Planning on Painting? 5 Tips When Painting Your Home

A fresh coat of exterior paint can transform even the most run-down “fixer-upper” into a stylish “classic,” dramatically boosting curb appeal and adding thousands of dollars to your home’s resale value. Even if you’re not trying to sell your house, a professional-grade exterior paint job can protect it from the elements — wind, rain, mold and mildew — or at the very least, make your neighbors jealous. If you are planning on painting,  Ive got 5 tips when painting your home Id like to share with you.

I spent a few of my youthful years painting for a living. I picked up a lot of tips and tricks, that not only save time but improve the end result. Lets go through some of these learned lessons and painting tips to make this task simpler.  With good preparation and a few tricks of the trade, painting interior ceilings and walls is a simple process that can yield professional results. Lets take a look at my 5 Tips When Painting Your Home

Sand, Caulk and Prep

To get a super smooth finish on your doors, windows and timber trim, give each coat a light sand before applying the next coat. The undercoat raises the grain on raw timber and sanding will knock this off and flatten out any brush strokes. If you’re using gloss paint, sanding after the first finishing coat will knock off some of the shine and help the final coat stick. I always recommend sanding and using a caulk to fill in any small blemishes. Use good caulk, the cheap stuff shrinks.

Quality Equipment

Good paint brushes feel ridiculously expensive so for a long time I wouldn’t spend the money. Then, I bought one of these rubber gripped edging brushes, and the difference was amazing. The biggest tip you can give a painter is to buy the best quality brushes and rollers you can afford. Good quality brushes leave less brush marks and give you better coverage. Cheap equipment is more likely to drop bristles and fibres, so you have to spend time picking them out and going over the job again. They’ll also last a lot longer, saving you money in the long run. Properly cared for, quality painting equipment will last for years.Good paint brushes feel ridiculously expensive so for a long time I wouldn’t spend the money. Then, I bought one of these rubber gripped edging brushes, and the difference was amazing.

Good Paint, 2 Coats

number 2 on my 5 Tips When Painting Your Home is get good quality paint and enough for two coats of paint, then paint in the same order as you applied the primer—ceiling first and then walls. Brush or roll from top to bottom. If the primer you chose was of good quality, you may need only one coat of paint. You will always want 2 coats of paint, this is a rule you can’t bend. Primer 1 Paint 2. With good high quality paint you can get away with just 2 coat and skipp the primer.

Use a Rolling Screen in a 5 Gallon Bucket

You can try to Line your roller pan by putting a plastic grocery sack or trash sack (inside out if it has writing on it) on the paint tray. Then you can just invert the sack when you’re done and throw it away. You can also line with foil, but the plastic bag is quicker, easier and results in less mess. If you’re taking a break or switching to a different task, you don’t have to spend time washing out the brush or roller, just wrap it up in cling wrap. Load it up with paint first and make sure the air can’t get in, which will dry out the paint. I always just go straight for a roller screen in a 5 gallon bucket, its quick and easy.

This doesn’t mean you need to buy five gallons of paint. Instead of pouring from a gallon into a tray, you can dump the whole gallon into a five-gallon bucket with a paint screen. It’s far easier and less messy to load paint this way. I still use a tray if I’m doing a small space—like a hallway or bathroom—but if I know I’m going to use a gallon or more of paint, a bucket is the way to go.

Use a Lined Pail for Cutting In

last of the 5 Tips When Painting Your Home is on cutting in. “Cutting in” is when you use a brush to paint all of the edges and corners of a room. It often requires being on a ladder or step-stool for the edge around the ceiling, and you have to reload your brush with paint quite often. While I try to avoid any tools that feel “gimmicky” I’ve found the HANDy Paint Pail or similar lined paint pails to be quite useful.

They use liners which, yes, are more expensive, but it’s one less thing to clean so I find the expense is worth it for me. It also has a handle which, for my small hands, is way easier and more comfortable than trying to grip a quart of paint in one hand while climbing up and down a ladder. That scenario has ended in disaster for me more than once.