What critical steps do you follow to ensure that your next paint job will deliver the desired look and protection for a long time?
This is prime season for exterior painting. This newsletter targets simple steps one can take to minimize premature paint failures in exterior applications. Most appreciate that color and sheen selection, along with selecting high quality exterior paint, are very important. But do you know that improper surface preparation is one of the root causes of premature paint failure!

As an example, let’s consider peeling of an exterior paint as shown in this picture. The failure is clearly due to loss of adhesion.

Even with top quality exterior paint, one can see failure such as depicted right, when short-cuts are used in securing proper surface preparation. Specifically, the picture shows loss of adhesion – this premature failure can be due to several factors, including dirt, moisture, or loose and flaking paint; or wrong selection of paint. Making sure the surface is properly prepared will give your paint a firm surface on which to bond.

The Steps of Surface Preparation
The key to a good paint job is thorough surface preparation. Quality paint and great tools can’t make up for problems that come from a poorly prepared surface.

Some or all of these seven steps should be done when preparing the surface. They should be done in the order given:

Some or all of these seven steps should be done when preparing the surface. They should be done in the order given:

The following link serves as a great summary on specific ways to address proper surface preparation:

http://www.paintquality.com/contractor/newsletters/
contNL0507.html