Whether this is your first home, or your fiftieth home, painting is something you are going to have to face at some stage.
Whether you are looking at needing your interior or exterior painted, in Colorado there are a few common problems that can be overcome by professional painting tips like using the right paint, the right finish and the right surface to start with.
Do It Yourself or Hire The Professionals?
Although there is no doubt that there is a difference between an experienced paintjob and one undertaken by an amateur, many home owners decide to forgo the perceived expense of hiring a professional painting team and DIY the job themselves. This is a great option if you are looking at a straight forward repaint that requires little prep work.
Often home owners will choose to repaint the interior of their house focusing on one room at a time as they are able to fit in the time, budget and energy.
One of the key things to ensure a professional finish is to make sure that you are starting with a smooth surface. If you are repainting over old paint, old wallpaper or uneven surfaces your final paint won’t look as good as you would like.
A professional will generally spend as much time on preparing a surface for painting as they will actually painting.
Common Problems and Their Solutions
Paint Bubbles & Blisters
As mentioned, a professional painter doesn’t just walk up to your house and start splashing paint around. Preparation is the key. Generally, you’ll find that if your paint has patches of what look like blisters that then surface being painted wasn’t clean and/or dry.
Unfortunately, there isn’t an easy fix, you will at the very least, need to scrape the area and sand back the paint to ensure that you have removed the blistering paint. With luck you will get away with ensuring that the area is dry and then applying a primer before painting. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paint#Failure
However, sometimes the issue is caused by seeping damp, a leak or another source of moisture that will need to be addressed before attempting to paint again. It may simply be a case of needing to replace that single sheet of plasterboard if there is no underlaying cause for the dampness.
This is more likely to be the case if the cause of the stain, dirt or damp has been caused by an external source that has affected the area under the paint.
In a kitchen area this might be something like cooking oil that has leached into the wood over time, in the bathroom you might find constant steam has caused a moisture build up, or in a child’s bedroom there might have been an ‘artistic accident’ that has caused discoloration and permanent damage.
Although a professional painter will generally be able to see these problems and rectify them before painting for most DIYers this is unfortunately simply a case of trial, error and lessons learnt.
Paint Drips, Runs and Sags
This is one of the most common areas for first time painters, often caused by simply having too much paint on your brush or roller, or by paint that has been thinned too much.
Depending on the color of paint, and the color of the surface you are painting over, you will need to apply several coats. M
ost professionals will allow for a primer, a base coat, and a top coat at the very least, often a secondary coat will be needed before the top coat is applied as well.
In between each coat you need to allow for the paint to fully dry before applying the next layer – and this is often why professional painters will work on more than one room at a time, in order to maximize their efficiency and to get your home back in a useable condition as fast as possible.
Another reason for your paint to have the appearance of sagging down the wall might be due to overly humid conditions, or painting on overly shinny surfaces. If you are in somewhere like Colorado you will likely wish to wait until warmer months to do DIY painting, however professional Denver CO painters will be able to work with whatever weather they have as they are more familiar with drying times.
With luck you will have noticed drips and sagging spots before the paint dries and have time to spread them out with your brush or roller. If they have already dried, you will likely need to sand the area back and repaint. Or find a nice piece of art to strategically place over the area.
Splattering
Although, like drips and runs, this is commonly caused when you have overloaded your roller with too much paint, it can also happen when you have used the incorrect paint for your surface. Obviously the first solution is to use less paint and accept that you will need to do another thinner coat.
However, if you are using the wrong type of paint for your surface hopefully you haven’t purchased too many tins, and if you have, they are hopefully returnable.
When you are purchasing your paint talk to your paint supply person and explain what you will be painting, what condition it is in, what use the area gets and then listen to their advice. Ceiling paint, roofing paint, interior paint and exterior paint all have different properties and different levels of longevity for their designed purpose.
Although you might have got the handle on matt, semi-gloss and gloss, you need to ensure that you know which type of paint is going to work best for your weatherboard exterior or to brighten up your tiled bathroom.
Paint That Stains Easily
Although there is a preference for older homes to have a semi-gloss interior paint to reduce the imperfections that are noticeable, the more porous the paint the easier it is to stain.
Although this may not be a concern if you do not have pets or children, the simple act of a bag dragging or bumping into a wall should not leave you with black marks that can’t be removed (although you can try these). When purchasing your paint talk about satin options and quality primers.
If you are hiring a professional painter, they should make suggestions to you about what will fit the purpose best.
