Home painting is a popular project, especially for ambitious homeowners who want a fun DIY assignment. But, painting the outside of a building is always more difficult and presents unique problems. If you have previously painted drywall interiors, there are a few things you should know before painting the outside of your wooden home. The job is definitely more intense, requires more physical effort, more paint, and more patience. Here are three tricks to painting textured wood like a pro.

Using a Spray Gun

First, if possible, and especially if you have experience painting with one, use a spray gun. Especially if you have experience painting with one. If you don't own a spray gun, you will have to rent one. However, this is probably going to speed up the painting process and save you some money. Spraying on a wood surface is nice because it allows you to cover the texture more comprehensively. When you are just using rollers, you are basically painting from below. This means that it is harder to get paint onto the tiny crevices and nodules sticking up (facing upward). A spray gun will cover all angles.

Using Rollers

Using the spray gun instead of rollers is not always the way to go. This is especially true if you have a few helpers who are going to paint with you at the same time. With three or four people armed with paint rollers, you can apply the paint much more quickly. To get around the problem of getting thorough paint coverage, you should consider renting a small scaffolding system for the job. The fact of the matter is, painting from on top of a ladder is not only more dangerous, it's also awkward and hard to operate a roller. How do you carry a bucket of paint up two stories on and extension ladder? With the scaffold system, you will have a safe place to stand and keep all your supplies nearby as you are painting. Setting up the scaffolding will obviously take longer than setting up your ladders, but you will definitely make up the time.

Using High Nap Rollers

The third trick when painting wood with paint rollers is to use high nap rollers. This will make your job messier, but you can compensate by doing some more thorough masking off before you can start to paint. You should expect paint to drip and get all over the ground below the walls you are painting. It is better to do excessive masking off than to not do enough and have to spend a bunch of time cleaning up your mess. Click here to learn more about wood finishes.