Category: HOUSEHOLD

When it is time to refresh our home’s facade, most of us begin to panicky think out how much they will have to pay for the work to be done. And even if you are not going to invite the professional facade painters to do the job for you, painting your house exterior on your own still requires certain calculations.

Want to know how to figure out the final price for your house facade refreshment with paint? We can give you a few hints on that!

What Is the Average Price For Painting the House Facade?

In 2020, the average price for painting the facade was around 2.900 dollars. The low end for this type of work was about 650 dollars, and the high end could reach up to six thousand! And if you invite professional painters, the prices of different companies may vary significantly from 500 to three thousand dollars per square feet. 

Naturally, you might be wondering how come that a few cans of paint cost that much. The answer is simple: it is not only paint that is used during the painting works and thus, the price includes the materials and equipment that are also needed for it.

Of course, if you already have some of them at your disposal, the cost will be lower, however, don’t forget about several other important factors that also influence the final cost of painting your home.

What Affects the Price Of Painting a House

If you decide to paint your house, take into consideration that the final expenses can be calculated only after you consider all the influencing aspects. So what does the price consist of?

• The size, age, and condition of your house
• The tools needed (brushes, ladders, rollers, sprayers, buckets, scrapers, masking tape, etc)
• The amount of paint needed 
• Labor
• Type of exterior material (wood, vinyl, or others)
• Climate of the area you live in
• Prep work
• Type of paint and primer

When you know all these nuances, it will be easier to calculate the final price. And if you use the right paint and do the job properly, your freshly painted house will last way longer until the next renovation.

If you are going to paint your house on your own, it will cost you less, of course. However, in this case, be sure you will be doing everything correctly so that you will not have to redo the job afterward!

It doesn’t matter much whether you are an enthusiastic artist or you are a passionate wall painter, in each case you will have to deal with paints and brushes. And since for painting a house, as well as for painting a picture, we need oil-based paints mostly, cleaning our brushes after such a substance is not so easy!

Luckily, we know a few handy tricks that will help you keep your brushes always clean and ready for being used!

How to Clean Dried Paint Off Your Brushes

Basically, we clean brushes by thoroughly rinsing them. However, this approach is only applicable if you paint with water-based paints that can easily be dissolved in water and washed away. 

In most cases, however, the method of cleaning your brushes will strongly depend on what type of paint was used and thus dried on the tool’s bristles. Also, cleaning brushes with fresh paint and with the paint that has already dried and hardened will be somewhat different.

But no matter how your brushes will be cleaned, always remember to do that right after using them and never leave your painting tools soaked in water or cleansing solvent! It can seriously damage the bristles making the brush useless. And to make the cleaning procedure even safer and more effective, we consider using different sets of cleaning tools for oil paints and water-based paints.

How to Clean Water-Based Paint Off

Water-based or latex paints are the easiest ones to deal with, to be honest. To wash them off your brush, you will simply need to prepare warm soapy water and your brush. 

It is better if you use mild soap suds since the mixture will be gentler on the bristles then. 

Once the solution is ready, dip your brush into it and work through the bristles to let the soap wash the pain off. 

If you see that the paint is bleeding but it’s not all out yet, prepare a fresh soapy mixture and repeat the whole procedure from the beginning. Follow with a proper rinse. And if the paint you are dealing with appears too stubborn, feel free to make use of any mineral spirit or lacquer thinner. Only after this additional portion of cleaning, you can continue with soapy treatment and a final rinse.

Cleaning Oil-Based And Latex Paints Off

Oil-based paints, as you probably know, are more complicated to wash away. Start with choosing a proper cleaning solvent. To do that, we advise you to adhere to the manufacturer’s recommendations. 

Once the solvent is chosen, pour it into a clean tank and dip your brush into it. Move it up and down, and then remove the excess thinner after which the procedure can be repeated again using a new portion of thinner and a clean container. 

How to Deal With Dried Paint On Your Brush  

Ok, if the paint is still fresh on the bristles of your brush, washing it off is not a big deal. But what if it has already dried?! No worries, in this case the cleaning procedure will take more time, but it is still possible to save the brush.

So if your brush is covered with dried latex paint, to make it clean again, you need to prepare hot water and some soap. Simply make a soapy solution and dip your brush into it. No need for soaking, just work the soapy water through the bristles to make the paint soften and fall off.

