Tips For Painting Your Home's Walls Properly
When it comes to home painting, tackling it yourself can be a fun project. However, if you try to do it without professional training, you might make some mistakes that directly affect the outcome of your repainting efforts. Here are some things that you need to consider when you are preparing to paint your home's interior walls.
Deal With Damage
If your walls have suffered any damage, from large holes to cracks and loose plaster, you need to address all of these things before you do any type of repainting. Any flaws like this in the walls will keep the paint from adhering.
This is also a key opportunity for you to look for any mold or mildew issues that could be causing the existing paint to flake or bubble. Deal with these issues before you try to put fresh paint on the walls.
Remove Loose Paint
Any paint that's flaking, bubbling, or chipping is going to continue to do so underneath fresh paint, keeping that fresh paint from adhering properly on your walls. It's often easiest to use a sanding brick with fine-grit sandpaper or a bench scraper to remove the loose paint. That way, you can eliminate all of the loose particles that will hinder your new paint coating.
Clean The Surface Before Painting
Before you can apply a new coat of paint to your walls, you need to be sure that you are starting with a completely clean surface. Dirt, sticky residue, and dust can all interfere with paint's adhesion, leaving you with streaky, clumpy, or flaking paint when it's all said and done.
Take the time to wash all of the walls before you paint. Use a mild detergent and warm water to wash everything down, then dry it thoroughly with a lint-free cloth before you start painting. It's best to only wash the wall you're going to be painting. That way, you don't risk any dirt accumulating on the rest of the walls while you're painting the first wall.
Apply A Foundation
Especially if the paint on your walls right now is a high-gloss paint, you don't want to try to just paint over it. Doing so could leave you with paint that simply runs off the surface. Apply a foundation of primer over the walls before you try to paint. The primer will serve two purposes. It will cover the existing paint color so that it doesn't bleed through your new paint, and it will give you a surface that your new paint will adhere to the way that it should.
If you feel like this is too complicated or is more steps than you are ready for, reach out to a residential interior painting contractor to help you. They will clean, prep, and prime the walls for you before painting them as well.