Things to Avoid When Painting Your House

House painting is a very labour intensive job and the results can be disastrous if you don’t know what you are doing. So to ensure that you achieve what you want with repainting your home, there are some guidelines you should follow and common mistakes you should be aware of. As they say, knowledge is power and so even if you don’t have any experience with painting a home by learning how to approach such a job, you are more likely to have success in with your home renovation project.

1. Not removing old wallpaper and glue completely or even painting over the old wallpaper. You won’t get a nice clean finish if you attempt to paint over an area that had been previously wallpapered. Even after wallpaper has been removed, there is often some residue from the paste that’s been left behind which can show through a paint job.. Worse is painting over wallpaper and not bothering to remove it first. You never know what kind of finish you’ll have and if you don’t like it, dried paint on top of old wallpaper will be near impossible to remove without doing some serious damage to the walls underneath.

2. Not preparing the wall surfaces before applying paint. You will need to ensure that surfaces are smooth and clean by fixing nail pops and cleaning off dust or cobwebs. Doing these things first, will ensure that you get a nice clean finish. One thing that you can do to smooth out walls and remove dust, sticky spots and cobwebs is to sand the walls lightly first. This gets rid of every little wall cling on quickly and efficiently so that you can begin painting.

3. Not taking the time to paint the walls and trim. If you or your painter completes the paint job too quickly just for the sake of getting the job done, you may wind up with sloppy results with paint splatters on other household items and paint lines that are irregular and unattractive.

4. Being too stingy with the paint. You will generally require one coat of primer and two coats of paint.. Don’t try and save time or money by only applying a single coat of paint. You won’t get the finish you’re looking for. You can save yourself some time by buying a paint that already contains a primer such as the paints that are available at painting specialty stores. You will pay a bit more for this kind of paint but you can skip buying the primer separately and it will help make the job go faster.

5. Not priming over repairs and wall patches. If you’ve had to do cover any holes or repair wall dents with spackle or drywall compound, you will need to prime those spots first before you try to pain the full wall. The paint won’t adhere to the drywall paste or spackle and you will be able to see it through the paint.

6. Not reading and following the instructions from the manufacturer. If the weather is too hot or too cold, your paint may not adhere properly. So, if you have an inkling that it might be too humid or too cold for your outdoor painting job, check the instructions on the paint kind to find out for sure.