Exterior Painting

If you can fog a mirror, surely you can paint a house or a garage like mine. But the key

to a long lasting paint job is not the actual painting, it's actually the process of what

you do to get to that point. We already know that you have to prep a job to get it ready

to paint on the outside of a house. Here's the tools that I like to use, and I'll tell

you why I like to use them. The first thing I use is just a regular sponge. This is the

same sponge I use to wash my car. Read the label of any paint can and it says, apply

the paint to a clean, dry surface. That's so important. So just wash the house like you

would wash your car. Be careful of the power washers. Sometimes they can spray water deep

into the wood and you really don't want that. That's not necessarily a good idea. Then after

you've washed the house, you're going to have to actually scrape possibly some loose paint

These are just traditional paint scrapers. They come in two different sizes and they

work really well. Just get all that loose paint off and once again you may actually have to

wash some of those areas that you scraped a second time. The next thing you're probably

going to have to do is fill some cracked areas or nail holes. Putty knives. You have to have

them They flexible They work really well This is for smaller holes Use the big knives for the big cracks and the big areas that you need to fill And of course you need spackling compound Make sure you read on the label They make them for both interior and exterior Get an

exterior one for exterior paint jobs. Finally, caulk guns. Any cracks around windows and doors

caulk it. Get a good one. The good caulk guns cost about $10 to $12 and you've got a lot

more control when you use the good caulk guns and of course acrylic siliconized caulk. Finally

paint brushes. Not just any brush, make sure you get a brush that's matched to your paint

Frequently you will have paint manufacturers that make special brushes that match the paint

They do that on purpose to get the best flow and the best amount of paint on the surface

You've done all the work, you're ready to paint, but which is the best paint to use

I like to use the ones that have a mix of acrylic and polyurethane resins

I discovered this paint about three years ago and it sticks like epoxy on my house

The reason why is because of the polyurethane. If you've ever used it, you know how sticky polyurethane can be

And that's all paint is. It's simply colored glue. Buy the best colored glue you can for your home

I'm Tim Carter, Ask the Builder. If you want to discover more home improvement tips, go to AskTheBuilder.com