5 Things To Know About Painting Exterior Light Fixtures in Ambler, PA

In looking to make the exterior of our home look as good as possible, including pursuing a nice curb appeal (the way that people value our home when looking at it from the distance of the curb) it may be a good idea to update the look of your exterior light fixtures.

While sometimes it is necessary to entirely replace these light fixtures, sometimes all you have to do is to give them a nice paint job — and you should know that painting exterior light fixtures is not quite like painting other things related to your home.

Let’s look at five things to know about painting exterior light fixtures in Ambler, PA

1. Tape Off The Glass

The first thing that you should know about painting exterior light fixtures is that it’s going to be absolutely necessary to tape off the glass part of the light fixture before you start to paint.

The reason that this is a good idea — and what you are doing here is basically masking off the glass areas of the exterior light fixture with painter’s tape — such that you will not be able to get any paint on it.

The thing about glass is that while it can be fairly easy to get paint on it, it can sometimes be quite difficult to get it off — and protecting it with painter’s tape is that much easier.

2. Surrounding Areas Should Be Masked

Speaking of protecting, the areas around your exterior lamp also have to be protected from the paint — after all, when you are painting, it’s quite easy to get paint places where you don’t want it to go.

To ensure that the paint doesn’t get on the surfaces near your lamp, the best thing to do is to use any kind of protective material that you can find to protect said surfaces — it’s a lot easier and faster to apply these materials and then remove them than to take the risk of not protecting and then having to clean off the paint.

3. Turn Off The Power Supply

Though some would suggest that you are perfectly safe when you are painting your exterior lamps, it very well may be a good idea to entirely shut off the power to the lamp prior to painting them.

It’s true that in most cases the painting process is safe enough even if you don’t turn off the power supply, it’s a lot more safe for you if you just turn it off first.

4. Make Use Of 180 Grit Sandpaper

In the course of painting your exterior light fixtures, it’s extremely important that you have a smooth surface upon which to paint.

One of the best ways that you can achieve this is to first make use of a sandpaper, in particular a 180 grit sandpaper since it seems best and most appropriate for exterior light fixtures, to apply to the surfaces that are going to be painted.

By doing this you will find that paint will go on more easily, in that it is easier to apply the paint to the surface, and that it ultimately will do better with a sanded surface.

5. Primer Is A Must

Lastly, you absolutely have to use primer when you are going to be painting your exterior light fixtures.

Of course a lot of times you just want to get a painting project done with sooner and thus want to just skip the primer step entirely because you know that you’re going to have to apply the primer and then wait for it to dry before applying the paint.

This is not a good idea — with primer, you have paint that goes on more smoothly and also will last longer — meaning that it will be longer before you have to paint again.

Hiring a professional painting contractor like Aspen Painting is the guarantee of a flawless, durable, and high-quality paint job.
We have years of experience in cabinet and furniture painting and staining with a long list of happy customers in Horsham, PA, Ambler, Dresher, Ft. Washington, and Blue Bell, PA.
Call us today on 215-773-8422 for a FREE estimate to get started.
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