There is a multitude of reasons as to why we decide to paint our home’s interior; preparation for selling, needing a change and everything in between. Painting can be either a fun and exciting quest or a mundane and annoying chore. No matter your stand point on the situation, you want the painting to job to look good and as with little flaws as possible.
First Choice Painting Contractors would like to offer up a few trade secrets in executing the perfect paint job.
Sanding – A perfectly smooth wall will create a perfectly smooth paint job. Sand away the flaws on the wall until smooth and level. Spackle, apply joint compound patches and make sure the ridges around holes created by nails or such are sanded away. Start from the baseboards and work your way up to the ceiling. Use a fine grit sand paper and an extension pole to reach the higher places. Do not force a lot of pressure on the tool; doing so could make it skid around and create further damage. Sand horizontally around the baseboard and ceiling. To pivot around wood work, utilize the sanding sponge.
Tinted Primer – When you have to do patch work over holes with a spackle or taping mud, those areas will literally suck the moisture out of the paint, leaving those areas looking dull and flat. A term referred to as “flashing“. To avoid this, begin your venture with a primer. White primer isn’t always the best solution. Use a light gray primer, or a tinted primer closely related to the desired paint color. Especially if you are coloring dark, or bright colors, primer is the perfect solution for a spectacular end result, as well as cutting down on work and paint expense. Without the primer, some paint require 3-4 coats to properly cover the pre-existing painted walls.
Tape it off. Often we tape up the baseboards edges, and when we have finished and are conducting the unveiling (removing the tape), we find that dripping managed to run through our taped barrier. Instead of counting on your fingers, use a putty knife to gently press the tape down and secure the edges.
Ceiling protection. Using a flathead screwdriver, scrape the texture away from the crevice of where the ceiling meets the wall. Doing so will create a groove that the paint brush will naturally fall into instead of scuffing up your ceiling. The texture removal is not even noticeable.
Floor protection. Stay away from sheets and plastic covers to protect your floors. Sheets permit seepage while plastic merely captures the spills and is difficult to deal with without making a mess. Use canvas drop cloths instead. They prevent seepage, and still easily capture and soak up spills.
Seamless. To get a remarkably seamless look, do one wall at a time. Where it seems to be more time efficient and tempting to finish all the trim work in the room at one and then follow up with overall painting; that’s precisely when the seams appear. Instead paint one wall at a time. To keep your tools from drying out, alternate tasks until one wall is finished, and then move on to the next wall.
Roller prep. No matter the expense spared on the rollers, the little fuzzy particles always seem to roll off onto your painted wall. To avert this issue, wash a fresh roller in water, add a drop of soap and run your hands up and down the length. This will get rid of those little nuisances.
Brush painting. Load up the brush to paint. So many people will dip their brushes into the paint, only to wipe the bulk of it off the edges, causing you to be painting for longer than necessary. Generously dip your brush in the paint about 1 1/2 inches deep and instead of wipe the paint on the side, allow the heavy drips to fall, and immediately apply paint to the wall.
Professional Residential Painter & Commercial Painting Contractor in Houston Texas
Always apply the paint in a clear area a couple inches from a painted area to avoid dripping, gently push and manipulate the paint towards the painted areas blending the two together. There is considerably more secret painting tips the experienced painter has accumulated over the years. We just touched on a few basics. If you are desiring a freshly painted room, and physical ability hinders you, or you lack the time, know how or simply hate the thought of painting, hire First Choice Painting to take on the task. Call us today for a consultation.