How to Prepare Your Home Before the Painters Arrive
A well-prepared home makes a paint job faster, cleaner, and in some cases cheaper. Crews charge for the hours they're on site, and hours spent carrying your dining room furniture into the garage are hours not spent painting.
Nothing here is required. We handle all of it if you'd rather we did. But homeowners regularly ask what they can do to help, and this is the honest answer.
One Week Before: Decisions and Access
Finalize your colors. Every color, every room, every trim and ceiling. A crew standing idle while a homeowner deliberates over two grays is the most common source of avoidable delay. If you're still undecided, tell us at the estimate and we'll build in a consultation.
Confirm the scope in writing. Which rooms, which surfaces, ceilings included or not, closets included or not, how many coats. Ambiguity discovered on day two becomes a change order.
Arrange parking and access. Where should the crew park? Where can materials be staged? Is there a gate code, an alarm, a dog? For exterior work, are there locked side yards?
Plan for pets. Cats and dogs and open cans of paint don't mix, and open exterior doors during a long work day are a genuine escape risk. Boarding or a quiet closed room away from the work is worth arranging in advance.
Two Days Before: Clearing Rooms
Interior, room by room:
- Remove wall hangings, mirrors, photos, shelving contents, and anything on a mantel
- Take down curtains, drapes, blinds, and their hardware if the trim is being painted
- Empty closets if closet interiors are in scope
- Clear the tops of bookcases, dressers, and furniture that will be moved
- Move small furniture, lamps, and electronics out of the room entirely
- Leave large furniture, we'll center it and cover it, and moving heavy pieces is a good way to hurt yourself or your floors
- Remove or secure anything fragile or irreplaceable, this is the one item we insist on
- Take switch plate and outlet covers off if you'd like, though we do this as part of the job
Exterior:
- Move patio furniture, grills, planters, and hoses at least six feet off the house
- Trim back shrubs and vines touching the siding, we can't paint behind a hedge grown into the wall
- Take down house numbers, light fixtures, wall-mounted decor, and flags where you can
- Unlock gates and clear the perimeter of anything you don't want covered in plastic
- Note where sprinkler heads are so we don't stage over them
The Day Before: Small Things That Matter
- Vacuum and dust the rooms being painted. Airborne dust settles into a wet coating.
- Tell us about known problem areas. A wall that's peeled twice, a ceiling stain that keeps coming back, a window that leaks. These are diagnostic information, and covering them without addressing the cause guarantees the problem returns.
- Locate a working outlet and, for exterior work, an outdoor spigot. Crews need power and water.
- Decide about ventilation. Even low-VOC products have some odor. If anyone in the home is sensitive, plan to be out during application and for a few hours after.
What You Should Not Do
Do not scrape or sand a pre-1978 home. Homes built before 1978 are presumed to contain lead paint, and disturbing it without containment and proper cleanup puts your household at risk. This is regulated work for a reason. Let a certified crew handle it.
Do not patch with the wrong material. Well-meant repairs with caulk where spackle belongs, or with lightweight compound where a structural crack needs attention, usually have to be undone before we can proceed.
Do not prime "to help." A primer that isn't compatible with the finish coat we've specified creates an adhesion problem that costs more to correct than it saved.
Do not power wash the exterior yourself. High pressure drives water behind siding and into walls, and painting over trapped moisture is the leading cause of premature failure. Our washing is deliberately low pressure.
During the Job
Be reachable, especially on the first day. Questions come up, an unexpected repair surfaces, a color looks different at scale than it did on the sample. A homeowner who can be reached for a two-minute call keeps a project moving.
And walk the job at the end. A punch list generated while we're still on site is easy. One generated after we've packed up is a return trip for everyone.
Have a project coming up? Contact Anthony's Painting for a free estimate and we'll walk you through exactly what to expect and what, if anything, you need to do. Serving Nazareth, Easton, Allentown, Bethlehem, and the Lehigh Valley.