How to paint your house

[jamesgpobog]

BIG JIM'S HOUSE PAINTING BASICS
INTERIOR​

1. Buy the BEST paint and tools (brushes, rollers, etc.) you can afford.

2.Required "Tools":
Bristle brushes are for oil paint, nylon are for water base. They are NOT interchangable.
4" brush
2" or 2.5" brush
Advanced skills: 1" or small (under 2") Angled Sash Tool for painting trim
One CHEAP 4" brush for a 'Duster'
Paint roller handle w/ appropriate knap covers
5 gallon plastic bucket
Bucket roller screen
1 qt 'paint pot' (small bucket)
Paint stir sticks
2" putty knife
4" putty knife
Spackle (water-base)
Small bottle yellow food color (small drops into spackle so you can see it to sand it)
Pole Sander block
Paint Pole or push broom handle w/screw end
'Mesh' sandpaper for sanding spackle
180 grit gen purpose sandpaper (buy good sandpaper)
Blue painters tape
6-foot stepladder
Extension ladder (Do not cheap out on ladders, trust me. Wagner makes good affordable ladders.)
Cotton drop cloths.
Box cutter
'Painters Friend' (paint can opener) Claw on one end, bottle opener on the other
Wire brush (for cleaning brushes)
3-in-one painters tool
Tri-Sodium-Phosphate (TSP) for cleaning walls
KILZ for stuborn stains


PREP:
Remove all nails/screws
Lay drop cloths (move as needed)
Wash walls with TSP if needed
Spackle holes with pale yellow ( food coloring) spackle
Sand spackle
Lightly sand walls, dust with broom (generally optional)
Lightly sand any gloss trim, dust trim and all baseboards with duster
Remove all switch and outlet plates
Cut edges/corners with 4" brush from paint pots,use ladders as needed
Roll walls to the cuts, using 5 gallon bucket and screen, and paint pole
Roll 2nd coat if needed
Blue mask walls around door/window trim
Paint trim with gloss/semi-gloss
Clean all tools in warm water using wire brush until water runs clear
Place brushes in their covers and store carefully
Find your 'painters friend'
Open beer
Drink
Admire your work.


Additional notes:
With oil paint, set roller aside by hanging on bucket edge, lay brush across paint pot
With water base (Latex) paint, keep roller in paint bucket, stand brush in paint pot
BE SURE to keep paint cans, buckets and pots where you will not kick them over or step in them

If you have POPCORN ACOUSTIC CEILING, AVOID DISTURBING IT. IT'S ASBESTOS.

When painting baseboards, use a piece of cardboard to protect edge of carpet.

Exteriors are similar, but harder. Sometimes woodwork is needed, 2-story is dangerous, and vegetation needs to be cleared from base of exterior walls.

The BEST paint there is, is the commercial product DUNN-EDWARDS, but IIRC it only comes in 5 gallon buckets.

Do not use 'Flat' wall apint in bathrooms. Semi or Satin on the walls, Semi or gloss in the trim.

NEVER use a 'paint tray' or a roller without some sort of pole on it, even if the pole is only a foot long.

Roll in the direction the roller points, otherwise the roller cover will slide off the handle.

If using oil paint, use PENETROL flow enhancer. I have painted interior doors using it that came out like a mirror.

 

[Uncle Joe]

This reminds of the joke about the hooker who would do anything for $100.

"Paint my house."

 

[Uncle Joe]

That's an incredible explanation. Wow.

 

[jamesgpobog]

That's an incredible explanation. Wow.

Thanks. I learned from a custom painter who did multi million dollar homes in Newport Beach. Mistakes not allowed.

 

[grizzlewulf]

I understood "open beer"

 

[jamesgpobog]

I understood "open beer"

Not too early...

 

[blackspider57]

I prefer the "Tom Sawyer" method.

 

[jamesgpobog]

I prefer the "Tom Sawyer" method.

Wives generally don't.

I personally saw switch plates that showed two swipes, one vertical, one horizontal.

 

[Uncle Joe]

I spent a summer, amid my college years, painting the interiors of a liquor store chain in Northern NJ. The pay wasn't great, and the work not easy, but I met a lot of pretty girls from upscale strip malls in a number of different towns. It was the worst of times, it was the best of times.

 

[jamesgpobog]

I spent a summer, amid my college years, painting the interiors of a liquor store chain in Northern NJ. The pay wasn't great, and the work not easy, but I met a lot of pretty girls from upscale strip malls in a number of different towns. It was the worst of times, it was the best of times.

