We’re in a race against time and weather to get the Main House here at One Hundred Acres Home painted before the rainy season kicks in. If you recall, I tore off the old siding, replaced the exterior wall insulation, added new Tyvek house wrap, replaced the doors and windows, and replaced the exterior siding and trim. Whew! We only have a few days of clear weather left. I’ll be pushing my physical limits to see if I can complete a one person DIY paint of the house exterior. That’s two coats primer and one coat paint in three days. Ok, let’s go!
Exterior House Painting Prep Work:
There is some prep work that needs to happen before painting the house exterior. Here is quick reference to-do list before painting a home’s exterior board and batten siding.
- Make sure the siding is clean and dry. I just installed the siding and trim. It hasn’t rained yet and we’ve got a few sunny days ahead to we’re all good there.
- Caulk trim. The small joint or gap between the siding panel and the trim will show up as a tiny black line if not caulked. Since I will be painting the house white, I do not want those small black lines to interrupt the visual of the exterior. So I recruited my husband and we spent two days caulking the exterior trim. This was before the 3 day paint countdown! I recommend using what’s called a high thrust caulk gun to save your hand muscles and some good quality exterior and paintable caulk.
- Tape and cover windows and doors. If you don’t have time for this, AT LEAST remove the window screens so they don’t get paint overspray on them. You can always remove the paint from the window glass with some Windex and a razor blade scraper later.
- Consider whether you will paint or cover your gutters. I am painting them white along with the rest of the house so they are uncovered.
Here is a close up of the caulking between the trim and the siding panel.
I smoothed the caulk line with a glove-covered finger. It saved my finger from the rough siding texture but lost me that pair of gloves.
Fast DIY Paint House Exterior:
There is only one way to DIY paint a house exterior quickly with one person. Use an airless paint sprayer! This is a true godsend timesaver and amazing invention. Here is the paint sprayer I use. You can see it has gotten a lot of use and is still working great. It’s worth the splurge in the amount of time saved.
I’ve painted the outside of a home by hand and roller before. It took WEEKS, granted I was only painting a few hours a day after work, but still. It was tedious.
Using the paint sprayer, I am able to do a complete coat of paint on the full exterior of this main house in about 2 hours. So if I plan it right, I can get two coats into one day. And then be totally exhausted that night, but that’s another story.
One other time-saving tool I’d recommend is this aluminum multi-angled paint spray shield. Basically, you can hold this up against a surface you want to protect from paint overspray. I am not covering the windows, so I will be holding this up against the edge of the window to help keep it clean. Like I mentioned previously, it’s best to remove the window screens if you’re not going to cover them. The effectiveness of the shield is user dependent! So yeah I still got some overspray on the windows. That’s ok. I’ll clean it up with Windex and a razor blade scraper.
I will be spraying two coats of this Kilz primer. Two coats is a bit overkill, but I don’t want any tannin bleeding coming through from the plywood panels. I did notice a slight coloring after the first coat of primer, so this will really seal it up.
Lastly, this is the paint I am using in Ultra Pure White in Satin finish by Behr from Home Depot. It is a basic simple white. I did not have time to choose between the million different whites so I just went very basic. Thankfully, I like how it turned out!
Exterior House Painting Progress Photos:
I’ll be honest with you, I was in such a hurry to get the paint done that I did not get many progress photos. Plus, the primer looks a lot like the final coat. So I’ll just share these progress photos and say that your guess is as good as mine as to whether that is primer or paint!
Here is the front wall. You can see I used a variety of ladders. The A-ladder seemed most stable and easiest to paint under the eaves. The roof-mounted ladder with the roof stabilizer was handy for making sure I had an even paint on the gutters. Lastly, the work platform was easy to move around for lower-height situations.
Here is progress for the DIY paint house exterior of the back wall.
This is view shows the finished gable wall trim. The board and batten look really comes together with the finished paint.
The good news is that because the paint sprayer is so fast, I was able to get the all the coats of paint on in time. It was a lot of up and down ladders, but it got done.
The Reveal – Finished House Exterior Paint:
With just a few hours of daylight to spare, I was able to install the new exterior lighting. This photo was snapped just after I finished the lights and screwed in the bulbs. That’s my husband enjoying our new finished house exterior.
The house is really starting to look like the I imagined it! It’s such a fun and lovely thing to see your visions come to life.
The first major storm to kick of rainy season rolled through that night and left a dusting of snow. This photo was taking the next morning. It became a winter wonderland overnight. Thankfully the exterior siding is done!
At some point I will build the front and back exterior decks. Keep you posted! I have really cool plans for large redwood decks. And the permits are already submitted and ready to go. But for the time being, we’ll be moving inside to renovate the whole interior. Stay Tuned.
