Table of Contents
Introduction
Buying a house is an achievement in almost every culture known to man. The sense of accomplishment doesn’t just come from the fact that it is a form of getting ownership of your freedom from your parents and because it is a sign of maturity and a readiness to become part of the adult society.
Living in a house comes with many responsibilities, from saving up for it, paying for it, getting different experts to check if the building meets up with the current building regulations, to most importantly, decorating and painting it.
Painting is essential to every building, be it an office, boarding house, rented apartment, or private property. Its crucial nature is found in the fact that it is one-way owners and tenants can protect their buildings from rain, wind, and other threatening weather conditions.
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Painting is the art of decorating surfaces with colors, using brushes, rollers, and other painting equipment. It would help if you always were cautious when painting a building, mainly because of the time and money you would have put into getting a house or renting one. Your reward for working hard should be perfectly painted walls.
Techniques That Produce a Perfect Your Paint Job
You can always call a professional to handle your painting, but if you desire to do the job yourself, here are some techniques to follow that will leave your paint job as perfect as a picture.
Pick The Right Season
Weather contributes immensely to the final look of your paint job. Painting during extremely hot or cold temperatures will never be a good idea as a humid painting environment causes paint to dry slowly, which only means it will drip and make a mess.
The best time to color your walls is during early autumn or late spring. Even when painting in spring or autumn, it is advisable to pay attention to the weather forecast to make sure rain doesn’t pour in the middle of your paint job.
Waiting for the perfect season to paint might be a bit hard, but patience is not a vice, it is a very rewarding virtue.
Clean Your Walls
For a smooth looking and feeling paint job to be achieved, cleaning the house walls should be a priority. You can use a hose to remove dirt and flecks of old paint from the walls when cleaning. Always go over the walls with soapy water and a wire brush to remove any dirt the hose might have missed.
After washing from top to bottom, rinse with clean, cold water, then let the walls dry. Allow your walls dry completely before applying paint to them; if you don’t, your time and energy will have gone to waste because the color will mold over with time.
Peel Off Any Old Paint
If, after washing, there is still paint hanging loose on the walls, use a paint scraper or wood that has been wrapped in sandpaper to scrap the paint off and smoothen all rough surfaces.
Do not miss the chips of old paint on the wall; if you ignore and decide to put fresh paint on them anyway, the old and new paint’s weight will end up pulling every paint off the wall.
Make Necessary Repairs
Find and repair rusty windows, missing putty, mildew, leaky gutters, split or loose shingles, downspouts, cracks on walls, and any other damages that might need repairing.
Fixing all interior and exterior damages in the house might be stressful and expensive, but doing this prevents future damages from affecting your home and leaves it looking loving beautiful for years.
Calculate How Much Paint Is Needed
To not waste money unnecessarily or risk running out of paint while working, it is best to know the amount of paint you will need for the work first.
To get an estimate of how much paint you will need for your paint job, you will have to measure the height and perimeter of the house and then multiply them by each other.
When you have your result, examine your paint can of choice, you will find a number written on its body. This number represents the square-foot coverage the paint can cover; that is, how much of it you can use for a single coat.
Keep in mind that gable ends will need painting too, so when calculating the amount of paint you will need, it isn’t a bad idea to add an extra gallon or two.
Purchase Quality Brushes, Painter’s Tape, and Roller Covers
You can micro-manage every other decorating item in your home except for brushes and roller covers. Brushes and roller covers play a significant role in the smooth application of paint. High-end brushes and quality painter’s tape respectively provide better coverage and adequate drip seals.
Remove Covers of Light Switches and Outlets
Taking out the covers of your switches and outlets will prevent smears of paint from getting on them, which will make your paint job come out clean and beautiful.
Prime Your Surfaces
Applying primer on the surfaces of your house that you intend to paint will help protect them and make the painting last longer than without priming.
You can use Primers when there is bare wood or metal exposed during the cleaning process and when people plan to make significant changes to the color of their homes.
There are different types of primers; to make the best choice for your house, you must first decide on the kind of paint you want to use, as buying a specific of primers depend on your type of paint. For example, if you intend to use metal paint, you should buy a metal primer.
Buy and Mix Your Paint
Sometimes, cans of paint from different batches can slightly differ, even when they are of the same color. To prevent unevenness in color, thoroughly mix your cans of paint before use.
Cover Surrounding Areas With Painter’s Tape
When painting, splashes and mistakes can happen, so to protect your surfaces from unwanted paint, you should cover them with painter’s tape or rags.
Apply Little Pressure When Painting
Since you have invested in quality paint brushes and roll covers, you don’t have to apply so much pressure when painting; allow your high-end equipment to do the work for you.
Roll From Top to Bottom
After using brushes to paint the corners and crevices of your building, use your roller to apply paint on your walls from top to bottom. Professionals use the top to bottom technique to prevent drips and splashes from spoiling their paint jobs.
Coat Your Surfaces Twice
After coating your surfaces with the first layer of paint, wait for the paint to dry before layering the second coat of paint to the surface. A second paint layer provides painters a chance to fix mistakes made during the first coating. It also protects the wall by adding an extra layer and also helps the paint last longer.
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Conclusion
Even when being used by the hands of an inexperienced person, the techniques above can make a brush into a magic wand that can accomplish a paint job that can rival that of a professional.
