How To Clean A Drip Edge On A House Before Painting

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Painting the eaves on your home can totally transform its outside, and you don't have to call in a professional to get it washed. This article volition walk yous through the whole process from start to finish, from cleaning to priming to painting. We've too included some troubleshooting tips in case you encounter any bug forth the style.

1
Make clean the eaves with a power washer. Any surface yous programme on painting will need to be cleaned, scraped, and sanded. Position your ability washer under the eaves, start it, and so spray the eaves from the basis with a steady stream of water until the surface is free of clay and debris. Wear safety goggles when spraying to protect your eyes.
- Avoid positioning the nozzle of your ability washer shut to the construction of your house. High-pressure attachments at shut altitude can damage wood.
- You lot can similarly clean eaves without a power washer using a ladder, a bucket of water, a stiff-bristle brush, and some elbow grease.
- If you don't own a ability washer, renting one from a hardware shop or home middle may exist your most affordable option.
2
Position your ladder. Your ladder should extend 3 ft (0.91 1000) beyond the top of the business firm/eaves. Exercise not lean your ladder confronting unstable fixtures, similar downspouts. If y'all need to lean your ladder against the gutter, lean it against a fastener, since that'south the virtually stable function of the gutter.^[i]
- You'll probably need to utilize anywhere between a 16-24 human foot ladder.^[two]
- If your ladder isn't level, insert small pieces of scrap wood nether the lower human foot to raise its height until level. Always bank check the stability of the ladder after leveling.^[3]
- As yous stop scraping and painting portions of your home, you'll take to motility the ladder to new sections. Never overextend your accomplish when on a ladder.
- Curve a wire clothes hanger into a hook and employ it to hang a bucket for belongings tools, supplies, and garbage.
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3
Scrape sometime paint from the house with a putty knife. Wide putty knives work best for the chief parts of eaves, but smaller knives are handy for corners and edges. Scrape as much pigment as y'all can from the structure with your knives. Pigment that is visibly loose but stubborn may come off almost easily with a wire-bristle brush.
- When scraping, yous'll want to remove all old paint that isn't nevertheless bonded to the wood. Don't waste time trying to scrape away all the paint; remove loose paint and move on.
- Paint chips and flakes may be harmful to pets and small-scale children. Employ a drop cloth below your work area to catch paint that is scraped free.
4
Repair pitting and craters with siding spackle. As you scraped, it's probable that some wood flaked or splintered free. This can create pitting or craters in the surface of your house. Use a siding spackle and a clean putty knife to evenly fill pitting or craters.^[4]
- Different spackles may require special processes for application. E'er follow the usage directions on your spackle for best results.
- Sand dried spackle smooth with an orbital sander equipped with 60- or 80-grit sandpaper. Habiliment a grit mask and condom goggles while sanding.^[5]
- Spackling and sanding is quite tedious. Focus on high-traffic or high-visibility areas. Out of sight pitting can exist ignored.
5
Remove downspouts and other fixtures. Yous might not want to paint some of these, merely the ones y'all practice volition exist much easier to paint when removed from your dwelling house. Commonly, removal but requires a drill and some screwdriver bits. Unscrew the attached fixtures, like downspouts, outdoor lights, windchimes, and so on, and set them off to the side.
- If y'all plan on painting downspouts and fixtures, brand certain y'all select a paint formulated for the material they are made from, similar aluminum.
- Because downspouts can be long and cumbersome, these tin be difficult to remove by yourself. Accept a friend or family unit member give you a paw then they don't get damaged.
- And then you don't lose whatsoever hardware, put the fasteners into a plastic handbag, seal the bag, then record information technology to its fixture.
6
Record off windows and other features you won't be painting. Break out your painter's record (or masking tape) and tape off features you lot want to continue gratuitous of primer and paint, similar windows and doors. Be precise while doing this; the tape shouldn't overlap the expanse you'll be painting.^[6]
- Yous don't need to record the whole window or door. A sparse layer of tape around the perimeter should be sufficient.
- If you're really concerned well-nigh paint getting on windows or doors, embrace the area with newspaper or cardboard and fasten these covers into place with tape.
- If y'all programme on only painting the eaves, yous'll as well want to tape off the fascia board where the eaves see the walls of your house.
vii

