Painting or repainting the exterior of your home is a big job you can choose to do yourself or hire a painting company in Ottawa. Exterior painting is good maintenance, that provides protection to the outside surfaces around your house as well as giving it prime real estate curb appeal.
To keep the exterior of any home looking its best it is important to keep up with the maintenance of the exterior paint. After years of sun, rain, ice, snow and extreme hot and cold temperatures paint will age and cause it to look old and unkept. Maintaining frequent touch- ups will prolong the time in between entire repainting.
Here are a few tips and advice on how to maintain the paint on the outside of your house to help extend the life of the paint and give you longer periods of time before the next full repainting is due. This can save you both time and money.
Maintain The Exterior Of Your Home With Paint
Homeowners may ask themselves how often do I need to paint the exterior of my house or how long does paint last before they begin an exterior painting project.
On average if exterior painting has been done professionally using high quality paint products you can expect it to last anywhere between 5 to 7 years. Depending on the area you live in it may vary as some exterior surfaces may begin to fade after 3 years.
The peeling and cracking of paint is a normal occurrence that can happen to wood over the years due to the constant exposure to the sun, the rain, extreme cold temperatures and high humidity heat waves can affect the wood outside your home. Paint sticking can also occur on exterior paint that is sometimes due to environmental stresses while other times they could be the cause of unprofessional painting.
To protect it from these and other types of paint problems, it is recommended you use the right paint primer and paint finish to get a professional exterior painting job done. We recommend painting at least every five years to help maintain the outside surfaces and help keep them looking their best.
How To Maintain The Outside Of A House
To keep the outside of your home looking its best, it important to do the things on your spring maintenance and fall maintenance checklists. Along with the bi-annual maintenance, here are a few other tips you can do to give your house TLC and keep it looking its best.
Exterior Maintenance Tips
- Wash the outside of your house to remove dirt and pollutants, along with any mold or mildew they may be developing. Washing the exterior surfaces will not only keep the paint looking its best but will help keep it from deteriorating. Using a soapy water mix, you just need to gently scrub using a long handled soft brush and rinse off with a regular garden hose. You can also use a pressure washer at a low setting for moderate dirt or high pressure for stubborn ones. Use with caution as it may prove difficult to properly balance the pressure and distance necessary to clean the surface without damaging it.
- If some parts of the exterior of your home are more exposed to sunlight, they may show fading of paint or deterioration sooner than other areas. For example if your backyard is southern exposed meaning the sun shines on it early in the morning to mid afternoon, the paint on these exposed areas will look more worn than the northern (front facing) part of your home where the sun shines for less hours per day. To maintain the southern exposed areas you may need to do some touch up painting or replace any wood that may have rotted.
- Windows, doors, vents are areas that require sealing to prevent moisture as well as critters from damaging the area or entering the inside of the house. Caulking is used to seal the gaps around these areas. It is recommended to caulk around entry spots on a yearly basis due to the fact that caulking may crack or peel.
- New and unpainted exterior wood should be painted or stained at minimum every two years.
If your homes exterior paint is not as vibrant as it used to be and you want it to look vibrant again contact a painting company near you to restore the beauty back.
Whether you just want to add a new paint colour to the front door, or paint the entire house hiring the painting services of professional Ottawa painters who can bring the lustre and vibrancy back to the exterior of your home.
Contact Us today, to get an estimate for exterior painting.
This post was originally published on May 18, 2015 and edited on Apr 18, 2020
