As a mother you always want to keep your house clean and tidy. This inculcates a sense of ownership and responsibility in you and your family. Moreover, it also provides a healthy lifestyle and helps keeping things organized and fresh. Getting your house painted every now and then, is an obvious part of achieving that goal. However, not all moms are experienced painters, and getting assistance before starting off with anything is always a good idea. Whether it is your first time painting your house, or you just want to do it better than you did last time, here are some tips to consider before you start your paint work.
Use Cotton Drop Cloths Over Plastic
It does not matter if you are painting your house yourself, or have just hired someone to do the job, splatters and spills are not uncommon. While you may have already planned to cover the floors with plastic sheets, a better practice would be to use a layer of cotton clothes over the plastics. Paint takes time to dry on plastic surfaces. This can cause wet paint stick under your shoes and leave further traces in the house. Cotton is more absorbent and causes paint to dry relatively faster.
Clean Dirty Surfaces
Before you start painting, make sure you clean the surfaces most prone to dirt. These typically include areas around switch boards and other features, and 30 to 40 centimeters of wall above the ground. Cleaning wipes off the dirt that would otherwise interfere with the adhesiveness of paints. Usually, you can find cleaning liquids from any store where you will find wall paints.
Do Not Use Primer For Exterior
To reduce time and cost without decreasing efficiency, use primer paint only on the exterior areas not primed previously. Other than that, areas needing primer also include wall patches where you used fillers and on bare wooden surfaces. In fact, using primer over patches of walls with exposed fillers is recommended. The paint would otherwise get absorbed by the filler and leave a dull texture on that part of the wall.
Scrape Smart
You do not need to scrape all the previous paint surface off the walls, as it only wastes time and effort. Scarp only such that you reach a relatively solid edge. You can otherwise keep scraping all the minor flakes of paint and it will only lead to more of them. The adhesiveness of paints is enough to keep the small bits of previous surface down and flush with the rest of the wall.
Protect Your Lawn
You might be careful while walking through your lawn, but if you have hired a team of painters, it is a nuisance to watch them ruin the garden you spent so much time caring for, by paint spills or just by trampling over the grass. An effective solution for this is covering your lawn with bog mats. This does not only relieve you of worrying about your lawn, but also makes it easier for your hired men to move around. But there is another way around this; instead of having a lawn you can install plants on wall and you will not have to worry about shoes ruining your hard work.
Use Spray On Walls With Less Features
Spraying is recommended for exterior painting. However, to save time, you can also use it for painting the interior. Nonetheless, you need to be careful to only use it on walls that have little to no features (doors, windows etc). This will cut a large amount of time that you would have wasted using a roller instead.
I’m a 20-something stay-at-home mother and wife. I have an amazing husband, a beautiful daughter, two loving dogs, and a lazy cat. I wouldn’t change my life for anything! I love to read, listen to music, cook and blog!
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