Suit drop cloths, if desired. Paint dripped on the ground won't probable cause much of a mess, but it can be a run a risk for pets and young children. Spread drop cloths nether the sections you are painting and priming to take hold of pigment droplets.^[7]

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ane
Program to prime and paint in the shade whenever possible. Painting in the sun will cause the pigment to dry rapidly. This will make it more difficult to affect upwards runs, drips, and puddling. Paint in the natural shade created past the structure of your habitation for longer drying times and easier touch ups.[Epitome:Paint Eaves Step viii.jpg|center]]
- Whenever you're doing exterior painting, exist careful to exist conscientious of the areas underneath you so yous don't pace all over your plants and impairment your bushes.^[8]
- The oestrus of the day can as well cause paint to dry excessively fast. If yous're painting in midsummer, avert painting during the hottest parts of the day.
2
Set your primer, if necessary. Each primer will be different, and then yous should follow the directions for best results. Some primers may recommend thinning. This can be washed but adding a small-scale amount of paint thinner to the primer and so stirring it with a make clean paint stirrer.
- Only add paint thinner to your primer in small-scale increments. Adding too much may sparse the primer too much, which could result in you needing to employ actress coats.
- Oil-based exterior primers generally work best for bare woods. Many primers can be practical directly to the cleaned and scraped surface of your eaves.^[9]
- When your primer is ready, use a bucket hook to suspend the can from its handle from an upper rung of the ladder.
3
Prime the eaves with a narrow roller. Use a W design to forbid missed spots, and work from top to bottom to forestall drips and runs. If drips or runs occur, wipe them abroad immediately with your hands or a clean rag. To remove specially stubborn drips or runs, wipe the expanse with a rag dampened with pigment thinner.
- Don't worry if the forest grain or old paint is visible through the primer, every bit this is adequately mutual.
- Three coats of primer are usually recommended for the best finish in your paint job. Read the label directions of your primer to make up one's mind when to add additional coats.
- Some quick-drying primers may exist ready for the next coat in an hour, though others may take longer.
4
Wipe away aerosol and runs every bit they occur. Stay alert as you prime the eaves. Any aerosol or pigment spatters on surfaces you don't desire to paint should be wiped away immediately with your hands or a make clean rag. The sooner yous wipe abroad droplets and runs, the easier they wipe away.
- If the paint smears or doesn't come up off easily, use a make clean rag that has been lightly dampened with paint thinner.
5

Employ metal primer to rusty nails. The rust from nails can bleed through coats of paint and cause discoloration. Discover all rusty nails and use a thin layer of metal primer to ensure this doesn't happen to you. A single, even glaze should be sufficient.