-Painting has never been hard for me. It's work, but I like it.

 

[Naked Strat Brat]

I was blessed my Wife cleaned and prepped and painted primer and color coats to our down state home all by herself while I was in the Hospital in 2021 for 7 months. Also use bulders bog if you have wood rot you don't want to totally replace, it works very nice.

 

[Robb]

Thanks James, you've reminded me how much I hate painting

 

[OOMTOM]

Not sure if you Guys across the pond saw it but I prefer Mr Bean's method of painting a room.

Take lid off chosen can of paint.
Stir well.
Insert one stick of Dynamite in can.
Light the wick.
Exit room and close the Door..

Clean up a little next morning.

 

[jamesgpobog]

Thanks James, you've reminded me how much I hate painting

I did too as a kid, but I learned in 1976-ish and doing it right makes it so easy.

 

[jamesgpobog]

A couple edit additions have been made as of 1/27 A.M.

 

[jamesgpobog]

Painter joke:


"Hitler... there was a painter! He could paint an entire apartment in ONE afternoon! TWO coats!"
~~Franz Liebkind, "The Producers"

 

[Uncle Joe]

I did too as a kid, but I learned in 1976-ish and doing it right makes it so easy.

My big breakthrough was using a step stool instead of a ladder. Best painting investment ever, for me, in this house. Turns out, two steps were all I needed. My professional painter buddy, Nick, taught me that one. When it was time to sell my parents' house, I hired him. My next-door neighbor, a great plumber, fitted the electric house for natural gas (it took him a day and the gas company weeks to show up and run the line from the street), and I hired a company to remove the carpeting and refinish the hardwood floors beneath (covered since the home was built in the late 60s). We had a lot of traffic, with people checking out the house for about three weeks from the day I first put it on the market.

It sold the day after Nick finished painting the interior. In retrospect, I shouldn't have even shown it until he was done. Lesson learned. Truth be told, that would've been my plan, but I was only the executor, and both my folks were alive and I have three siblings, so I needed to get it on the market to get them off the dime and onboard with the program (primarily getting my folks out of the house and into an independent living facility that they came to love).

My point is, that an expert painter is invaluable. When someone loves their work, it makes a big difference for everyone. Since that episode, I've turned in my paint brush and now I hire Nick, and his wife, to do all of our painting. He makes a nice living, as he should, and I could theoretically do it myself, as I know how to paint interiors, but it's worth it to me. When you have an expert that will show up right away, do a great job at market value (or below, truth be told), it's well worth it. I won't even paint a powder room anymore. But I should never say never. Still have my gear in the basement.

 

[jamesgpobog]

My big breakthrough was using a step stool instead of a ladder. Best painting investment ever, for me, in this house. Turns out, two steps were all I needed. My professional painter buddy, Nick, taught me that one. When it was time to sell my parents' house, I hired him. My next-door neighbor, a great plumber, fitted the electric house for natural gas (it took him a day and the gas company weeks to show up and run the line from the street), and I hired a company to remove the carpeting and refinish the hardwood floors beneath (covered since the home was built in the late 60s). We had a lot of traffic, with people checking out the house for about three weeks from the day I first put it on the market.

It sold the day after Nick finished painting the interior. In retrospect, I shouldn't have even shown it until he was done. Lesson learned. Truth be told, that would've been my plan, but I was only the executor, and both my folks were alive and I have three siblings, so I needed to get it on the market to get them off the dime and onboard with the program (primarily getting my folks out of the house and into an independent living facility that they came to love).

My point is, that an expert painter is invaluable. When someone loves their work, it makes a big difference for everyone. Since that episode, I've turned in my paint brush and now I hire Nick, and his wife, to do all of our painting. He makes a nice living, as he should, and I could theoretically do it myself, as I know how to paint interiors, but it's worth it to me. When you have an expert that will show up right away, do a great job at market value (or below, truth be told), it's well worth it. I won't even paint a powder room anymore. But I should never say never. Still have my gear in the basement.

Stepstool works for standard ceiliings, but I don't like using them. A 6' stepladder gives me something to lean into when reaching overhead.

I was right at the point of giving up on oil changes and brake jobs, then I joind the workshop and there's 5 auto lifts, and that makes both jobs REAL easy...

 

[Diavolo]

This method is quicker...

 

[Lonn]

The seller of our home 7 years ago was a professional house painter. He painted all 5500 sq ft for the sale and left me at least 40 gallons of extra as well as supplies. Haven't had to use any of it yet but it's down there in the basement when the time comes.