Whether you’re painting interior walls or exterior siding, a coat of primer is important to obtaining the best results you are looking for. This goes for previously painted surfaces as well as raw wood and new drywall. Unfortunately, most homeowners never bother with primer, which explains why they end up with something that doesn’t look professional. Primer serves three main functions: First, it blocks stains and resinous knots from bleeding through; second, it provides one-coat coverage for the paint topcoat; most importantly, it improves adhesion, which greatly reduces blisters and extends the life of the topcoat.

2. Invest in Canvas

Canvas drop cloths are durable, and rip- and puncture-resistant. They lay flat as you walk across them, presenting less of a tripping hazard; seldom, if ever, must you tape canvas to the floor. Canvas also absorbs paint drips, unlike plastic drop cloths that become slippery when spattered with wet paint. You’re much less likely to pick up paint on your shoe soles from canvas. Canvas drop cloths can easily be folded around corners and doorways—something that’s virtually impossible to do with plastic sheeting. Plus, canvas can be reused countless times.

3. Roll With a Pole

When painting rooms, forget the ladder and get a telescoping extension pole for your paint roller. Extension poles come in various sizes, but one that extends from about 18 in. to 30 or 36 in. offers plenty of reach for painting rooms with ceilings that are 9 ft or lower. There are also extra-long extension poles that telescope up to about 18 ft for painting cathedral ceilings and loft spaces.

To attach the extension pole to the paint roller, simply thread it into the hole in the paint-roller handle. Check to be sure your paint-roller handle has a threaded hole in its end; most of them do. The shaft of the pole telescopes out and can be locked anywhere along its length with a twist of the wrist.

When shopping for extension poles, look for one that has a soft, nonslip rubber grip and a rigid metal core. And be sure the threaded end of the pole is metal, too. All-plastic handles are too flexible, making them hard to control, and the plastic gets fatigued over time and can snap under pressure. Also check to be sure the telescoping shaft locks securely in position and doesn’t collapse when forced.

4. Paint Off a Grid

When it comes to poorly designed hardware items, it’s hard to find one that matches the futility of the paint-roller tray. Here’s a device meant to hold paint for paint rolling, but it spills easily, only holds a small amount of paint, is hard to carry from one spot to another, and is difficult to clean. Plus, you must place the tray on the floor.

5. Record the Color

After painting a room, it’s important to keep track of the brand name and color of the paint used, so you can buy more when it comes time to touch-up or repaint the room. try to put it in a notebook, and writing it on the side of the leftover paint cans or.

Before replacing the light-switch covers and electrical-outlet covers in a newly painted room, write the vital information (brand name, paint color, paint number) onto a piece of masking tape and stick it to the back of a switch plate. And there it’ll stay until it’s time to repaint, when it’ll be discovered by me, or—with any luck—the next homeowner.

Chemical Stripping
Perhaps the simplest method for removing exterior house paint is to use a chemical stripper. You should read and follow the instructions for your specific brand, but generally you will either need to spray or roll the stripper on, and then let it sit for a few hours or overnight. The chemical stripper will react with the paint, allowing you to easily peel off paint layers with a scraper or pressure washer. According to HomeTips.com, some chemical strippers can be quite hazardous to your health, and you must wear hand, eye and respiratory protection when applying them. Neoprene or rubber gloves , shop glasses or goggles, and an organic vapor respirator should do the trick.

Nontoxic Stripping
For those of you who are leery of using toxic, caustic chemicals to removing exterior house paint, ThisOldHouse.com recommends using water-based, nontoxic stripping solutions that are available at most hardware and home supply stores. You apply them in the same fashion as other strippers, but there is no need for you to wear protective gear, not even gloves. Unlike traditional chemical strippers, which dissolve the paint, nontoxic strippers separate paint from underlying materials. After letting the solution soak, you can easily peel off the paint with a putty knife .

Heat Stripping
Heat stripping works by essentially boiling paint molecules until they can be easily peeled or scraped off. You create this heat by using a heat gun, which looks like a modified hair dryer . According to ThisOldHouse.com, you can use a heat gun in combination with chemical and nontoxic strippers, applying the heat to stubborn areas of paint that the solution did not react with well. However, you should always use the utmost care when performing heat stripping, as heat guns can generate a substantial amount heat; enough to start a fire. According to ThisOldHouse.com, it is not uncommon for tiny embers created by heat guns to go unseen, which can potentially produce disastrous consequences.

Traces of Lead
Exterior paint that contains lead releases dust, paint particles and paint chips of the chemical into the soil and grass around the house. Remodeling or removing old paint from the exterior of the house can
also disturb and release lead around the perimeter of the house.

Areas
Areas closest to the house have the highest amount of lead concentration. This area is known as the drip zone, because this is where the majority of paint residue and chips have fallen from the outside of the house.

Effects on Children
Young children pick up and eat paint chips and soil around the house. Children also pick up soil and particles that leave lead dust on their hands or toys.

Effects on Adults
Adults breathe in the lead particles and dust from maintaining the yard or remodeling the exterior of the house.

Expert Insight
According to the National Safety Council, 40 percent of all U.S. homes still contain lead. Experts say the safest way to keep children from entering the drip zone is to plant bushes and trees around the drip zone.

Chipped and faded siding gives buyers the impression that your house is old and poorly maintained. After all, if you don’t care enough to make the outside look its best, then what other things have you let fall into disrepair?

You want potential buyers to drive by your house and take notice. A quality paint job can do just that. Be sure however, that you choose the right colors, or else buyers will take notice for all the wrong reasons.

