Whether you are taking the DIY route to paint your house, or you’re looking to hire professional painters in Perth, taking the time to prepare a room for painting is essential. By preparing the room, you make sure that you only get paint where you want it. It also makes your painting job safer, as well as neater. If you’re about to embark on painting a room, or having it painted, here’s how you can prepare.
Gather Your Tools
Before you can paint, you need to have all of the necessary equipment. If you’ve decided to take the DIY option, you should have the following basic equipment:
- Towels/rags/sponges
- Floor duster
- Vacuum
- Drop cloths or plastic
- Safety glasses
- Ladder/ step
- Painter’s/regular tape
Follow the steps below to get the best results when you prepare your room for painting.
Move Your Furniture
Move your furniture somewhere safe so that there isn’t any chance of paint drips ruining anything. The garage or any spare room is a good choice if either is available. If neither of these are an option, just make sure you gather your furniture into the room’s centre and cover everything with drop cloths or plastic. This will at least ensure all of your furniture is as far from the walls as possible, and protected from any flying paint.
TIP: Fix your drop cloths or plastic with tape in case of any movement to be doubly safe.
Remove Everything From Your Walls and Ceilings
You can’t paint your walls if there’s still stuff on them, unless you want to attempt to paint around them and leave blank spots. You should take down as much as possible. Remove pictures and unscrew outlet covers, light switches, speakers or any lamps. Also remove pins, nails and other items that may disturb painting. Nothing should remain on your walls.
TIP: If you are that person who always finds a mystery leftover screw, use your smartphone and take photos before completing disassemble. You can refer back to it when it’s time to put everything back in place. Gather all items in one container to keep it all safe and in order. If you have multiple rooms to paint, choose one container per room.
Dust All Surfaces
You need to have a clean surface before you begin painting. Begin with preliminary cleaning to get rid of dust. First, dust all surfaces, including the walls and ceilings. Next, vacuum the dust so it doesn’t fluff into the air every time someone steps on the carpet. Even if you have hard floors, vacuuming will pick up any dust, hair or other particles that might be floating around and that you don’t want to get into your paint.
TIP: As you dust, make sure you use a damp cloth, so you pick up every particle. Attention to detail! The cloth should only be slightly damp, and not too wet.
Scrub the Walls
After an initial dusting, you can clean your walls more thoroughly to ensure a clean surface. Take water and a sturdy cloth and scrub the walls. If you see stains or other imperfections, scrub those areas well.
TIP: For a more thorough clean, prepare a wall cleaning solution of water and trisodium phosphate. Use a sponge to wipe down the walls. Repeat the process with clean water.
Use Tape to Protect Edges
Painter’s tape can protect the parts of the room that you don’t want to paint. This might include the ceiling, skirting boards or other areas that should stay the same colour as they are now.
Cover the Carpet
Before the painting, lay a tarp or several layers of newspapers over your carpet or floor. It’s one of the few things that you can’t remove from the room, so you need to protect it from any dripping paint. Creating a barrier will keep the paint from dripping into your carpet fibres or other flooring.
Once you have taken steps to protect your floor, your room should be prepared for painting. Your final step is to set up a workstation in an easy-to-access area of the room. This might include a number of things, including a table, your paint, rollers and brushes, protective gear, tape and anything else that you need to paint with.
If you have any questions about this process or you need some help with residential painting, please contact us. Our painting services in Perth can ensure your painting goes smoothly, and the work is high-quality.