Painting tips

[Kingfisher]

I have to paint some rooms in our house. Doing the ceiling and the walls. The biggest problem is that I am not a painter. Sure I can splash some paint on the walls and call it good enough. But I figure someone out there must have some good painting tips.

So what are your painting tips?

What paint to use?

What brush to use?

What roller to use?

Masking?

What about cutting in the corners and edges. Must be some sort of tip to not screw this up.

How about window sills?

How many coats should I use? Just enough to cover the old paint. Or an extra coat to be sure?

I probably missed some points. So feel free to add in your extra points.

Any suggestions would be appreciated.

Cheers,
Rob

[leeaspell]

I belive Billy Mayes put out a few products that would solve all your problems. For just 2 easy payments you can have professional quality walls at a fraction of the cost. Just include shipping and handeling

[calgarychef]

buy the best brush in the store, then the best roller, and good paint, then read a bit about it and you're off to the races.

[FishingMOM]

Use the blue tinted ceiling paint so you can tell where you have painted.

Make sure you prep your walls first. Wash them to remove greasy finger prints and other dirt, nicotine and such.
Do all repairs.

If your dramatically changing the colours you will need 2 coats of paint. Or a primer and paint.

[jungleboy]

Pick up a small carton of TSP powder to wash your walls ahead of painting. It doesn't take much ( mixing directions on the carton ) . This will ensure the walls ar clean and it also will dull the original paint so the new paint will adhere to it better . A lite sanding as well is good. Don't cheap out on the paint. I like Cloverdale Paint if they have a store in your area.I use an angled 3" sash brush for cutting in. Do the ceilings first ,then the walls. Take your time do all the prep crack filling etc before you open the paint can.

[buzzard]

Painting eh! I would suggest a matte finish paint for your ceiling . Oh, you didn't say if your ceiling was flat or finished with spanish lace or other another ceiling treatment. If it is quite stained use a stain blocker paint or you will be doing it twice. Ceiling first, then walls. Prepare the walls, wash greasy spots, fill any holes and sand the entire wall well. Tape off, accurately, any woodwork. Be sure to score your tape to prevent bleeding through as this can make a paint job look pretty shoddy. .I always apply 2 coats of paint. Home Hardware designer series is good as well as Benny Moore. Have fun...haha

[Muliemaster]

Don't even think of using painters tape. Paint just bleeds behind it and it takes as much time to use a cutting brush as it does to do a good tape job.

Buy an expensive roll. Cheap ones leave fluff on the wall and you'll notice it every time you look at the wall.

[ccmckee]

Good equipment makes for a nicer and easier job. I use the angled sash brushes for all of my painting jobs and i rarely mask anything, i can paint it quicker and better without.The tinted ceiling paint helps and the pink or blue colour disappears as it it dries. I find a ceiling is always 2 coats at 90* to each other and you won't have any roller marks. Colour will determine how many coats you need, 2 coats is not a bad thing as it will look better. Most folks use an eggshell finish on the walls these days and a semi gloss on trim, some makers have a sheen in between semi and egg shell now as well that is better in higher traffic areas.I use DEXdry for hole filling, it is a pink coloured filler that dries white and dries pretty quick.Sanding sponges are the greatest thing for working with patches and drywall repairs get the 2 sided ones in med/fine grit.

[eastcoast]

the biggest tip I can give is paint like you wash a car, from the top down, do the celing first , then the walls, then the trim or baseboards.

[AbAngler]

Prep work is key. Clean the heck out of the wall. Use the frog tape. If possible, remove base boards (number them for re-assembly) if your not painting them. After that, do the trim with a good quality brush (put it in the freezer until you are ready to use it again), then start rolling. Lay it on thick!

Good luck!

I ended up painting the entire house last year and it was a ton of work. I did a coat of primer and two coats of latex. I masked everything as I have a ton of oak that the wife would have killed me if I messed it up.
Use good brushes, the hand hold paint cans work great. They have a clear plastic insert that you can toss away after use


Use a kitchen and bath product as it will last longer when you scrub.

