A good painting job starts with proper preparation. This important step ensures that your paint project is a success (or a failure!). We at ABC Handyman Victoria believe in proper prep work and, in this article, we are sharing some pro tips on preparation for interior painting.
Protect your floors and cover up the furniture
If you can, remove all the furniture from the room completely. This will make your painting job that much easier. If you don’t have room to spare, then just bring all the furniture to the center of the room and cover it up with a plastic sheet. Save yourself some clean-up time and cover the floors with a canvas drop sheet or a plastic sheet. Water-based paint is quite easily removed from hard surfaces, but would you want to spend an hour scraping tiny splatters off the floors?
Remove fixtures, hardware, and outlet covers
Remove all fixtures, hooks, and outlet/ switch covers from the wall surfaces. Of course, you may try to paint around those items, but, unless you have surgeon's hands, most likely you will paint over them making your job look unprofessional. Also, when you decide to replace an outlet cover, it may pull the drywall paper or paint along with it. Save yourself some trouble and remove what you can from the wall surfaces before painting.
Inspect and fix the wall surfaces
Check the surfaces for cracks, holes, dents, etc. Fill the imperfections with a fast-drying spackle. Remove excess spackling with a putty knife. A pro tip is to use a time-indicating spackle, such as DryDex Spackling. As it dries, its color changes from pink to white, so you can visually see that it has dried. Sand the repaired areas flush with the wall using very fine sandpaper, a sanding sponge, or a piece of rough fabric like painters’ gloves.
If you have any flaking or peeling paint areas, scrape them with a putty knife. After the chipping paint is removed, the surface will be uneven. Fill in the shallow spots with quick-setting spackling. Use a putty knife to spread a layer of spackling on the damaged areas, and, once it has dried, sand the surface flush with the wall.
Clean walls
It is important to remove any dirt or dust off the walls, otherwise, the paint will not adhere properly and will likely peel off. Dry debris such as dust, pet hair, or sawdust can be wiped off with a microfiber cloth. To remove sticky residue or to clean oily, grimy areas (common in the kitchen area or around light switches), spray some Krud Kutter or a similar grease-cleaning product. Normally, it removes the grease right off. For some old sticky residue, you may need to leave it on for a few minutes. Then wipe off with a damp cloth.
Hope these painting prep tips were helpful to you. If you would rather give this job to a pro, we at ABC Handyman Victoria are happy to help you with your interior painting projects! Email us at abchandyman.vic@gmail.com or call/text 250-532-5597 to get a free quote.
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