So where do you start? One place is the inside of your home. While it isn’t necessary to match the interior decor with the outside, it is a good idea to use complementary colors to ensure a feeling of harmony from the inside out.

Look at your architecture. The structural design of your home will have a huge impact on whether colors look chic or tacky. You want to enhance architectural features, not overpower them, so be sure to take the style of your home into account before painting.

It is also wise to take a look at the neighborhood you live in. Are the houses painted with neutral colors like beige and gray? If so, then painting your home magenta will do more than make your home stand out; your house will look garishly out of place. While kitschy businesses can get away with bright, crazy colors, the average homeowner cannot, unless it works with the rest of the neighborhood. It is also considerate to think about your neighbors in case they themselves plan on selling in the future. You not only don’t want to lower your property value, but you also don’t want to take the whole neighborhood down with you.

Roofing materials also have a color, so consider this in your plans. Work with what is already there in terms of style, age, and colors.

Another question to ask yourself is: how many colors will I use? For more intricately designed homes, having a few complementary colors can really highlight architectural detail, and give your home a sophisticated look. Using multiple colors on a plainly designed home, however, overwhelms the structure and looks ill-placed.

As far as shades go, the darker the color, the smaller the home will look. It will also fade much quicker and therefore be more difficult to touch up at a later date. Dark colors also retain heat, so think about what kind of weather conditions you will be dealing with. On the positive side, dark hues can look very refined and elegant.

Lighter shades will make your home appear larger, and will reflect heat. Unfortunately, any marks and stains on the house will be much easier to spot than on a dark colored home.

No matter what color you choose for your exterior house paint, your home will look brighter and ten years younger with a fresh coat on its siding. It really is the easiest and most cost effective way to improve the look of your home, as well as increase your property value.

An exterior house painting contractor can work wonders for a project in desperate need of a professional booster shot. Sometimes, a homeowner will dive right into the project without really knowing how to best handle the situations that arise unexpectedly. They try their best to fix whatever has gone wrong so that it does not cause further problems down the road, but too often they fail and are unable to prevent the project from falling into ruin. They then are forced to hire somebody to come and fix their work, thus adding to the overall cost of the project and the stress the homeowner is feeling as a result of their failed home improvement endeavor. With an exterior house painting contractor, homeowners should feel assured that their project is in excellent hands.

Professional painters are trained properly and are taught how to best deal with these mishaps or problems as they arise so that they do not become larger problems down the road. This often saves the homeowner a good deal of time and money, so the price of an exterior house painting contractor may in fact pay for itself by avoiding costly errors that the homeowner may run into if they go about the job alone. With a contractor handling the physical labor, the homeowner may be able to focus on other areas of a remodeling project if they are in the midst of improving their house, or they can just relax knowing that their project is in excellent hands. This brings peace of mind to many people and makes the exterior painting experience a positive one.

The services an exterior house painting contractor may provide often extend beyond physically painting the house. Many contractors are able to assist their clients in planning the project so that it runs smoothly and efficiently. Having a well thought out plan as to what is going to happen in the remodel or exterior painting project can ensure that problems are kept at bay and the potential errors that may arise are minimized so that things move forward. This often helps to avoid delays and gets things done on time, or sooner, so that the homeowner can enjoy the project as soon as possible. When things are going smoothly, everybody is happy.

When it comes time to repaint, think about the best way to accomplish the project. Usually it starts with hiring a professional to handle the larger, more complicated projects that are usually way over the homeowner’s head. Having this kind of professionalism on the jobsite often rubs off on the completed product. With a beautifully painted home, the rest of the house will pull together nicely and the homeowner will have a house he or she can be proud of.

Don’t get me wrong, investing in a distressed home is not easy money, but the opportunity to make a substantial profit from restoring these houses can be very real. The possibility of losing money is also a reality, and the investor needs to do their homework and know exactly what they are buying and what sort of profit they can expect. Here are some of the considerations when assessing a potential investment property:

Use a professional realtor or appraiser to determine a realistic selling price based on the market and the neighborhood. You can complete a dream renovation, but if the neighborhood can’t support the type of buyer you are attracting, your home will never sell. If the market is declining and home prices are dropping, this too will affect your selling price.

Use the services of a house inspector to get a detailed analysis of the condition of the home. Learn what is worth fixing and what you should walk away from. Will you mainly be concerning yourself with cosmetic repairs or will you be ripping out plumbing or making costly repairs to the foundation?

Assess which improvements you will be able to handle on your own and which you will have to contract out. When calculating the costs, make sure you get at least three estimates for these, you will be surprised at how much the price can vary. Determine if a building permit will be required, as the cost should also be added to your budget. Get a good understanding of which renovations increase the resale value of the home and stay away from the one’s that will only add to your bottom line.

Most fixer uppers are the result of some form of distress sale, be it divorce or bankruptcy; these people want to unload it quickly and that sense of urgency can work to your advantage. You may be able to negotiate a lower selling price by offering a quick close on the house.

Another option is to buy new, have a builder complete the shell of your investment property, and you complete the inside, making the profit on all the finishing work. Often you can have the property sold before you build; the money down subsidizes the interior renovation.

Whether building new or renovating you will need to do a cost analysis to determine whether this investment will yield the profit you are expecting. Calculate the buying costs, selling costs, closing fees, legal fees, commissions, taxes, interest on loans, repairs, miscellaneous fees and take this total (probably pretty big), and subtract it from your expected sales price. Decide whether this final figure is worth the effort.

Investing in fixer-uppers is a very simple process; you need to know what to look for in a bargain house, be thorough in completing your cost of repairs vs. selling price analysis, and then sell it at a profit.