I used General Paint.....don't cut corners with the paint

A few shots of the job in progress........ah fun

[bryanfewchuk]

When you are cutting in the corners dont just paint the width of the brush or you will see a line from the brush to the roller. Cut in your corner then feather the paint into the wall a bit. If your going to use tape take it off when the paint is still wet or use an exacto knife to cut the paint at the edge of the tape to prevent peeling the paint off your wall(if the paint is dry)

[outwalking]

Originally Posted by Kingfisher

I have to paint some rooms in our house. Doing the ceiling and the walls. The biggest problem is that I am not a painter. Sure I can splash some paint on the walls and call it good enough. But I figure someone out there must have some good painting tips.

So what are your painting tips?

What paint to use? Cloversale Paint

What brush to use? Tradition 2.5 inch brushes

What roller to use? Anything that won't leave fuzzies behind, that's not too thick. Wrap tape around the roller to pull off the fuzzies.

Masking? Green tape works the best for removal, but isn't as sticky as the white tape.

What about cutting in the corners and edges. Must be some sort of tip to not screw this up. We're painters by trade, so we've done enough painting to be able to cut corners and edges freehand. Most people use tape to make a clean line. It takes a little practice - hold your brush at an angle with the tip of the brush facing upwards and towards your frame/corner, and apply enough pressure to your brush so that some bristles seem to be out of line, then use those bristles to "catch" the edge you're painting, and pull straight down, and repeat! You don't want your brush to be too full or else you'll get a bead on the tip of the brush. Hopefully that little description made sense!

How about window sills? We'll paint the frames first and overlap the paint onto the wall, and then cut the frame in using the actions described above. My mom had a good idea, they painted the walls first without doing the frames, and then taped off the walls at the edges of the frames, and overlapped the trim paint into the tape.

How many coats should I use? Just enough to cover the old paint. Or an extra coat to be sure? Two coats would be your best bet: two cuts and two rolls, but one coat works too if it covers well enough.

I probably missed some points. So feel free to add in your extra points.

Any suggestions would be appreciated.

Cheers,
Rob

I put my answers in bold, easier that way

Have fun! Do you have texture on your ceilings?

[Sneeze]

If I could add...

When your cutting in and you notice you missed a small spot, or your coverage isn't that good... Wait for it to dry before you apply more paint.

Brush lines are created when you try to run a brush over slightly dry paint.

[stinkynuts]

take your time painting and I used the Bear ultra paint and primer in one ans it worked great even on spot patches i just paint right over and it cover it no proablem it great paint and covers extrealy well

[Okotokian]

Originally Posted by Muliemaster

Don't even think of using painters tape. Paint just bleeds behind it and it takes as much time to use a cutting brush as it does to do a good tape job.

True of most tape, except FROG TAPE. That stuff is amazing. No bleed as it has a gel in it that reacts with latex paint and seals the edges. It comes in a sealable container. It's about double the cost but worth every penny. Canadian tire had it on sale for about $7 for 60 feet. I've used it a few times now and it's perfect.

I laugh because I recently had a painter in my house and HE told me about it (I had already used it before).

[CantThinkOfAName]

We basically did the whole house last year.
We used swiffer sweepers to take the dust off the walls, then just threw rags on the end that were wet with TSP/water mixture, and rinsed. This cut down time on cleaning.
We primed everything. The pros can tell you if it's worth it but we figured it would be cause we were going over dark colors.
Figure out what you and your help are best at. I've got a steady hand and lots of patience so edging turned out to be my thing. I can't roll worth a crap for some reason so gf got that easy job. I found the easiest thing for edging was one of those round brushes.
As everyone said before quality brushes are important. For paint we noticed it didn't matter the brand, every color had it's own properties on thickness, how it covered, etc. Do as many coats as you need so you'll be happy.

[Kingfisher]

I can't thank you guys enough for all your answers. Helped me a ton for sure.

The ceiling is stipple. I did the ceilings first. Used a slotted foam roller. Seemed to be ok for the stipple ceiling. But used that green tape around the wall edges. Yes it did bleed a bit. So when I did the walls at least I could cover it up.

Used Bare Ultra paint. For both the ceiling and walls. Seems to look OK. They said the Bare ceiling paint was the best for the ceiling. Said it splattered less. Not much splatter. I did go 2 coats on the ceiling one coat one direction and the other one at 90* to it.

Fixed all the holes in the walls with Dexdry for filling. That stuff is cool. Pink while wet then dries white. Great advice. Thanks ccmckee. But even though I went over the damn walls 3 times to make sure I had all the holes filled, I still found holes I didn't fill when I was painting.

