Surface Prep
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Surface Prep
Get Your Prep Work Done Before You Begin Painting
As the winter snows fade and springtime approaches, you decide that it is finally time to tackle the task of repainting the family bedrooms. Most of the time, the actual act of painting is the easiest part of the job.
You will find that the really difficult part is all of the paint prep work that you have to do before you can begin the painting job. So, exactly, what does paint prep work entail?
Paint preparation begins with a basic clean up of the area to be painted. Basically this means getting stuff out of the way. Move all of the heavy furniture either out of the room or to the center of the room and cover it with a tarp or drop cloth. You will need drop covers on the floor as well. Then, remove all of the pictures and other wall coverings from the wall.
Taking care of any cracks or hairline fractures in the wall is next. The beginning of a paint job is the best time to cover up these small cracks. Quick drying plaster or patching compound will make quick work of these.
Let the newly plastered area dry. Sometimes, to smooth out the plastered area, you will have to sand over it lightly. If the walls and ceiling of the room have dust on them, clean the walls with a damp rag. This will give the paint better adhesion.
Painting tape is one of the more useful items that you will be using. Take some fo the painting tape and cover the edges of the areas that you intend to paint. This includes things such as the edges of windows, window sills, electric outlets, lighting, and so on. Many people use masking tape for this purpose, but painting tape is easier to use and is usually easy to remove when you are done without damaging your paint job. Of course, if you have a steady hand and are a pretty decent painter, you can skip the masking part altogether.
You will find that you don't always need to prime the walls. At times priming is absolutely necessary and other times you can do without it. If the surface is an extremely dry surface that hasn't been painted in a while, it may simply soak up your first paint layer forcing you to give the wall a second coat. In this case, it is cheaper to simply paint the walls first with a coat of primer and then simply paint over the primer.
Sometimes you will be painting a lighter color, such as white, over a darker color like black. In this case, unless you use a primer coat, the dark color will likely show through. Otherwise, if the wall is in good shape, you may only need to put primer over the areas where you have patched. If this is the case, you can use what is known as a hot dog roller to quickly distribute the primer to the appropriate places. Primer should take no more than an hour or two to dry, and after that, painting should be a snap.
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