Painting Mistakes NOT to Make This Holiday Season
The holiday season is rapidly approaching and if you’re contemplating some pre-holiday updates around the house, painting may be on your list. For those who fall into this category, the following these tips from our painting contractors can help you achieve a more professional job.
Cheap Supplies Will Yield An Inferior Finished Product
If you’re going the DIY route on your painting project, make sure you invest in good quality rollers and paintbrushes. They’ll provide better coverage, which will reduce the amount of paint you use, and they’ll last longer, so you won’t have to replace them for every DIY project. When it comes to painting supplies, the adage that “you get what you pay for” is very true. Although it may be more expensive initially, you’ll save money overall.
Are You Skimping on Prep Work?
When you’re excited about revamping your room, it’s easy to want to see the finished product, so you skip on preparing the surfaces for painting. Proper prep work is crucial to a quality, finished product, however, so curb your excitement and prep all your surfaces properly. This should include cleaning the walls, patching cracks and other blemishes, removing peeling paint, and patching nail holes. Make sure that all of your patching plaster has completely dried before you start to paint.
If you have woodwork or other areas that you don’t want to be painted, be sure to use painter’s tape on them. Use painter’s tape rather than masking tape because the painter’s tape has a low tack, which means that it won’t remove the underlying surface when you remove it. Using painter’s tape will also ensure that you have crisp, clean lines that don’t have bleed-through. If you seal the edges with a putty knife after you apply the painter’s tape, you’ll have cleaner, crisper lines when you remove the tape.
Be Sure To Use Primer.
Using primer will not only save on the amount of paint you use, but it will also cover the coat beneath it so that you don’t have bleed-through. Your finished paint job will look more like the paint sample and your job will look more professional. A coat of primer will also help hide any flaws in the surface and you’ll have a more even color.
Are You Painting Over Your Wallpaper?
For optimal results, you should remove any existing wallpaper before you start to paint. However, some people want to paint their existing wallpaper, and it’s becoming a trend to paint over wallpaper.
If this is the route you decide to take, be sure to use an oil-based primer as part of the surface prep. Oil-based paints may be more time-consuming for cleanup and you may be reluctant to use the chemicals necessary, but if you use a water-based primer and paint, the water may reactivate the glue on the wallpaper and cause your wallpaper to fall off the wall. This would be counterproductive at the very least, and it’ll cost you time and money, so be sure to invest in oil-based paint and primer if you’re painting over wallpaper, and make sure that your rollers and brushes will accommodate oil-based paint..
Are You Using The Correct Finish?
Some paints are more appropriate than others for specific areas. If you’re painting a high-traffic area, you should avoid flat paint because it’s generally not as durable as a semi-gloss or satin paint. Both semi-gloss and satin finishes respond better to cleaning than do flat finishes. If you’re painting your bedroom, a flat finish is fine. If you’re painting your toddler’s bedroom, you might want to use a satin or semi-gloss finish in case you need to wipe down the walls periodically.
What Type Of Finish Is On the Existing Surface?
The finish on the surface that you’re painting is an integral part of your finished paint job. If you’re painting over a high-gloss surface, you’ll need to abrade the surface lightly before you paint. Be sure to thoroughly remove the sanding dust when you wipe down the walls so that your finished surface isn’t full of dust, although if you lightly abrade it, your new finish will have a slightly textured feel. If you don’t lightly sand high-gloss paint before applying another coat of paint though, your new paint won’t adhere to the wall and will start to peel off.
Do You Have A Good Technique?
A good application process will make your paint job look more professional and have a better quality finish. Drips and runs are the hallmarks of a DIY paint job and you don’t want that. An interior house painting contractor will dip his paintbrush into the paint to only about one-third of the length of the bristles and not overload the roller. Your roller and your brush will have enough paint on them without creating drips and runs, and you’ll have a better finish on your walls. Always start at the top of the wall and work down, not the other way around. This will enable you to catch any drips or runs as they happen, and it will also prevent you from brushing against wet paint.
Do You Hate Cleanup?
When you’ve finally finished painting your walls, don’t procrastinate with cleaning up afterward. Those expensive rollers and brushes that you bought for this project should be immediately cleaned with dish detergent and warm water or with solvent if you’re using oil-based paint. If you delay cleaning your painting equipment, the paint will harden and your new equipment will become useless. Include cleanup time in your schedule so that you can use your equipment for your next project.
If The Above Sounds Like Lots of Work…..
If you’ve decided that the DIY method is more involved than you thought and it’s a lot more work than you thought, then call a professional painter! If you’re wondering are there “painters near me”, then call Hall’s Quality Painting in Fernandina Beach FL and let us help you. We’re among the best residential painters in the Fernandina Beach FL area and we’d love to help you get your home ready for the holidays. Be sure to call soon though, because many of our customers want to spruce up their homes for the upcoming holidays, and we want to ensure that you’re on our schedule.
We’ll be happy to provide you with a no-obligation, interior house painter quote so that you can compare, but we’re sure that you’ll agree that the best DIY paint job is the one you hire out to professional residential painters! Holidays can be stressful enough, you don’t need to add to your stress level and have a less-than-professional looking paint job on your house. We’re so sure that you’ll be completely happy with our work that we offer a 100% guarantee. If you’re not 100% satisfied with our work, then your paint is free! For some of the best inside house painters in the area, call Hall’s Quality Painting at (904) 441-0598 and let us get started on your holiday update today! Never again do business with a typical paint contractor, call us today for an appointment or an estimate. We:
- Are Family Owned & Operated
- Offer Free Estimates
- Are Licensed & Insured
- Guarantee Your Satisfaction!
We even warranty our work, so call us today or visit us online here.
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