Interior Painting Tips

Interior painting is perhaps the best and easiest way to give a fresh and better look to your house. But if you are not careful, the whole painting project can turn into an unpleasant experience. So, next time when you paint, make sure to learn new techniques, buy and prepare the essential tools and learn site cleanup skills before beginning the painting work.

Here, have a look at some effective and easy DIY interior painting tips and tricks from Interior Drywall Solutions [IDS] crew members that will get you better-looking and fresh walls:

The Difference Between Commercial Painters & House Painters

Commercial Painters

Commercial painters are usually suitable for handling large scale painting projects. They generally consist of several members with vast experience in different fields. These people are also equipped with adequate resources and infrastructure and always make sure to finish the job on correct time.

Commercial painters commonly deal with big scale painting jobs, for example, large stores, public sites, recreational areas and shopping malls.

House Painters

When it comes to decorating, renovating or painting residential or little commercial buildings, hiring the house painters prove to perfect choice. They are usually a group of 3-4 members and are best suitable for handling smaller painting jobs. Although these people are self-employed and handle only few interior painting decoration projects at times, but they offer excellent house interior painting services that are second to none.

Residential painters make sure to complete the project within their client’s budget and scheduled time-frame. Consequently, they are the best option when it comes to renovating or painting the interior of a home.

Choosing and buying the suitable paint color

When it comes to paint selection, ensure that the paint color go perfectly with your house interior walls. Generally, pros prefer to use water-based paints rather than using oil-based paints. This is because latex is less inflammable, but oil based paints can catch flames very easily. However, you may use a paint that is most suitable to give better look to your interior walls. But if you use oil-based paints make sure to keep them away from sparks and heat. Thus, you should ensure to switch off all the electrical items.

When buying the paint, always try the sample first. You can better buy a board of foam core from your local paint store and then try your paint choices on it and choose the most appropriate one. Before purchasing gallons of paint, make sure to take measurements of the surface to be painted. This will give you an idea of the amount of paint to be used. However, remember that you will require more paint to smooth out the rough textured surfaces.

When priming the walls and ceiling or painting a drywall, make sure to purchase low VOC (Volatile Organic Compounds). Because using it will minimize paint adhesion and helps in blocking the patches or spots on the walls.

Proper preparation of the surface

In order to get good-looking, stable and durable interior walls, it is important that the surface to be painted should be dry, clean and smooth. For this, make sure to eliminate surface imperfections and fill every crack and dent on the surface. You will need tools like putty knives, paint brushes, fine sandpaper, wood filler, spackle and ladders.

If it is a cracked surface, it can be difficult to hide it, no matter what is the cost, color or thickness of the paint you will use.

Beginning the Painting work

Before you start to work on the painting project, make sure to prepare the site to be painted – 

• First of all, make sure to remove all the mirrors, photos, hardware’s and wall painting from the site to be painted. The hardware’s which can’t be removed, should be covered with newspaper sheets or tape.
• In order to protect your furniture and floors from any paint stains, use cotton cloths or canvas. These are usually more long lasting than plastic drop cloths which often make the floors slippery.
• After this, smooth out the rough wall surfaces with the help of fine sandpaper and scarp the paint that has peeled.
• The pros generally recommend that it is easy to tape off the walls than the trims. So, ensure to paint the trim first and cover them with loose tape.
• Never paint from wet to dry as it can leave roller marks on the surface. If you want to get a good texture, use a mixture of two colors.
• If the paint splatters on the surface or walls, while painting the trims, don’t get tensed. As you can remove it while painting the ceilings and walls again to give a perfect texture and great looking finish.
• While painting the doors, start with the edges in order to get a clean finishing and for ceiling use stepladders or extension poles.

Site Clean up

• When the painting work is done, cover the paint containers with the lid and use a dish cleaner or brush to clean the paint brushes. Cover them with plastic covers after the color runs-off.
• After this wait for the paint to get dry and then pull the tape off the trims. If there are any stains or blotches of paint on the windows or doors, then you can use paint thinner.
• Finally, if you have any left-over or extra paint, you can seal and store it to use in future.