BBBB what an amazing house you have. I don't know that I would have tackled that job. But you did an amazing job.

Outwalking thanks I did understand the cutting in part you wrote and I understand. It did help a ton. But I did the walls first and left the window frames for after. I wasn't sure about putting a second cut in coat before rolling a second coat. But after reading here I will put on a second cut before rolling the walls.

Got to go do a second coat now on the walls. Sick as **** to day so didn't get as much done as I wanted. Thought I would be able to finish off this room today. Maybe tonight if I get my butt in gear. But feeling like you just got beat up from a 2000 pound gorilla is not a great way to feel when your painting.

Thanks again to one and all for all your advice.

Rob

Originally Posted by Kingfisher

I can't thank you guys enough for all your answers. Helped me a ton for sure.

The ceiling is stipple. I did the ceilings first. Used a slotted foam roller. Seemed to be ok for the stipple ceiling. But used that green tape around the wall edges. Yes it did bleed a bit. So when I did the walls at least I could cover it up.

Used Bare Ultra paint. For both the ceiling and walls. Seems to look OK. They said the Bare ceiling paint was the best for the ceiling. Said it splattered less. Not much splatter. I did go 2 coats on the ceiling one coat one direction and the other one at 90* to it.

Fixed all the holes in the walls with Dexdry for filling. That stuff is cool. Pink while wet then dries white. Great advice. Thanks ccmckee. But even though I went over the damn walls 3 times to make sure I had all the holes filled, I still found holes I didn't fill when I was painting.

BBBB what an amazing house you have. I don't know that I would have tackled that job. But you did an amazing job.

Outwalking thanks I did understand the cutting in part you wrote and I understand. It did help a ton. But I did the walls first and left the window frames for after. I wasn't sure about putting a second cut in coat before rolling a second coat. But after reading here I will put on a second cut before rolling the walls.

Got to go do a second coat now on the walls. Sick as **** to day so didn't get as much done as I wanted. Thought I would be able to finish off this room today. Maybe tonight if I get my butt in gear. But feeling like you just got beat up from a 2000 pound gorilla is not a great way to feel when your painting.

Thanks again to one and all for all your advice.

Rob

My chiropractor loved me for a month lol.........thanx for the compliments. Post some pictures when you can stand straight again

[gunmum]

Everyone's suggestions were spot on, especially the angle brush, my fave
I was just going to add a couple things:
Firstly, you obviously picked your colours already but for next time, they say general rule of thumb is to go 2 shades lighter than the colour you pick. (even though I always think that we are somewhat afraid of colour here in North America)
I personally love the Behr paint and found it to cover so well (only 2 coats to cover reds, blues and greens), leading to another technique to apply with the roller: (some do not like it, but you'll find your groove) try applying it in a "w" instead of just up and down to help hide roller lines.
Also, I use plastic wrap for my brush and roller incase I want to go back and touch up or if I can't get the next coat on soon enough.
And lastly, my most hated job is the baseboards but the biggest tip is to seal them on the tops! What a huge difference I love the Mono1 in the red tube, bought it at Canadian Tire.
Happy painting, hope you feel better.
GM

[nemo]

Originally Posted by Kingfisher

I have to paint some rooms in our house. Doing the ceiling and the walls. The biggest problem is that I am not a painter. Sure I can splash some paint on the walls and call it good enough. But I figure someone out there must have some good painting tips.

So what are your painting tips?

What paint to use?

What brush to use?

What roller to use?

Masking?

What about cutting in the corners and edges. Must be some sort of tip to not screw this up.

How about window sills?

How many coats should I use? Just enough to cover the old paint. Or an extra coat to be sure?

I probably missed some points. So feel free to add in your extra points.

Any suggestions would be appreciated.

Cheers,
Rob

I did four years of apprenticeship that really helped me! LOL! Good tools are the beginning. Spray cielings that have not been painted if they are stained use oil paint to stop bleeding or some sort of shelac (kilz). Always spray two coats north to south east to west. Painted trim or finished wood? Mask wood if not experienced, always clean any surface prior to taping, push down tape with putty knife to seal edge. Painted trim should be done first and then cut walls back into trim. Make sure cieling/ wall line is clean use draw scraper to make sure no stippple on wall to make nice clean edge. Mask baseboards always will have roller spatter. PM me for specific questions if you wish.
Good luck,
Nemo