How To Touch Up Your Home’s Exterior Paint

A quick walk around your property will give you an understanding of where paint has faded or chipped on your home’s exterior. Touching up the paint will increase curb appeal and give you a great sense of accomplishment. All that is needed is a weekend, a few supplies, and some simple techniques to touch up your home’s exterior paint.

Inspect Painted Areas

Before grabbing painting supplies, inspect your home’s painted exterior areas so that you will know what needs touching up.

Siding (if it is painted), trim, doors, and shutters are common places with paint. Get out your ladder and take a closer look at everything, so you’ll know what you are dealing with.

Remember, touch-up painting won’t require a complete overhaul with full coats of paint. The point of a touch up is to add a little fresh paint here and there where spots have faded or chipped away.

Clean

Putting fresh paint on spots full of debris will cause the paint to not adhere well, and you will find yourself painting more often.

Using a scraper, gently scrape loose paint off of the areas that need touch ups. This strips away paint that is falling off or ready to come off.

After scraping, use a wire brush to get the little pieces that are left.

Last, clean the area with warm water and a rag, which will remove the dust left behind from scraping and any other dirt which has accumulated over the years.

Match Paint

Lucky you if you still have the paint originally used to paint your home’s exterior areas. If you aren’t so fortunate, bring a piece (at least an inch or two) of the scraped-off paint to a local paint store, and they should be able to match it for you.

Prime

You may be tempted to touch up quickly with no primer, but this method is not recommended.

Primer creates the perfect surface for paint to adhere to, and it also blocks any dark spots that may try to peek through after painting. Don’t skip the primer.

Apply Thin Layers

Now, it is time to paint. Make sure the paint has been well shaken and stirred; then, using your brush of choice, apply the first thin coat to the area that needs touching up. Allow this layer to dry completely.

It is best to stand back and take a look after the paint is dry. Reapply more coats as needed until the new paint blends seamlessly with the old paint.

While You’re There…

As long as you’re closely examining and painting your home’s exterior areas, use this time to check out any other needs.
If shutters are getting a paint touch up, perhaps the shutter accessories need some updating. While examining doors, check out how the handles and locks look.

It just makes sense to take care of the entire area you are working on while you are there.

Touching up your home’s exterior paint, along with new hardware where necessary, will give your home a surprisingly fresh look.

image credit: twenty20.com