Mural Wall Preparation

This is a guide on how to best prepare exterior walls for our Greetings Tour murals. A properly prepared wall will ensure a vibrant & longer lasting mural. The paint that we use is top quality exterior enamel for commercial purposes. Please keep in mind that there’s a lot of longevity factors based on different types of build materials, colors, directional face and environments. Our postcard murals are meant to be timeless and inspired by a vintage aesthetics. In our case, a natural distress actually improves the look & concept with time! We recommend having walls fully prepped at least one week prior to the mural start date due to the unknown factor of weather. Check out our mural maintenance tips after the painting.

 Step 1 - CLEANING

Proper cleaning of the wall is the MOST important step. We would recommend pressure washing to remove any flaking existing paint or loose debris. Use a lower pressure setting so you don’t damage the grout. If you don’t have access to a pressure washer, you can also use soapy water with a wire brush on a handle.

 Step 2 - REPAIRS

Fixing any existing gutter leaks or structural issues noticed after the cleaning. Often times, this could include mortar repair, stucco, caulking seams, etc. The color matching is not as important in areas that will be painted over. Please allow adequate time for any masonry repairs to properly cure before priming.

 Step 3 - PRIMING

Once the surface is cleaned and repaired, we recommend using a high quality primer. Unless noted otherwise, please use a WHITE color base for all primers. The primer can be sprayed and then back roll with a thicker nap to really get into the grooves. If you don’t have access to a sprayer, you can just roll it as well. If the artwork doesn’t fill the entire wall and you need a straight line, you can use a chalk line or level as a guide. Don’t worry about it being perfect as we can clean it up when we paint the actual mural on top. Assuming that the surface is masonry (concrete, stucco, cinderblocks, bricks, etc.) here are some quality products that we recommend:

• LOXON Concrete & Masonry Primer

• ZINSSER Bulls Eye 1-2-3 Water Based Primer

We would only recommend using any oil based primer on raw metal surfaces.

Additional Video Resources

For post-mural completion UV & anti-graffiti coating information, check out our Mural Maintenance page.

Disclaimer: We are not licensed contractors and we always recommend to consult with a local expert when possible.