The Golden State: Where & How to Live, Secure, Visit, Enjoy and Thrive in California

The Practical Website Of Painting And Wallpapering

Preparing Exterior Surfaces

Proper preparation of the surface is the real key to a good job.

A paint job done with a good quality modern-day house paint should hold up for at least five years. The fact that manv paint jobs fail sooner is usually not the fault of the paint, but of the painter who does not take the time to properly prepare the substrate (surface).

It is ironic that an individual who spends money for the best tools and the best paint will fail to take full advantage of the technological advances he has paid for by overlooking an obvious fact: painting a surface which is not suitable to take paint is a waste of time, money, and effort, because the paint will break down. You cannot get a good paint job by regarding paint as a cure-all and spreading it over a poor substrate. Even a substrate in the best condition needs some preparation.

THE BIG DIFFERENCE

According to the National Paint, Varnish and Lacquer Association, "We find that 90 percent of the paint jobs applied by the homeowner go bad long before they should because of failure to inspect, recognize and correct a paint problem, and failure to properly prepare the surface. The big difference between a homeowner who undertakes painting and a professional is a lack of patience on the part of the former to take the time to find a problem and correct it."

The best advice this book can give is, "To take the time to find a problem and correct it." The extra care you give surface preparation now will result in extending the life of your paint job by several years.