Essential Steps for Exterior Painting Prep: Power Washing, Trenching & More

OVERALL PREP PROCESS

Power Washing: 

In order to get the cleanest and most professional final product, it is essential to start with a fresh foundation by power washing the entire home or property. The purpose of power washing is to eliminate excess waste like dirt, dust, residue, or bacteria that has been piling over the years. Power washing will make a huge difference for exterior projects. Not only is this essential for cleaning purposes, but power washing has a positive affect on how long the paint will last. To assure a professional and durable final product, our professional painters guarantee power washing is a must for your project. After power washing comes trenching of the home, and this comes in play. 

Trenching: 

Trenching is the process of removing or raking away dirt or gravel in the perimeter of the home, in purpose of having a visible foundation. We use this method of trenching to better provide coverage to the base and foundation of the designated area being painting. Significance of trenching as part of the prepping process is to cover all areas, rather than cover only those seen in front perspective. Not trenching could allow access to excess moisture which affects the composition of your home exterior. Such examples include damage to plaster or siding. 

Masking: 

To follow, we proceed with masking to also ensure the cleanliness of the overall project and its outcome. The purpose of masking is to locate the areas specific for painting and isolate the areas that are to remain untouched. Here straight lining technique is used to protect objects like windows, handles, doors, etc. This is essential for the areas that must be protected, and our painters will assure complete masking and coverage for untouched areas. This step is important for even and straight lines and visible freshness of the home. 

Scraping & Sanding: 

After correctly power washing, trenching, and masking, we incorporate scraping and sanding as part of our painting prep. Scraping old chips off homes is essential when getting rid of older paint or even dirt that has been piled along the years. This gives more visible appearances to original foundation of the walls and their textures. Laguna Painting offers diverse types of grits for sanding, in order to protect certain types of texture. To follow, sanding is also essential for a smoother surface, allowing our painters to provide a cleaner and more professional final product. 

Repairs to Drywall & Stucco & Caulking: 

If there are any repairs needed, we will try our best to keep the originality of the natural foundation. To do so, we offer repairing as an essential step to prepping. These repairs include drywall, stucco, and other exterior features. Laguna Painting offers these repairs in order to get a better final product. To ensure maximized coverage, we want to create a fresh and clean foundation as part of prep to receive a good paint job. Caulking is also done to cover up any imperfections using a lining methods. We aim to create a balance in our surfaces to see a smooth finish affect.

Priming: 

Priming is also based on conditions of the areas we are covering. There is a difference between normal primer which is a light coat, water proof, that is placed before the designated color paint, and then there is spot priming. Regular priming usually requires one coat for the project, layers is based on texture. Then there is also spot priming, which is usually performed when the conditions of the of the wall is in good condition. Here only certain areas are covered with primer. We used different types of primers based on brands and areas covered:

• PVA Primer is used for drywall, either interior or exterior.
• Adhesion Primer is used for rougher surfaces.
• All-Purpose Primer is used for multi-surfaces.
• Restoration Primer is used for interior, oil & shellac performances.
• Premium Primer is used for heavy-duty and stain blocking purposes… etc.
• Painting including accessories, doors, metal, etc. 

One of the final steps to exterior painting is final coats and/or other paint layers. When we have the perfect prep for a project, we want to  make sure we also use professional precautions to provide for an excellent paint job. This includes either airless sprayer pump or paint rollers, we evenly create a smooth and ideal finish. Laguna Painting uses top of the line products to assure not only customer satisfaction, but a long lasting job.