With the incoming warm weather, many homeowners who are looking for an easy do-it-yourself project turn towards re-painting their home’s interior walls. Painting your walls is a stress-free home improvement project that can significantly change the look and feel of your home without a significant amount of time or money. Simply select and purchase a paint color, prep the walls and trims, and paint. In order to achieve the best possible outcome with this project, it is important to appropriately prepare your walls, prior to painting.
Prepping the Walls
Before you get out your paintbrushes, it is important to remove any obstructions, paintings or wall fixtures from your walls. If you currently have wallpaper, you will need to strip it from the walls. Removing wall paper and glue can be messy, time consuming and frustrating. Many people have a variety of different methods for getting the job done. I recommend using a hand steamer to heat up the wallpaper and make the glue more pliant. The heat will make it much easier for you to pull off the wall paper, as a result. If there is still a fair amount of glue on the exposed walls beneath, there are several different products that you can purchase to remove the wallpaper paste. My favorite is a homemade solution of two parts water and one part vinegar. Spray the surface with the mixture and then scrape it off with a drywall knife. Once the wall paper and glue are completely removed, take off all electrical socket cases so your walls are fully bare.
Assess Wall Condition
Next, assess the overall conditions of your walls by searching for pinholes and other irregularities. Small holes can easily be filled with a drywall paste. Drywall patches can be placed over medium sized holes and then drywall paste can be applied on top of the surface to fill in the remaining spaces. Simply scrape a drywall paste on top with a drywall scraper and smooth it out as best as possible.
Larger holes may need more extensive work. For these, you can use a special drywall knife to create a clean and larger hole, being sure to expose a beam to attach a new piece of drywall. Then use a piece of purchased drywall as well as a drywall nail to attach it to the supporting beam. Finish by using drywall paste to seal the edges.
Smooth the Surfaces
Once the holes are filled with drywall and paste, give it a few minutes to dry. After it has dried, completely, use sandpaper to smooth out the area. The grit of the sandpaper you choose will depend on the type of paint you want to use but most people tend to look for a finer grit. Go over the surface of your walls with sandpaper until they are smooth. To make your job easier, I suggest using painter’s tape to cover the areas you do not want to paint. To ensure that the paint does not bleed through the tape, run a putty knife across the tape, pressing down for a good seal. Your walls are now ready to be painted!
This article was written by Heather Rich, a blogger for Thompson Creek Window Company. Heather is passionate about DIY projects and improving her home from the inside out. With 23 years of experience in real estate, homebuilding, and residential and commercial contractors, her useful posts cover a wide set of topics related to seasonal home improvement. From making your home more energy efficient to choosing the perfect new entry door, you will find it all on the Thompson Creek Blog. Email: thompsoncreekblog@gmail.com