House Painters Corsicanna Texas-CP Painting (903)-641-1835

Well I thought I would do you the consumer a favor, and that is to give you a tip on interior painting since most painters won't do that because they want you to come to them.  Well because we are the way we are we want to do something for you that does not cost you money but actually does you a favor, so here goes.

MEASURING THE ROOM
You will want to measure the room before you start buying paint for a couple of reasons, one is so that you do not buy too much paint because if the store you buy it from will not take it back you are stuck with another object sitting in your garage taking up space and you also just wasted money.

For Walls

1. Measure the total distance (perimeter) around the room: (10 ft. + 15 ft.) x 2 = 50 ft.
2. Multiply the perimeter by the ceiling height to get the total wall area: 50 ft. x 8 ft. = 400 sq. ft.
3. Doors are usually 21 square feet (there are two in this exercise): 21 sq. ft. x 2 = 42 sq. ft.

BUYING YOUR PAINT
Before you go out and buy the largest bucket of paint that is on sale you will want to do a little testing.  Buy a quart of paint first in case you see the color on your wall with the light in that particular room to make sure you actually want that color.  No one wants to spend a lot of money on paint, take the time to prep and paint and then see that they don't really like the color but leave it because you spent a lot of time and money painting the interior of your house or room.   You can paint a piece of wood or foam board or sheet rock so you can move it around the room to see how the lighting affects the color at different times of the day and or different places in the room with that particular color of paint.

THE PREP WORK

You are going to want to clean the walls with soap and water because paint does not stick very well to dirty walls. Let dry overnight.
If you are going to paint your ceiling you will also want to clean it as well. There will be cobwebs and dust that you just don't see, so you will want to use an old paintbrush or china bristle brush to get into the corners.
You will also want to make sure you clean really well the baseboards, trim and crown molding before taping them otherwise the tape may not stick. (you may also want to use painter's tape with paper attached to protect the baseboards)
Overlap the tape seams by at least an inch to avoid seepage between pieces, and then seal the tape to the surface with your fingers or a rag.
 You may consider not using plastic on the floors since it will make it slippery but you can use drop cloths or old sheets to protect them from drops or spills.  You can buy sheets pretty inexpensively if you buy the cheap ones, no pun intended.
The color mixer at the paint store can create slight variations from can to can. The last thing you want is to have two shades of a color on the same wall. This can be remedied by mixing all of the paint cans together before you start painting to ensure you will have consistent color throughout the room.
Fill holes with spackle using a five-in-one tool or wide blade and caulk where necessary. Sand dry spackle smooth, and prime each spot.

Don’t underestimate how long it’ll take you to get the job done so you may want to allow a few more hours in your planning.  You will also want to allow at least 24 hours to dry before bringing everything back into the room, I know you want to get your house back in order but you would probably get angry with yourself if you got wet paint on something of great value to you.  Also allow two weeks to 30 days to cure before washing or wiping. Although it is very time consuming removing outlet covers makes for a much neater paint job. Tape the screws to the cover, and tape over the outlet or light switch to keep paint from getting on them.
The bottom line when it comes to the prep work, it is tedious and painstakingly annoying however when you are done you will have much better results with a room that has no small mistakes and it makes the job much more crisp and clean.

Avoid applying latex paint on an oil finish and vice versa without first sanding the walls (remember to wear a mask) and wiping away the dust particles with a tack cloth. Apply a primer of the same composition (oil or latex) of the intended topcoat.
In order to tell whether your current wall color is water- or oil-based, douse a white cloth with rubbing alcohol and rub it on the wall (in an out-of-the-way spot). If the paint softens and begins to transfer onto the cloth, it is water based. If the alcohol does not remove any color, it is oil-based.

Paints have volatile organic chemicals (VOCs ) that can release toxic gas into the air for years after a room has been painted. Buy eco-friendly paint with low-VOCs or zero-VOCs.-Paints with a green seal have a VOC of less than 50 grams/liter for flat and less than 150 grams/liter of non-flat.  VOC's can be harmful and who wants to walk into a room or have family and friends over into a room that has a just got painted room that has an odor so toxic that is drives everyone out of the house.

I hope this helps you in painting your home, I know it takes a lot of time to prep just one room not to mention many rooms, (better to do one at a time) because of all the small tedious things that must be done in order for the job to look professional.  This is a reason why us professionals charge what we do because of all the time it takes to do the prep work so you get a great paint job.  After reading this article if you begin to think this may be a little overwhelming check out our website http://www.cppainting.com and see what we can do for you or give us at CP Painting a call for your FREE estimate, you'll be glad you did.  Because we want to "Bring your imagination to life"

CALL TODAY (903)-641-1835