Tis the season… to paint your interiors! Can you agree? You are probably home now more than ever before due to COVID-19. Although this year has been quite gloomy and depressing, you can get ready for the New Year and start off on the right foot by repurposing, redecorating, and of course repainting your home! This is a great time to finally tackle all of those home building projects you have been putting off for so long due to “having no time”.
Now, I know everyone’s lives are different and maybe you actually don’t have enough time, but that’s where Zuck Painting comes in handy! We can tackle your interior painting projects for you and you can guarantee that they will come out looking great! Want to see some of our testimonials from past customers? Check out our Google Reviews!
Whether you plan on hiring the professionals like us or DIYing your own interior painting project here are some free professional tips on how to properly prep your walls to be painted.
Clean those walls!
The most important first step to any interior paint project is to clean the walls that you are preparing to paint. Of course, every home is different, and depending on what is sticking to your walls will determine how much wall cleaning you are going to have to do.
If your household burns candles or someone smokes cigarettes inside often then you or your painting professional will have to clean the walls thoroughly with water and all-purpose cleaner in order for the paint to correctly adhere to the walls.
Lastly, it is common for ceiling corners and upper walls to collect dust and cobwebs. It is really important to clean those areas so that the dust and cobwebs don’t interfere with the paint that is being applied to your walls.
Scraping & Sanding
When looking for areas of your walls that require scraping, lookout for visibly loose peeling, and or flaking paint. Your walls are much more delicate than the outside of your home, so be a little more careful and only scrape paint that will come off with gentle swipes of a scraper.
In order for your paint job to have an even finish, it’s time to take out the fine-grit sandpaper. Anywhere from 150-180 grit sandpaper will do the trick. You want to make sure that you are using fine-grit because lower grit sandpaper will remove too much of the surface of your walls. The goal here is to just smooth out the areas where you just scraped loose paint.
Spackling & Sanding
Often times when you are painting a room there may be pictures, shelving, decorations, or anything of the like mounted onto the walls by a nail or screw. If these items are not going back up onto the wall, be sure to remove the nails and spackle the nail holes. After you let the spackle dry for 1-2 hours you can then sand the spackle to smoothen it out.
Spackle is also great for covering up any imperfections in your walls. Take a walk through to see if there are any other small holes, cracks, or dents in your walls that should be smoothened out prior to painting. Simply apply the spackle with a putty knife, let it dry for 1-2 hours, then sand it smooth.
It is important to remember to wait a full 24 hours before painting over your spackle. If the spackle is still wet when it gets painted over, it may cause issues not too far down the road.
Priming
Priming can be more important than you think because, primer is a substance that is basically a flat coat of paint that gives the new paint a perfect and consistent surface to adhere to, guaranteeing full coverage of the original paint color.
If you are changing paint colors it is recommended that you use a primer in order to guarantee that the original paint color won’t bleed through your new color. Colors such as reds and blacks are very difficult to cover up with just the new paint so be prepared to use a primer if your walls are these colors or any other deep color.
Hire Us For Your Interiors Today!
We hope you learned a thing or to from our blog on interior wall preparation. If you want to save yourself the headache of painting your interiors and are in the Massachusetts area give us a call at (508) 250-7272 or visit our website to schedule a FREE estimate.
How are we going to paint your home during a global pandemic? Click here, to learn more about all of the safety precautions that we will be taking in order to keep you and your home as safe as possible. Remember your health and safety are our #1 priority. If you have any questions please feel free to reach out!