Once you see that the paint is loose, grab a stiff brush with nylon bristles and delicately rub that filament following the flow of the bristles. End up with a proper rinse. Of course, if the paint brush still needs washing, the procedure must be repeated again.

With oil paints, everything is a bit more complicated. This type of paint tends to dry hard on the bristles which makes the brush useless. However, there is still one trick thanks to which we can save our brushes instead of discarding them!

To revive the brushes with dried oil paint on them, keep the tools in white vinegar for a few minutes following these tips:

• Soak the brush in vinegar for 60 minutes using a saucepan as a tank
• Turn your stove on
• Let the brush soak in simmering acetum for a few minutes
• Rinse it with clear water

Dry it by laying it flat or propping it up with the bristles faced down.

Like this, your brushes will easily restore their shape and remain usable.

You probably heard the common advice of wearing old clothes whenever you are painting something or working with paint. And this is not a pointless whim! The stains of paint, if they get dry, are pretty hard to get rid of. And even if you are lucky, there is still a chance that your t-shirt or pants will have those noticeable pale paint marks forever.

But if you neglected this advice and managed to stain your clothes with paint, you can still save it using our recommendations.

How to Remove Water-Based Paint From Clothes

Luckily, this type of paint is quite easy to wash off. To deal with water-based paints, such as watercolor, acrylics, or latex paint, simply follow these easy steps.

Scrape off as much excess dried paint as you can using a dull knife, a brush, or a spoon. Then flush the back side of the stained area with warm running water. 

Now prepare a 50/50 mix of warm water and detergent, and saturate the blot with the help of a rag. Keep on doing this until you see the paint is no longer there (or at least it’s not coming up anymore). 

The next step is to make use of a stain remover and launder the item as you usually do. After you take your garment out of the barrel, give it a close check. Any traces of stain still visible? If yes, then apply a non-acetone nail polish remover or rubbing alcohol to it and launder again.

How to Remove Oil-Based Paints

Oil-based paints are somewhat harder to deal with. But it is still possible to do even when they dried. 

First, you turn the garment inside out and blot the stain from its back side using either paint thinner or turpentine. Then rinse it out, apply the laundry detergent you normally use, and soak your garment overnight in warm soapy water.

The next day, rinse the item and launder it according to the care tag recommendations. In case the stain is still there, treat it with the stain remover and repeat the washing. But even if this doesn’t help, discard your piece of clothing. 

These tips will help you free your clothes from dry paint of different origins and make things wearable again.

Paint it like a pro even if you never did it before

If you are up to any interior renovations, the simplest way to refresh your room might be to repaint it simply. However, most of us feel hesitant since this task seems to be a rather complicated thing to do.

Nevertheless, if you take a look at the process in a step by step perspective, you will see that there is absolutely nothing difficult for you there!

How to Paint Your Room Walls In a Few Simple Steps

Painting walls in a room might seem to be difficult but only if you don’t know what to start with and how to organize the whole process. So grab our handy suggestions to “armor” yourself before you start turning your living space into a masterpiece! 

• Plan your actions
• Choose the color(-s)
• Prepare the tools and materials
• Determine the amount of paint needed
• Get the walls and the room ready
• Mix the paint
• Clean up

Now let’s describe the process in detail. First, imagine how you want the room to look after you paint it. Do you want it all in one color? Or you’d like to have an accent wall or highlight the mouldings? Think about that.

Color also matters. Decide whether you want the room to be in cool or warm tones, neutral or saturated. If you have any works of art or furniture there, consider their colors, too, to complement the walls. And only then start browsing through the fan decks.

When picking up tools, consider the state of walls and the paint you will be using. But still, some must-haves will have to be used anyway. For instance, paint rollers, brushes and paint tray, drop cloths, painter’s tape and sandpaper, putty knife, rags, etc.

Also, remember to calculate how much paint will be used. The general scheme is that each 400 square feet will require one gallon of paint to apply. But for more precise results, we recommend you use an online paint calculator.

Before painting, empty the room of all the furniture or simply push it all to the center if it’s impossible to remove it elsewhere (e.g. if you lack spare space). Cover the furniture and the floor to protect them from paint, and do the same to switches and outlets using tape.

When painting, remember to stir the paint regularly to keep it homogeneous and ensure the room is well ventilated. And of course, clean after yourself when finished paying special attention to washing brushes. If you leave them covered with paint, the bristles will get ruined!

Like this, painting a room will be fun for you!