7 Handy Tips For Keeping Exterior Mess To A Minimum When Painting in San Diego, CA

Painting the exterior of your home is a worthwhile endeavor whether you do it yourself or have a professional painting contractor do it — it does great things for the longevity of your home exterior, protects your home from the elements, and more.

However, it’s worth noting that when you are painting the exterior of your home, there is the possibility of making somewhat of a mess — the painting process can be messy if you aren’t extremely careful about it.

You can minimize the mess that you ultimately make if you bear in mind some techniques which will be detailed below.

That being the case, let’s look at seven handy tips for keeping exterior mess to a minimum when painting in San Diego, CA.

1. Plan The Paint Job Well In Advance

The foundation of doing a good paint job that involves as little mess as possible is to plan everything out well in advance.

The further out you can plan things, the better you will be prepared for the things you will be reading further down in this article, and therefore the smaller the mess you will ultimately make if you even make a noticeable mess at all.

2. Know The Weather Before You Paint And Adjust Accordingly

The weather has a big impact on the way that your painting job goes.

Firstly, you shouldn’t be painting the exterior of your home at all if the weather is too cold or too hot as that has a substantial impact on the way that your paint dries.

Secondly, if the weather is too wet — rain or snow — you are going to want to avoid painting as that can lead to messes being made during the painting process.

3. Use Cotton Drop Cloths To Protect

Dripping paint is almost inevitable, but that doesn’t mean that you will necessarily get paint onto things.

For example, if you make use of a good quality cotton drop cloth, possibly even a heavier cotton drop cloth that won’t shift around while you are painting, you are going to protect the surroundings of your house.

It’s one thing to get paint off of a hardwood floor, but to try to remove paint from shrubs is practically a nightmare in itself.

4. Keep The Bucket For Storing Your Brushes Near You

If you keep the bucket for storing your brushes near to you, it’s a lot easier to access the brushes without getting too much paint dripping from the brushes into areas where you do not want it.

Keep the bucket for the brushes nearby, and you can skip the problems of paint falling while you are transferring to the bucket or just switching between the different brushes that you are going to use.

5. Adding Water To Your Buckets Of Paint Ultimately Makes A Mess

Adding water hardly seems like it would be a problem, but the problem is that paint does not need to be watered down.

Watering down your paint makes it spread too thin and certainly drip in ways that it would not drip if you didn’t water it down, and it will make for a much better mess.

6. Cover Your Windows And Doors With Newspaper And Painter’s Tape

When you are painting the exterior of your home, you are most likely not trying to paint the windows and doors at the same time — in fact, most people aren’t ever trying to paint their windows properly as it would make it a bit difficult to see through them.

Do yourself a favor and cover the windows and doors before painting the exterior of your home — cover them with newspaper and seal it well with painter’s tape.

7. Let Paint Dry Before Painting A Second Coat

When you paint the exterior of your home, you might want to start painting even before you allow your first coat to dry.

Firstly, you don’t know if your house will need a second coat of paint before the paint is dry.

Secondly, it turns out that if you are painting with a paint roller, you might end up picking up some of the not yet dry paint with the paint roller instead of adding paint to the existing paint.

If you need professional assistance painting the exterior of your home, Peek Brothers Painting can help.

We use only high-quality painting products from reputable manufacturers for guaranteed durability and quality of the final paint job.
Book a FREE estimate below or call us on (858)505-1361 if you have any questions.

Related: 6 Reasons You Should Never Compromise On Paint Quality
Advantages And Disadvantages Of Painting A Brick House In San Diego CA
7 Things To Look For When Hiring A Painting Contractor In San Diego CA