did a fairly thourough inspection of the exterior of my house. Looked at all the little holes, places where pipes come and go, door frames, windows, etc. Thought it looked just fine. I didn’t look close enough. Wow did I find a lot of small problems when painting. That’s when you’re really looking close at every part of the house and finding things you thought were okay. One thing that slowed me down a lot was caulking, and spray-foaming many holes, nooks, crannies and cracks. I have lots of exterior conduit on my house and it was all attached poorly I found out. I had to fix that. These kind of things make a house much more weather tight, bug free, and can fix a small problem before it becomes a big hassle. I also feel that these are the types of things a home-owner will fix while painting, and a painter will overlook, especially if the painter is the spray-in-a-day type. The old ounce of prevention, is worth it for certain.

So look closely at your house. Even if you have vinyl or metal siding and think you never have to paint, you may still have work to do.

-Clark