If you are thinking about painting the exterior of your house, you really should take some tips on safety from a professional painting contractor. They can instruct you on how to be physically prepared as well as having the right equipment on hand.

Be Ladder Safe with Levelers

When it comes to ladder accidents the majority are caused by make shift props such as bricks and other construction materials. A leveler will fix this problem, they attach to the legs of the ladder providing more security. Painting contractors concerned with production and safety use them often. Using ladder levelers will greatly reduce your risk of being injured while providing stability. Even your production will increase, as you are not constantly searching for something to stick under the ladder legs. This is worth the cost of investment in itself.

Do you have the proper range of ladders to safely reach all areas of your house?

Professional painting contractors usually have the following range in ladders as standard equipment. Coming from a professional painting perspective, I recommend a 6 foot step ladder, a 20 ft extension, a 28 ft extension, and a 36 ft extension ladder if your house is needs a ladder this size. This range will allow you to comfortably reach all areas of your house that are accessible with ladders. The advertised length of a ladder is not the actual accessible length. The lap of your ladder when fully extended will reduce its reach by 3 or 4 feet. As an example, a 28 foot rated ladder will only extend about 24 or 25 feet.

One more thing to consider when it comes to ladders is the fact that you will lose a couple of feet due to leaning the ladder against your home. This angle will decrease the overall height another couple of feet reducing your access from 28 ft to about 22 ft.

Buy the correct drop cloths for the project?

For tough stuff such as driveways, bushes, shrubs and hard surfaces a canvas drop cloth is fine, however when it comes to small plants and flowers they are too heavy. For your small plants and flowers, you should use an old bed sheet. They will provide ample protection from dripping paint while allowing your plants to breathe and not be crushed.

Never use a plastic drop cloth. You may find your plants or shrubs permanently damaged from plastic use. Plastic is solid and will not allow air for your plants to breathe, plus it can get very hot under there in a hurry. Within a couple of hours under temperatures can rise to dangerous levels. Using a plastic drop cloth can kill the tops of your shrubs or plants.

Make sure you drink plenty of cold Gatorade through out the day to avoid dehydration.

This cannot be stressed enough. You can dehydrate quickly when painting outdoors in the bright sunlight, particularly if you are not used to outside work. Dehydration can catch you by surprise so use caution. If you become lightheaded, you can lose your balance and be injured. Besides you can experience other long-term effects of dehydration, one very serious complication is heat stroke so be careful and use plenty of Gatorade. Hydration is important to your overall health.

Pick out a place where you can rest in the shade. Don’t over exert yourself.

Many homeowners will try to pack a lot of work into one day, as painting is very time consuming. This is a big mistake because you can get in trouble physically. If you try to stretch the limits on a hot summer day, you can easily overexert yourself.

Are you physically fit enough to safely rise to the challenge?

After climbing up and down, a ladder all day your legs may begin to cramp severely. You need to prepare the muscles in your legs for this kind of work. When your legs become stressed they may suddenly feel shaky or weak a dangerous position to be on when you are climbing a ladder. You will want to evaluate your physical condition before beginning this kind of work. If you have any physical limitations, it may be wise to consult your physician before you begin painting the outside of your home. Professional painting contractors are used to this type of work; they spend all day running up and down ladders. If you are not used to it, you could find yourself in trouble.

There’s nothing worse than having to fight wasp while standing on the end of a 36 foot ladder.

Eliminate all wasp nest before attempting to paint. If you are standing on the end of an extension ladder, you do not want be fighting wasp. You can easily be distracted to the point of losing your grip or balance and falling.

Roof Ladders

If your home has areas that need to be painted above a roof line then rent a roof ladder for a day. Don’t take the chance of sliding of a roof and killing yourself. A roof ladder hooks over the peak of the roof and lays flat on the shingles allowing you to safely walk up the ladder to service the wall and soffit areas above the roof line. They are inexpensive to rent.

Be sure you do not set your ladder up on a slope that falls back and away from it.

You can notch the ground out with a shovel and pic, this is very important to safety. Create a level flat area for each ladder leg. Setting up a ladder means leaning it against your house so that you can easily navigate the ladder. When you combine the leaning ladder and a backwards slope, you have an extremely dangerous situation. You can always reseed the area later, it is better to be safe. Painting contractors all teach this important safety tip to their workers.

Your painting project needs to be carefully planned. To maximize safety you should be properly equipped. Consider the time this project will take and make sure, you are comfortable with it, and you do not want to try to rush the job. It may be that you do not have adequate time or are otherwise unable to do the job safely and in that case, you might want to hire a professional painting contractor. They will be able to do the job much more quickly than you can.

Nicky Taylor is owner of a Marietta painting contractor company. Nicky has operated the 27 year old Marietta painting contractor company and home repair company servicing all North Metro Atlanta Ga. Nicky shares his ideas on selectingMarietta house painters and other improvement topics relating to your home at the above links through articles and other resources. Contains helpful information for anyone planning their own projects.