Shortcuts on painting projects are pretty much never a good idea. To achieve a professional look when painting an area of any size, painstaking preparation and care with details are required. Unfortunately, plenty of do-it-yourself painters use timesaving steps that result in substandard results of one kind or another. Avoid all of the following painting shortcuts.
- Skipping painter’s tape on the baseboards. No matter how steady a painter’s hand, it is essential to put a strip of tape over the top of the baseboard, with a bit hanging over the edge, to protect the sides. Otherwise, you will end up with unsightly paint splatters.
- Skipping prep work such as patching, caulking, and sanding. These may be the tedious parts of a paint job, but without them, the results are guaranteed to disappoint. The only exception would be if you have a wall in a perfect state of repair.
- Letting the paint fill baseboard gaps. A gap between baseboards a wall doesn’t look good. Gaps need to be caulked before painting begins. It’s a mistake to think a thick amount of paint will close the gap.
- Hurrying through paint mixing. It’s very important to make sure your paint is mixed well before beginning a project. Otherwise, if you need to go back for touchups, you’ll find that the color is slightly different, as a result of not properly mixing the paint.
- Skipping washing the siding prior to painting. Exterior painting is a huge undertaking. The paint job won’t last, however, if the paint can’t properly adhere to the surface. Washing siding before painting is an essential step that should not be neglected.
- Skipping a second coat of paint. If your strategy to save time is to apply one nice, thick coat of paint instead of two thin ones, forget about it. One coat is almost never sufficient. You get far superior results with two even, thin coats of paint.
- Ignoring the bumps and lumps. When you see conspicuous bumps on a wall, it’s usually leftover roller lint and other debris left behind from a former paint job. Those lumps will spoil your new paint project, if you don’t sand them off first.
- Skipping priming the patches. An ugly effect painters call “flashing” occurs if patches aren’t primed. Patching with a sealing-type primer helps to prevent flashing. Secondly, before painting, you can use a patch compound that is self-priming.
- Painting before the surface is fully dried. Painting over paint that hasn’t completely dried causes problems with adhesion and slows down drying time. Always wait for a complete drying process.
- Painting over active mold. Live mold must be killed with diluted bleach or detergent before painting. Stain-blocking primers should be used over dark mold stains, but they don’t get rid of live mold problems.
- Painting over switch covers or outlets. Always remove or tape off outlet and switch covers before painting. A clear sign of a rush paint job is the ridge of paint along the edges of a switch cover that eventually peels off, when the cover is removed.
There’s an even better way to have a stunning paint job than to avoid shortcuts. Hire the professionals at MC Painting, and you’ll never have a reason to regret a fresh paint job. The experts at MC Painting are dedicated to superior workmanship on every job, large and small.