Painting A Porch? What You Need To Know
The porch on your home may need an update, and to do this, you can paint give it a coat of paint. Painting your porch is something you can do, but this is something that will be a lot of work, especially if you're starting with bare wood. You're going to need to prep the wood on your porch and may need to make repairs to your porch as well. Read on for some painting tips about residential painting to get your porch painted.
1. Clean The Porch
Clean the wood on your porch with a wood cleaner. Don't use a pressure washer or you'll end up damaging your wood, or will leave it splintered, which will then need to be sanded down. Spray a cleaner on your wood, and scrub wherever necessary with a scrub brush. Remove any mold or mildew on your porch, and remove any stains that are present to prevent them from soaking through your paint. Once clean, allow your porch to dry thoroughly.
2. Sand And Repair
If you have holes, splintered wood, or other damage to your porch, you'll want to repair what you can in order to have a smoother surface and an easier time painting. Next, sand down any part of the porch that is splintered or rough. You may not need to do much sanding, but if you have a lot to do, you may want to use a palm sander and a fine-grit sandpaper to give it a smooth surface.
3. Caulk
If you have a lot of seams in your porch, you may want to consider using paintable caulk to fill in these seams for a more cohesive look to your porch. Fill in all seams with the paintable caulk, and make sure you use outdoor-safe caulk.
4. Paint The Porch
Find paint that has a primer in it to help with better coverage and so you don't have to paint as many coats. This will be a big project that will take a lot of time, so the fewer coats, the better for you. Use a paintbrush when cutting in around edges, and then use a thick-nap roller for better coverage and to get into the grooves of the wood easier.
Your porch may need new life, and painting it may be the best thing you can do. Hire a professional painter to paint your porch and get the job done properly and much faster.
