Some homeowners may assume that learning how to paint the exterior of their home is simply a matter of practice. Although practice does help in improving your technique, not knowing what tips to use to create a professional paint finish will ensure your paint job always looks like an amateur's work. However, if you are willing to put in the time and effort, you can start to paint the exterior of your home like a professional. Below are some of the tips that could come in handy in improving your paint job.

Tip 1: Ensure your surroundings are covered

Some people may assume that if you are painting outside, you do not need any coverings as you would indoors. The truth is that it is important to have tarps and drop cloths at hand no matter where you are painting. Firstly, the paint can prove toxic to plants and flowers that are nearby. Therefore, you could end up killing off part of your landscaping. Secondly, paint splatters on concrete, rocks and more can be difficult to get rid of. To be on the safe side, always ensure you have covered your surroundings prior to painting.

Tip 2: Thoroughly clean the exterior walls

The second tip to ensuring a smooth paint finish that resembles professional work is to ensure you are working with a clean surface. Some people tend to ignore cleaning the exterior of their home, as it may be too difficult to reach the higher parts of the wall. Moreover, other individuals simply assume since these exterior walls will accumulate grime down the road, there would be no point in cleaning them. What you should bear in mind is that any dirt and particles on the surface of your exterior wall will make it harder for the paint to go on smoothly. Luckily, you do not have to manually wash your walls. You could hire a power washer that enables you to clean the walls with minimal inconvenience. When cleaning your walls, start from the top. This allows the dirt to run down the walls and be cleaned up as you work your way down the wall.

Tip 3: Scrape and sand the walls

When prepping your walls, you should both scrape and sand it. A mistake some people make is assuming that all imperfections should be sanded down. However, there are some areas that will have extensive damage such as bubbling paint. Instead of sanding this entire area and wasting your supplies, get a putty knife and scrape away the paint. It will come off much easier and faster.