House Painting Tips To Add Value and Save Money

House Painting Tips To Add Value and Save Money

Whether preparing to sell a home or just making some needed upgrades, one of the most efficient ways to add value is by painting your house inside and out. Fortunately, paint supplies and paint itself are not that expensive, and can it is a task that can be accomplished by the average homeowner. Here are six house painting tips that will help add value to your home while saving a little money in the process.

Not long ago, I painted the entire interior of a house we were planning to sell. It took a few weekends to work my way around the whole house, but I did it and picked up a few tips along the way.

Six Tips For Painting Your House

There are some tricks of the trade that will help any painting project go a lot faster. Here are just a few of the best ones.

1. Scrape loose exterior paint thoroughly.

Exterior paint that is loose needs to be scraped from wood surfaces before painting over. If left on the house, it will prevent the new paint from properly bonding to the wood, and the new paint will eventually peel away prematurely. Look for a paint scraper in your local hardware store.

2. When painting inside, painter’s tape is your best friend.

I went through a lot of painter’s tape! I used it to tape trim around doors and windows and to cover baseboards and paneling that I did not want to get wall-color paint on. Be sure to peel away the tape before the latex paint completely dries. Else it will peel away the paint bonded to the tape and leave an uneven edge next to the trim.

3. Move furniture to the center of the room.

My basic strategy was to pile as much furniture onto the beds and move them to the center of the room. Sometimes I had to move everything to the left side of the room and paint and then move everything to the right side and paint. This depends largely on the room size and whether or not you have storage space to hold furniture over the weekend.

4. Cover the remaining furniture with a drop cloth.

Drop cloths, plastic tarps, and even newspaper will do in a pinch. The point is to cover all remaining furniture, so the paint does not cause splatter or drip when rolling the ceiling and walls.

5. Open windows and run ceiling fans to improve ventilation.

Today’s latex-based paints do not come with the same ventilation concerns as their oil-based counterparts, but I have found paint fumes can eventually lead to a bad headache. I like to open windows and turn on ceiling fans while painting rooms to improve ventilation. Don’t forget to lock the windows back when you are finished.

6. Cleanup, cleanup, cleanup.

My least favorite part of the painting is cleaning up after. I generally drop all brushes, edgers, and rollers in a rolling pan and head outside. Do not clean brushes with latex paint in your kitchen sink, as the paint can dry and clog drains downstream. Once in the backyard, I fill a small bucket with water and a little dishwashing soap. You can use a paint thinner or cleaner if you want, but I’ve found a little soap does the trick. Thoroughly wash and rinse all brushes, rollers, and pans to remove as much paint as possible. Really work the soap and water down into the paint brushes to prevent hardening around the roots of the bristles.

Posted by
James C. Fortune

I have been writing for both print and online media for over 15 years. I also have a keen interest in DIY and Home Improvements, and have written several hundred guides and how-to's on this subject.