How to Save Money When Your House Needs to Be Painted

Having your house painted is often an unwelcome expense. Particularly when money is tight, as it is for many of us right now, there are ways to save money while still keeping your house in good condition. Here are some options to consider.


DO IT YOURSELF: Painting your own house will save you the most money, but only if you have the equipment and the experience to do it right. If you need to purchase ladders and brushes and all the odds and ends that are required, you will quickly eat up the savings. Also, painting a house correctly takes some skill, but that’s another article!

SPRAY INSTEAD OF BRUSH - One of the options most professional painters offer is painting the siding by airless sprayer. This will save you money as it is much faster. It is not the best option for every type of siding but in many cases it will do fine. Just make sure the painter uses a quality paint that is not watered down and sprays only the siding. You will still need the trim painted by brush.

PAINT ONLY TRIM - This is an excellent way to spread the cost out over a period of time. Paint either the trim or the siding one year and the other at a later time. You will get a better price from your painting contractor if you do the whole house at once, but if you’re selling the house or are having a difficult financial year, this may be your best option. Very often the trim of a house needs to be painted more frequently than the siding.

KEEP THE COLOR THE SAME - When you change the color of paint on your house, it usually requires two coats of paint to get complete, even coverage. The second coat will cost you almost as much as the first as painting is labor intensive. Therefore, you will save money by keeping the color the same and applying only one coat of paint.

PRESSURE WASH - If your house is dirty and dingy and you think it needs paint, try pressure washing it first. This may buy you a year and you may find that much of what you thought needed painting, just needed cleaning.

SPOT PAINT BAD AREAS - By painting only the areas that are in bad shape you can delay a complete house painting and save money. Window sills and doors often show signs of needing painting before other areas. If one side of your house receives full sun in a warm climate, the trim may peel within a few years of being painted. Keep on top of these areas by scraping, priming and painting two coats as needed and you can put off painting your whole house until it needs it.

How to Know When It's Time to Paint

Many homeowners are unaware of the actual condition of the exterior of their home. First time home buyers in particular may not know anything about exterior painting. But there are several very easy ways to tell whether or not it is time to paint your house.


The most obvious sign is peeling paint. If your window sills or siding are actually peeling you waited to long and need to call a painting contractor today. Many homes have one side that gets the most exposure to sun, wind and/or rain and snow. This will be the side where the paint begins to show signs of wear first. Your peeling window sills undoubtedly get a lot of sun. Peeling paint allows water to seep into the wood or siding beneath and can cau se the wood to rot. If left unpainted you will have to pay for repairs as well. Preferably, you want to paint before the last coat of paint starts to peel.


If the paint on shows no signs of peeling or checking (spidery cracks that ha p pen before peeling), it may still be time for a fresh coat of exterior paint. Look closely at the siding paint. Does it look chalky? Is their a whitish cast to the paint and when you rub your fingers across it they pick up a bit of residue? This tells you the paint is beginning to break down and it's time to repaint.

Another thing to look for is wood rot. Are there soft places in your corners boards? This will be found typically wherever they are exposed to a lot of moisture, such as at the bottom near the base of a downspout. Press against the wood and see if there is any give to it. If so, the wood should be replaced as soon as possible and two coats of paint applied to seal the wood. If left unprotected the area needing repair will just enlarge. Window trim and sills are another place where wood rot often occurs as well as door sills.

When you purchase a house, ask the seller when they last painted, what type of paint they used and how many coats were applied. Depending on the quality of paint they used, and how many coats were applied, the house will need repainting anywhere from five to ten years or less. New houses are often sprayed with a low grade paint and many need painting within three years.