When you hire a professional painter who seems exorbitant, it’s important to realise that they are charging you for the service as well as the knowledge they have. Ignorance ceases to be bliss when you have to start making decisions beyond the colour you want for the kitchen.
We’ve gathered a few tips and tricks from skilled professional painters and we’ll share them with you below. These tips will help you:
Have an idea of what the project will entail
If you know that you want to paint your home to look a certain way but you do not know how to arrive at the result you desire, it’s easy to feel inconvenienced and/or irritated at the demands of the painter you’ve hired.
Bypass your irritation by gaining some knowledge of what goes on and what goes into your painting project, thereby allowing you to
Plan accordingly
Even if you aren’t a stickler for details – though all money-spending adults should be – you should want to know enough to help you plan.
Apart from the money you’ll have to spend, there will be inconveniences in your home like moving furniture and paint smells that you’ll have to deal with.
Guide your DIY efforts
If you’ve ever desired to undertake a painting project on your own – maybe repainting your bedroom or kitchen or living room – these tips will help to guide your efforts. You will know how to choose the right tools and resources, the best painting practices, etc.
Now that we’ve covered why you need them, keep reading for the tips!
1. Clean the Space Thoroughly
Painting over dirty walls is a sure way to get poor results. When walls or surfaces in general are dirty, dusty or greasy, it prevents proper adhesion of paint. When paint doesn’t rest properly on a surface, it doesn’t last as long as it should. Professional painters know this.
To prepare your walls and surfaces before painting, wipe them thoroughly using water and a clean cloth or a sponge. Next, wipe down with a dry cloth. The aim is to make sure the wall is as neat and dry as possible before painting.
2. Cover Furniture and Floors
Most people simply move the furniture when they want to paint. While the gesture nobly shows that you care enough about your furniture to protect them, just moving isn’t enough.
Paint properties contain substances that may stain your furniture irreparably when there are accidental spills or splatters.
Your floors can also be affected by the paint spills and it’s well-known that floors are hard to clean, especially when rugged or carpeted.
You don’t want permanent stains or even smells as the badge of honour for a house well painted.
Professional painters recommend that you cover your floors and furniture with big plastic bags held in place by duct tape of car covers which are tough and highly protective.
3. Use Quality Painting Resources and Tools
A common misconception people have about painting is that any tool will do. Absolutely not if you want to have excellent and jaw-dropping results. The quality of tools and paint you use matters as much as the colours you select and everything else that goes into the project.
When you buy rollers and brushes, don’t buy the cheap and coarse kinds. They quickly get frizzy and the hairs start falling off early, putting your desire for a flawless finish at risk.
As much as lies with you, endeavour to use good quality paint as well. Poor quality paints will have you painting again in another year or less when they start to chalk and flake. Good paints will even help repair deficiencies in your walls and ceilings.
This point also goes for the human resource involved – the painter. Never hire cheap, unskilled labour. You will end up frustrated and possibly having to spend more to get a professional to repair any damage that’s been done.
4. Wash Rollers Before Use
After talking about high quality tools, it’s only right that we tell you this: always wash your rollers/brushes before use. Yes, even if they’re new.
There’s no telling how long those items were on the store shelf before you purchased them. You should wash to ensure they are clean and to relax the fibres into submission.
You want your rollers and brushes malleable enough to roll paint this way and that, and a good encounter with water will help out with that!
5. Use an Extension Pole
A lot of rollers and brushes have short handles. This means that you can only reach a short distance at a time. It also means that you will often have to dip into the bucket and reach up often. This will definitely increase the probability of spills and splatters.
To avoid all those stressful situations, add an extension pole to your brush or roller handle so you can a) reach higher, b) avoid unnecessary spills, and c) conserve your energy.
It’s also great to have longer handles to effectively paint using the W method. But we’ll tell you about that much farther down.
6. Don’t Paint Straight from the Tin
You’ve researched and bought a great quality paint that gives you joy and you can’t wait to DIY this thing! Gloves on, crack open the paint and in goes the roller, right?
Wrong!
Paint in the can is usually very thick. So, you should thin it out as advised by your paint vendor. To do this well, pour the paint out into a different work bucket and stir. When you do this, you will also have mixed the paint to an even consistency that can spread easily.
Also, you don’t want to lose all your paint if the can accidentally tumbles down, do you?
7. Finish One Wall Before Moving to the Next
If you’re painting more than a single wall in a single space, this tip is crucial.
Finishing one wall before moving to another ensures a neat job as you eliminate the risk of unpleasant looking marks that must have dried in between sessions of painting if you were simply jumping from one wall to another with no proper sequence.
8. Professional Painters Use Long, Smooth Strokes
If you’re looking for that flawless finish, that don’t-know-where-one-stroke-ends-and-another-begins kind of look, use long, smooth strokes as against short dabbing motions.
When long strokes dry, it makes the space look as seamless as though a giant roller ran through it. When dabs dry, they look unappealing and unprofessional not to mention untidy.
This is another reason you should use long-handled rollers, like professional painters do.
9. Use the W Style
A good number of professional painters adopt this method when painting in order to avoid painting on and then taking it off.
Roll your paint in a “w” shape when you start, then paint the insides and around it in a square form with – here it is again – long, smooth strokes for tidiness and precision. Repeat until the entire wall is covered.
Here’s a side tip: paint your ceilings and trims before doing this!
10. Caulk!
To caulk is to seal holes or cracks with a waterproof sealer (sometimes silicone) to prevent leakage and repel moisture. Also, it makes your trims and ceilings look better without the visible holes or mould patches.
Don’t forget to caulk before you paint because, as we’ve been saying all day, it will definitely give off that “I was professionally done” look.
Just In Case You Didn’t Already Know This Other Stuff…
Just in case you’re making your project a DIY one, don’t forget to use safety masks and gloves and get a painter’s tape to protect the edges of your walls, windows, and trims.
Alright. Now, you’re ready to paint like a professional!
