How To Paint A Storage Shed

Video of Painting a Shed

Painting is the final step in building your shed. This article teaches you how to paint a shed to make it look good and last a long time.

Welcome to this shed painting tutorial. Here you will learn about the steps to painting your storage shed.

Today we will show you everything you need to know to paint your shed. You will learn how to caulk nail heads and joints, paint the trim, cut in the paint around the trim and paint the main body of your backyard shed.

step 1 SET THE NAIL HEADS AND CLEAN THE SURFACES

The first step to painting the shed is to make sure that the surfaces are clean and any nail heads are set into the wood.

Look at each surface for any nail heads that are sticking up and use a hammer to nail them flush with the surface. If there is sawdust on the surface of the shed you should take a wet rag and wash the surfaces.

step 2 PRIMING THE SHED WALLS

The second step is to prime the surfaces of the shed. Primer is designed to help the paint bind to the wood surface. It also seals the wood surface so that the paint will go on and dry evenly which allows the finished paint coat to cure properly.

You will also use less paint to paint a primed surface than when painting a surface that has not been primed..

The siding panels and trim we used came with a pre-primed finish so we will not need to install primer on this shed.

If you need to prime your shed you will install the primer on all the un primed surfaces

step 3 INSTALL CAULKING ON THE SHED

The third step is to apply caulking over nail heads and cracks. Nail heads can be left un-caulked but by applying a bit of caulk you can make them almost disappear.

Prepare the caulking tube by cutting off the end of the tip with a sharp knife at about a 45 degree angle. You want to cut very close to the end so that you have a ⅛ inch diameter opening.

Start by working on a few nail heads at a time. Apply a dap of caulk to as many nail heads you can without it drying before you finish. Then use a wet finger to push the caulk into the cracks and make the surface of the caulking level with the surface of the wood without creating a concave surface.

Now take a wet paint brush and brush the surface of the caulking so the caulking gets a brushed texture and the caulking on the wood surface blends in with the wood pattern.

Installing caulking on the corner joint between the trim and the shed walls will create a nice finish to your paint job.

Caulked corners are much easier to paint a straight line on when painting the trim a different color from the main body.

Place the tip of the caulking tube on the corner joint and apply caulking into the corner while moving the caulking tip along the corner joint. The trick to applying caulking is to apply the minimal amount of caulk needed to fill the joint.

Try to keep moving along the corner joint at the same rate of speed so the bead of caulk is even.

Now take a wet rag and use it to get your finger wet and run your finger along the corner joint to press the caulking into the joint and smooth the edges on the trim and siding. You may need to periodically clean your finger on the wet rag and refresh the wetness on your fingertip.

step 4 PAINT THE SHED EXTERIOR TRIM

The fourth step is to paint the trim. When painting you should always start high and work down. This allows gravity that pulls paint drips down to help you instead of work against you.

Try to work on one wall of a time and paint all the trim on one wall before moving to the next. This reduces the times you need to move your equipment and materials.

Start at the roof eves and apply paint to the trim and soffit. Use long strokes when brushing and work from one end of the piece of trim to the other so that you are always installing new paint on top of the wet paint edge.

It is easier to paint the shed before the roof drip edge is installed.

After the fascia and soffit are painted you can move down to the corner trim. Start at the top and work your way down. The paint should fully cover the trim and slightly go onto the shed walls.

The door trim is painted in the same manner as the corner trim. You will need to tape off the hinges so that they do not get paint on them. Apply tape to the hinge surfaces and then use a utility knife to cut off any pieces of tape that touch the shed walls.

Make sure to remove the tape as soon as the paint is dry.

You will typically need to apply two coats of trim paint to make sure that you have even coverage.

Check the application instructions on your paint can to verify how soon after the first coat of paint is applied that you can apply the second coat. Remember that factors like air temperature, humidity and wind will change the speed at which the paint will dry.

step 5 CUT THE BODY PAINT IN AROUND THE TRIM

The fifth step is to cut in the main color around the trim. This creates a clean line between the trim paint and the main body paint.

Install 1 inch painters tape on the trim side of the corner joint. Use long pieces of tape to make sure that you get a straight line. Stick one end of the tape to the trim with the edge in the corner joint and pull a few feet of tape out and align it with the joint and then press it into the joint.

Use a 2 inch angled paint brush to cut in around the trim. Once again, work from the top down to keep ahead of any drips. After getting a good line along the corner between the trim and the wall you will paint a 2 inch wide strip on the shed wall.

Cut in all the trim to shed wall connections before moving on to paint the shed walls.

step 6 PAINT THE MAIN BODY OF THE SHED WALLS

The sixth step is to use a paint roller to paint the main body of the shed.

When using a roller you will work from one end of a shed wall to the other, load the roller with paint and then roll the paint on in full lines from the top of the wall to the bottom before moving down the wall.

Roll up and down several times to make sure that you get paint in all the surface variations. Sometimes it helps to lift the roller and spin it so that the same part of the roller is not always on the same part of the wall surface.

Load the roller with paint again and paint the next line in the same way. Overlap the first line by about 2 inches. This allows any new paint to easily mix with the paint that was previously applied and reduces the chance of roller lines showing up when the paint dries.

You always want to apply new paint onto the wet edge of the paint you previously applied.

Work your way around the shed and paint all the surfaces. You will typically need to apply two coats of paint to make sure that you have even coverage.

Remove the tape after the second coat of paint is applied.

EXTRA STUFF
If you are not able to get a straight line between the trim and the shed wall using the freehand method you may use tape to mask off the trim.

It is easier to paint the fascia before the roof drip edge is installed but we installed this roof before painting to dry the shed in before a rain storm. We lifted the drip edge up with a spackle or joint knife and then painted under it.

It is easier to paint the shed before the roof drip edge and door are installed but we wanted to get the roof on this shed before a rain storm so we will pry the drip edge up to paint under it and tape off the door hardware to paint around it..