Painting Tips and Tricks from Indianapolis's favorite painting contractor::

Tip No. 1 :: Doing the right thing...

Call us!!! :-) Really.. we don't mind. But of course for the hardcore "do it yourselfer"... here are some good tips and tricks :-)

Tip No. 2 :: Filling holes

Now this tip and trick is a good one for just about anyone. Whenever you paint there are inevitably holes and cracks to fill up in just about every surface you can think of. For each surface there is usually a gunk or goop that is preferred by the pro's for filling the area. For walls its usually a spackling or drywall mud (topping compound). For trim that's usually another story entirely. I have heard of using everything from wood putty to toothpaste. Having done this for a long time I have come to some conclusions. There are basically two methods i would use for normal trim. We'll cover hard or high traffic surfaces in a minute. Normal wood putty is a real pain to sand if you have ever tried it you know what I mean. So people go to a lot of effort to find something easier to work with when trying to fill nail holes in new trim. Every pro I found has their favorite. The two top methods that I have used in both quality and production speed are a stuff called "no shrink" or "shrinkless spackling" and a mixture of normal window glazing compound and corn starch. The most popular probably shrinkless compound product is called One Time from http://www.reddevil.com/. There are many more compounds available. You can apply this with your hands which makes it fast and require less overhead in tools. It is sort of soft and almost styrofoam feeling and it can crumble and get a little messy but when you are done its only light sanding. The other method and the one that I prefer is the glazing compound cornstarch mixture. Take a normal window glazing compound and add corn starch until you get it to the proper working consistency. The consistency works the best when it is about the hardness of a ball of soft kiddy clay. Now this method does require a good eye but if its done right there is no sanding involved at all! You simply want to take the ball of compound you have whipped up and smash the end of it into your hole. Wipe the ball over the hole keeping with the grain of the wood. Make sure there are no gaps or little crescents of space in the hole or that will show up in the final paint job. It may take a little bit of practice to get it going but once you do you'll be able to blaze through your project and when your done the best part... you don't have to sand!

For more high traffic or problems spots you may actually want to use the tradition wood putties. Porter paints http://www.porterpaints.com/ and many other painting stores offer color wood putties in a variety of different colors. Most of the stores that you'd typically think only deal to painting contractors also cater to the private home owner so don't rule out shopping around.

If you are going to stain the wood you should use the wood putty mentioned just above. But stain the wood BEFORE you apply the putty. If you stain the wood before you putty you leave no chance of the putty 'resisting' the stain and leaving light marks. Some putties out there claim to be 'stainable'. Resist the urge.. they aren't all they are cracked up to be and usually result in a nightmare.

Tip No. 3 :: Wallpaper stripping 101

Stripping wallpaper has achieved status as a notorious pain the butt far and wide. But I can help ease the pain somewhat. If you know what you are getting into it can be a tolerable experience. First off prepare for a mess. I still haven't found a non-messy way to strip wallpaper effectively. You'll need drop cloths and probably plastic and a few trash bags and some rags and sponges. The next ingredient is soap and warm water. And THE SECRET INGRIEDIENT... Fabric softener! But water is the worlds best solvent. It formed the grand canyon so it usualy works ok on wallpaper. If you want to invest in a steamer stripper that might save you some headaches on tough jobs. There are a few different kinds of wallpaper and each one requires a different approach. There is normal paper wallpaper with a silk screened or printed design on it with some glue behind it. This is the easiest one to get off. Simply get it wet enough and it will strip off easily with a small scraper or putty knife. The key is using many many passes with the sponge of warm soapy water or the steamer before you ever start to scrape at all. It takes much less effort to wet the wall than it does to scrape the wall. The more passes you make with the steamer or the sponge the easier the scraping will be. Keep that in mind and that patience is a virtue ;-) The next kind of wallpaper is the kind that has a vinyl coating on it. You may get lucky and then be able to peel the coating off by hand then you are only left to wet or steam down the paper backing. However you many times run into the problem that the vinyl won't peel off. In this case you should try to wet it and see if that loosens it up. If not you are going to have to score the surface of the wallpaper using a special tool. This will allow the water or steam to get in behind the coating. You'll have to score the wall ALL over making thousands of tiny holes. There are many tools out there for wallpaper scoring one I have used is called the paper tiger by http://www.zinsser.com/ You should be able to find this tool or a similar one in any of the large hardware or paint stores. No matter which kind of wallpaper you have its going to be a tough job but trust me it beats the consequences of painting over it any day. And if it gets too rough you can always call us :-)

You may have the urge to paint over the wallpaper if you run into one of those difficult papers that you know is going to require some serious elbow grease. There is some debate among the painters I know as to weather or not this is a good idea. The important thing to remember once you've painted over the wallpaper, is that, if you thought it was a pain to remove before you'll be in for loads of fun if you ever want to remove it now.

Tip No. 4 :: General Painting

I wanted to mention some general painting tips.. little things to keep in mind when trying to achieve a professional level paint job.

Preping = Perfection ::

-A paint job is only going to be as good as the surface that is being painted. In other words 'prepping counts' If a surface is marred or dirty all that is going to be visible in the topology of the final painting unless it is repaired and/or cleaned. Look closely at your surface and determine if it needs dusted off or washed off. If there are any cracks or holes fill them with the appropriate compound and caulk the cracks between wood work and plaster or drywall. If an area has burrs or raised imperfections you should sand them or scrape them off. Depressions can be smoothed with the appropriate compound. When you have sanded an area be sure to dust it off or use a tack cloth to clean off the debris. Your paint should cover the surface without picking up a bunch of dirt and debris. Also if you are painting and older house you will need to take a broom and dust out any cobwebs in the corners. A large part of a painters work takes place BEFORE they ever pick up a paint brush.

How many coats will it take? ::

-Paint is designed to take multiple coats on purpose. Paint specialists have found over the eons of painting science that multiple 'thin' coats hold up and are more durable than single 'thick' coats. This idea varies depending on what paint you are using. Some recommend 2-3 thin coats and others recommend 1-2 thin coats and 1 thick coats. But the general theme is that you will generally need more than one coat. The preferred method usually calls for 1 coat of primer and 2+ coats of finish paint. The finish coats vary depending on the colors that are being used. On surfaces that have already been painted however you can often forego the prime coat.

Efficiency on new construction ::

-If you want to become an efficient painter pay attention to all aspects of the building trades. Knowing when materials and tasks come in a construction pipeline can allow you the benefit of being prepared. There are many times when you are working on a new structure or addition or remodel when you have the opportunity to take advantage of small gaps in the pipeline to paint or prepare surfaces that will save you time by doing early in the flow. You may be able to paint in around fixtures before they are even installed leaving only minor touch ups. Its much easier to paint a bathroom before the vanity and toilet are in place. You can also prime various pieces of trim before they are hung. There are many many standard and unique instances when knowing the process can really save you time over the course of a job.

More tips coming soon! With Photos!

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Brad: 317-640-5051
brad@indianapolispainters.com

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