Preparing Surfaces for the Paint

Paint must be applied to a smooth or relatively smooth surface for it to do the job of covering an area of space. Check for splinters, nails, holes, roughness in the wall, bugs, spider webs, built up dirt, cracks in prior paint (like oil-based paint) and clean all this up before painting with fresh paint. In some places, especially on exterior walls, it is important to scrape off the old paint as much as possible. Sanding may be necessary on wooden walls. Make sure you have an adequate amount of sand paper and a good device for sanding, unless you will be using your hands.

Walls

Walls in the kitchen and bathrooms need to be scrubbed down with water and a detergent in order to remove the grime, mildew, oil and grease. Before applying fresh paint, make sure to rinse off all the soap from the wall after cleaning it. The best way to remove mildew is to mix together water and bleach. Clean as much of an area to be painted as possible, that will make the paint job result in well, a good paint job.

Concrete

Many people are painting and repainting concrete now. This has really become fashionable. To clean concrete and get it ready for a new coat of paint, use a wire brush, vacuum, broom and power sander. A detergent may be needed to remove grease from the concrete. Just like wood, the concrete needs to be completely dry before applying paint. Do not paint wood or concrete on rainy days. Any holes in the concrete will need to be filled, and the filler will need to harden.

Protecting Surfaces

The next step is a little tricky. For this several rolls of masking tape may be needed, but masking tape is easily found and is not expensive. What you want to do with the masking tape is protect all areas bordering the space where the paint will be applied. This means taking masking tape and rolling it out on the ceiling where it makes contact with the wall, along the base of the wall, around window frames and vertical edges beside walls that will not be painted. Stretch in pieces and make sure that it is even so that the paint is applied to where it is needed. After the paint job is finished it is best to wait about a day before removing the tape. What you don’t want to do is peel off good paint or wet paint.

Primer

It may be necessary to apply a primer before applying the coat of paint that was selected. You want to get primer as close in color to the color of the paint to be used. Primer is really like the first coat of paint, it gives paint something to hold onto. The purpose of primer is to make the paint adhere correctly to the surface. It is like a seal for the surface area. Not all primers are the same. It depends on whether the surface material is wood, concrete, drywall or masonry to determine the kind of primer to be used.

Tips for Success

When working with paint, always have proper ventilation, cloths that can used for clean up, and throw cloths to cover floor or furniture and areas that will not be painted deliberately, but can be recipients of splashes of paint, involuntarily. Get everything covered and protected because now–here comes the paint.