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1
Audit the house for loose caulking and cracks. Over time, the caulking of your business firm may loosen or atomize. Other spots of your dwelling house may simply have cracked from age. These gaps will cause drafts, heating and cooling loss, and a route for bugs and animals to enter.
- Sunward and windward facing parts of your home volition probable be the nearly weathered. Audit these areas particularly carefully.
- The corners and edges of eaves are common areas where caulking often comes loose or cracks tend to announced.^[10]
2
Fill a saucepan with cold water and hang it from the upper rungs. Fill the clean bucket one-third total of cold water. Put a clean rag into the water for later, and apply a hanger to hang the saucepan from the upper rungs of the ladder.
- You'll exist using this water to clean off excess caulk that gets on the painted portion of your dwelling or your hands.
iii
Fill missing caulking and cracks with caulk. Use a utility knife, scissors, or shears to cut off the tip of the caulking tube and put it in the calk gun. Press the trigger until a petty caulk emerges from the tip. Now you're ready to climb your ladder and fill in empty holes.
- Use a liberal amount of caulk to fill the entirety of the crack. When caulk begins to overflow the hole, it should exist filled.^[11]
- Avoid caulking the underside of clapboard (sometimes called lapboard). This could crusade impairment to the wood.
iv
Smoothen the caulk with your fingers and move on to the next crack. When the caulk begins to overflow the hole, finish caulking. Smooth the caulk in the scissure and then there are no gaps and it curves inwards slightly.
- Every bit you wipe away caulk, it'll build up on your hands. Rinse your hands in your common cold water bucket and use the rag to remove caulk from the structure or your easily as necessary.
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1
Mix the paint and hang it from your ladder. Open the paint and mix it well with a make clean paint stirrer. Attach one end of your bucket hook to the handle of the paint can and hang the tin can from the upper rungs of the ladder.
- For near homes, yous'll want a quality exterior latex paint. If you have any doubts about which paint you lot should employ, ask an expert at your local paint store, hardware shop, or home eye.
2
Paint a small department to test for peeling. Pigment a pocket-sized portion of the primed surface area and wait for it to dry out fully. Dry times volition exist listed on the pigment label. When dry, scratch the paint with your fingernail. If it peels off, it'south likely in that location's still residuum on the surface causing peeling.
- Peeling paint tin often be remedied with another coat or two of primer. If, subsequently this, you all the same endure peeling, consult a paint skilful at a hardware store, home center, or paint store.
3
Paint the eaves. Ascend the ladder and pigment all surfaces of the eaves that are within reach. When you get to the bespeak that you take to reach to pigment new areas, remove the paint can and shift the ladder over to the new location. Arise the ladder again and continue painting in this way until your eaves are fully coated.
- Utilise pigment in a similar mode equally yous did the primer: utilize overlapping strokes in a Westward pattern to utilize a sparse, fifty-fifty coat.
- Use your paintbrush to smooth out drips, puddling, and runs as soon as you see them.
iv
Pigment additional coats as necessary. If the beginning coat of paint looks thin or if its colour isn't quite every bit rich as you expected, y'all likely need another coat of paint. Consult the characterization directions of your paint to find how long you lot need to look until you can add the side by side coat. Apply another coat or two as needed. When the final coats dry out, your eaves are finished.
- Painting more than three coats or using coats that are thick tin can accept a negative impact on the finished paint job. Follow the label directions when applying additional coats for the best stop.^[12]
5
Reattach hardware as necessary and relish your painted eaves. Once the paint is dry, you'll exist able to replace downspouts, windchimes, and other hardware yous removed for painting. When everything'southward back in place, you're finished.
- If y'all want your hardware to friction match the paint chore of your eaves, information technology'll be easiest to paint these while nevertheless unattached.
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How do you paint firm eaves?

Patrick Coye is the owner and operator of Patrick'southward Painting & Home Comeback in Alexandria, Virginia. With over xv years of experience in residential construction, Patrick specializes in painting, wallpaper removal/installation, drywall, staining decks and fences, and kitchen cabinetry painting. To date, Patrick and his team take painted over ii,000 houses and stained over 800 decks. Patrick's Visitor won a "Top Job" award from the American Painting contractor mag in 2022.

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Firstly, make sure that you lot're enlightened of the areas below you and so that you don't bruise over plants beneath y'all. Secondly, make sure that when you're setting up your ladder (especially on a hill), you lot accept a leveling tool to make sure the ladder doesn't fall over when y'all climb it. Other than that, the painting process is adequately typical—prep the area, sand information technology, fill in any cracks/nail holes, then paint it with a brush and roller.

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To ensure a make clean surface, y'all may want to utilize a house cleaning detergent, which should be bachelor at most hardware stores, home centers, and general retailers.
Some business firm cleaning detergents tin can be added direct to your power washer, others may need to be practical with a saucepan, h2o, and a castor.
Considering painting eaves requires you to work on a ladder, it'due south highly recommended that yous get a friend or family unit fellow member to hold the ladder while yous work.
Some pigment trays tin be clipped to ladders. This volition allow you to apply paint to rollers more than easily.
While painting the eaves, it'southward mutual for pigment to baste or spatter onto other parts of your home. If yous're painting your entire abode, consider painting the eaves first. After you end the eaves, any paint spatter or aerosol on walls will be hidden underneath the new glaze of paint. Otherwise, wipe away paint spatter every bit necessary.

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Falling, even from relatively short heights, can exist very dangerous. Never overextend your attain while on the ladder. Instead, work only on areas that are hands within reach.
Setting up your ladder unevenly tin can create a tipping or falling hazard. If your ladder is on an angle, use a sturdy piece of scrap woods to level it out. After leveling, test the ladder for stability before climbing up.
If you have two ladders set up, never step from ladder to ladder. This oftentimes results in the ladders becoming unbalanced and falling.