Spring is just around the corner and this article is all about giving the exterior of your house the painting it deserves. As a professional house painter I would like to lay out four imported tips that most people get wrong when painting their home.

#1.) House Wash - I like to give the house a good wash before I paint it. I don't wash all four sides at once though. I usually do just one side (the side I plan on painting first) at a time because I'm going to be there for a week or two anyways probably. That way by the time you get to the next side there isn't a bunch of webs or sand or dirt built back up.

#2.) Professional Colors - Some houses you drive by have weird colors. This is because they picked colors from a fan deck. For best results you should use an exterior house color brochure. Its coordinated color schemes to help you to choose normal standardized colors. A standardized color chart will have perfect color matches that you should pick and choose from. Especially if doing two or three color schemes, you want a professional color-coordinated exterior brochure.

#3.) Use Quality Paint - I always use name brand paint on my house. Why use inferior paint and waste all that hard labor? Especially if you are paying someone else to do the painting. I like Benjamin Moore exterior house paint. They have good time-tested exterior paints and primers.

#4.) Latex vs Oil Base - I always use latex paint on the outside or exterior of a house. Oil base or Alkyd coating tend to crack and peel. Latex paint can breathe and stays flexible. It lets the moisture out of the house. Oil base paints cannot. That is why you get cracking and peeling.

The only exception is when the you have bare wood. You want to prime it with an exterior alkyd or oil-base primer. Bare wood can cause “bleed through” stains that you can not block as well using a latex primer (Although nowadays some latex primers are actually getting good at stain blocking). But the main thing is that you want to use latex paint on your house's exterior and you want to use a good name brand exterior paint. Especially if you're a house painter and you're doing it for a homeowner. Don't show up on their door step with average name brand paint. People want the best.

#5.) Oil Base Stains - If you plan on staining your house there are many excellent exterior latex stains. Especially solid body stain. Solid body stain looks like regular paint except it's made for rough wood siding. Now if you have a natural wood color siding you will want to use a “fully-transparent” stain that is oil base. I would use an oil base stain in this instance because the oil base stain can permeate down into the natural wood. This is something that should be done every few years to keep the sun and elements from deteriorating the natural wood look. A quick one coat to protect the natural wood siding is best.

Lee Cusano has owned and operated his own successful painting business since 1991. He has also helped many others to start their own painting business with his "Paint Like a Pro Estimating and Advertising CD-ROM". Lee also offers a new free report titled "How To Quit Your Day Job This Week and Double or Triple Your Income". To get it please go to http://www.Painting-Business.com