At Routon House Painting, we understand that it’s very important to you that your home look it’s best, and we’re here to help you learn just how to do that and be a success. So, here are our favorite tips to help you prepare for any interior paint job that might be done in your home.

The Proper Interior Prep for Painting 

It’s really important that before you try tackling any kind of interior paint prep that you take some time out and do a walkthrough in your head and identify any potential problem areas you may come across. Even better yet, take about ten minutes of your time and actually go through your home physically an look for any possibles issues that might come up. By taking ten minutes of your time will save you from hours of unnecessary frustration.

Protect Your Furniture 

I have seen it many times when people tend to forget about their furniture that might be in a room and this can end up being a mistake. It’s important to note that unless you are having a room painted that’s totally empty, you really need to cover your furniture with some sort of painter’s plastic. Otherwise, you could end up damaging your furniture and might even have to end up replacing it.

It’s important also to make sure that if there are items on dressers or on your bathroom counters it’s a really good idea to either remove them altogether or at least move them away from the walls to the center.

Removal of Wall Plates

After you have taken care of your furniture by covering it up and then pulling it away from the walls, you will then be able to see where all the light switches and outlets are located. This will make it a lot easier for you to get to all of them by pulling out your furniture. After you do this the next step will be to remove all of the wall plates. You will also want to remove any vent and return covers as well.

So, why does all of this interior paint prep matter? Well, while you can paint over these things or even paint around them, you will be losing the separation between your walls and the cover plates. This can give your overall look a very ragged and extremely unprofessional look, especially some of these can be very visible.

Cover Floors

It’s really important that you get some sort of item to cover your floors before you start painting. If you are painting a wall, it’s highly recommended that you provide cover for at least three feet away from the wall. Now, if you happen to be painting a ceiling make sure to cover your entire floor. One of the best things to use for covering is canvas drop cloths. These are especially great for carpeting. They are really easy for anyone to spread out and unlike plastic coverings, they stay without having to use any kind of tape.

Just normal drips and splatter won’t go through these, however, a large spill will still soak through even a canvas cover, so be very careful.

Scaffolds and Ladders

If you’re going to be painting any wall above one foot and overhead like a ceiling, it’s really a good idea for you to use at least a stepladder. But if you’re trying to tackle really tall walls and vaulted ceilings you will want a taller ladder and in some cases, you may even want to include some scaffolds.

Patching Walls

One important thing to know here is this, make sure that you cover all of your floors prior to doing any kind of patching. It can be very easy for you to drip a huge glob of this compound on to your floor and you really don’t want to have to waste time trying to clean this mess up off your carpet. By doing patching on your walls, you’ll end up with a much crisper and smoother final job.

Clean Surfaces

Before you start painting, it’s important that you clean off any foreign substances that might be on what you are going to be painting. If you decide to skip this step, your paint is going to have a difficult time adhering properly. Later on down the road, the paint may also start peeling off if you skip this important prep step.

This really isn’t all that difficult. If you’re cleaning off-dry things such as dust, sawdust, or pet hair, just use a microfiber cloth. For tackier materials like grease, it will need to be complete with a solution of water and dish soap.

Prep Your Trim

The trim which is the transition line that’s between the trim and the wall can be rather tricky to get just perfect in fact many pros themselves will often rely on painter’s tape. The tape will protect your trim and it will also create a nice perfect smooth and crisp line when you pull the tape away.

It’s a good idea to consider practicing taping your trim, especially around the ceiling until you feel comfortable doing it. Once you feel like you have it down then you’re just about ready to paint.

Make a Final Test Sample

The last thing you should do prior to painting brings out the rollers, brushes, and paint pans and make sure that you have all you need. On top of that, it’s important that you check your paint. Open up a can and then make sure that it’s completely mixed. The next thing to do is to apply a very small coat of the paint on an area of a wall that is inconspicuous. This is to make sure that the tint is exactly what you want before the painting begins.