If your exterior needs to be painted but you have to delay the work, you can protect it by sealing the bad area's with premium wood filler, primer, caulking, and paint.
Take a walk around your home and look for any areas that have mold, mildew, dry rot, peeling paint, bare wood, split wood and areas where re-caulking is needed.
Area's to look at include behind bushes, any place sprinklers hit, window frames, window ledge, corner boards about 12 to 16 inches from bottom, siding about 12 inches up from bottom and tops & bottoms of handrailing.
If your exterior is in good condition then you have nothing to worry about but if you have issues you can prevent further damage. If you don't remedy the problems you may have costly repairs the longer you wait.
Dry rot - Remove all soft wood, dry area, apply a wood hardener, fill with wood filler, prime and apply 2 coats of finish paint.
Peeling paint - Apply a clear binding primer and 2 light coats of finish paint. (this is the best and safest method as you do not have to sand. (Sanding old paint is dangerous to your health and could produce lead dust!)
Bare wood - Apply a wood primer or sealer designed for redwood or cedar and apply 2 coats of finish paint.
Mold / Mildew - Soft wash with brush and hose all areas with environmentally friendly cleaner (to protect plants) and seal with mold killing primer if needed and apply a coat of paint.
Caulking - Apply caulking to all areas where water can cause damage. Areas where you should caulk are window trim, wood windows, ledges and railings
The cost of sweat equity is about 1 - 4 hours and materials will cost you around $75.00 to 150.00 depending on the grade of products and size of house . Your local paint store should be able to match your trim and body colors as long as you have a sample to match from.
Just understand this is to protect your exterior from further damage until you can address the issues as needed. This is not about the appearance, you can dial in the appearance when you get the whole house repainted. This is the minimum scope of work you should preform to help prolong your exterior.
All the advice given in this blog is for ground work, Please Do Not Get On Ladders & Never Go On Your Roof! Leave that for a professional painting company to handle.
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