The key ingredient to a great looking painting job begins with the right preparation. In some situations, surface preparation will take longer than the actual painting. Still, if you do it right, the painting process will be so much easier, and it will look very professional.
Follow this easy step by step tutorial on how to prep any room before painting, and you will be on your way to an excellent looking job without being a professional painter or spending much money. Let’s get started.
Work Station
So you have decided to take action to tackle this painting project yourself, congrats. Start by creating a “work station” where you will have all of your tools and supplies and everything you need to complete this project.
Find a corner in the garage, living room, anywhere where you can lay down a tarp, painters drop cloth, or even a few old towels. Make sure your “work station” it’s not in the way of your painting project. Proceed to place all of your tools and supplies on your “work station.”
Tools you will need.
- Tarp, painters drop cloth or old towels
- Painters tape.
- Plastic
- Sanding block
- Sanding pad 100 grit
- Pole sander head
- Painting pole
- Masks
- Microfiber towel or regular mop
- Spackling paste
- Putty knife
Move the furniture.
For this step, make sure you have someone helping you move the furniture or any heavy piece that might be in the way of your painting project. If you are not painting ceilings, move all the furniture to the middle of the room to give you enough space to work.
If you have limited space, at the very least, move the furniture away from the wall far enough where you can fit a step ladder in between.
Protect the floors.
Begin by laying down painters drop cloth (recommended) or any other type of floor protection. Painting can get messy; you want to make sure your floors are protected, especially if you are painting in areas where carpet is present.
Also, make sure to cover the pathway area coming from your “workstation” to your working area as well. If you are not painting any ceilings, place drop cloths next to the walls to be painted.
Protect your furniture.
To save money, you could use other means to protect your furniture. To fully protect your furniture or any valuables from dust and paint splatter, I recommend using plastic; remember, painting is messy. When protecting your valuables with plastic, make sure you give yourself enough slack to cover them completely.
Protect your appliances.
I recommend using plastic to protect all of your appliances, including your refrigerator and any other devices you may have on your kitchen countertop. If you are painting your living room, I will include any electronics like televisions or computers.
When protecting your valuables with plastic, make sure you give yourself enough slack to cover them completely.
Removing light and switch plate covers.
Please do not paint over or around your light plate covers. I have seen many homes where people painted around them, and it looks terrible. The only time this is acceptable is when they have been painted before, and you want them to blend in with the walls.
Start by removing all the plates from the outlets and light switches of the room you plan on painting. To prevent losing the screws, place the plates and screws in a box or a ziplock bag.
If you have little ones around, please make sure to wait and remove the light plates as the last step before painting. Place back the light-plates as soon as you are finished with the painting.
Removing wall paintings and picture frames.
Before removing any wall paintings or wall decorations, make sure you take a picture. It will be so much easier to re-hang all your paintings and picture frames after you are done. If you have decided not to re-hang your picture frames back on the wall, pull all the nails, and spackle all of the nail holes.
Spackle nail holes and imperfections.
Walk around the room, with a light if possible, and inspect the walls. Look for imperfections like dents, nail holes, nail pops, and cracks. Depending on how bad the flaws are, you might need to spackle twice. Please pay special attention in places above doors and window casings where there might be old bracket holes.
Sand the spackled areas.
Make sure the spackle is completely dry. The drying time will depend on the product you are using; some have a drying indication property. The drying time is also going to vary depending on how deep and extensive the repairs are. At the very least, give it 20 up to 30 min allowance drying time.
Use a medium sanding block in all of the spackled areas. The secret to an excellent sanding job is to focus on sending the spackled edges to make them blend in with the wall and lightly sand the middle until it feels smooth.
Spot- Priming
This step is crucial. Many homeowners and some professionals do not prime their spackled repairs. The spackle creates a new “surface” that absorbs paint at a different rate than the original walls. If you paint these repairs without proper preparation, it will result in a shadowy look everywhere spackle was applied.
To spot-prime, take any water-based primer, brush, and roller. Go around the room and start painting every area you applied the spackling. Let the primer dry before you apply your final coat of paint. Like I said before, this is crucial, do not skip this step.
Small TIP for you. Instead of using and having white spots from the primer, everywhere. Mix in some of your top-coat paint into the primer you are using to spot-prime. This will ensure your final coat will cover all the repairs.
Something worth mentioning, if you are applying flat paint on your walls, you do not have to worry about this step so much. If you plan on using eggshell or satin sheens, you must spot-prime all the areas where spackle was used.
Pole-sand wall to create a smooth surface.
Passing your hand over a smooth wall gives you a sense of professionalism. To have a smooth finish, you need to pole-sand the walls before applying your paint.
Start the process by placing the 100 grit sandpaper to your sanding head and attach the sanding head to your painting extension pole. The idea here is to do a light sanding of the walls.
Use an up and down motion as if you were rolling a wall. A small 10×10 room should not take more than 5 minutes to complete. Make sure you pole-sand all the areas you will be painting.
Dust- off walls and trim.
At this point in the process, you have created lots of dust. Use a microfiber, recommended, or any other old towel. Wrap it around you’re sending head and use the same motion as if you were rolling the walls up and down.
Do this on every wall you are planning on painting. Remember also to clean the baseboards and trim work.
Caulking
Now that you have clean baseboards and trim work. It would be best if you caulked all gaps and cracks on the trim. Check your window and door casings for cracks, especially where the window casing meets the walls.
If you see any crank, apply caulk as need it and let it dry. Buy the paintable and crack resistant caulk. Some caulk you can buy that has a 20-30 minutes drying time. Completing this step will make your painting job look so much better; please do not skip this step.
Mask off with painter’s tape.
We are in the home stretch. Most of your heavy work is almost done. But no time to get excited yet. Now it’s time to mask and tape any areas you are not painting.
For example, if you are painting walls but not painting the trim, go ahead and mask the trim and any woodwork in the room.
If you plan on taping the ceilings before painting your walls, this is the time to do it. Go ahead and place the painter’s tape as closest as you can to the walls.
It is perfectly normal to see some paint bleeding through the tape. Make sure you have some additional paint for touch-ups.
Conclusion.
Follow these steps to make your prepping job faster and easier. Most importantly, it will save you tons of time by the time you are ready to paint your room. Painting, in reality, is not hard. The secret to a professional-looking job relies on excellent surface preparation. Let’s get it done.