Home Painting Guide

Archive for September, 2010

Home painting is not everyone’s cup of tea. But all of us should give it a try because it gives immense pleasure while doing so. Here are some useful tips that would help you give your walls a proper finish.

Do the preparation

The very first thing you need to do is to wash down all the walls, which you want to paint. You can take the help of a pressure washer. It can be taken on rent from any store. After completing the washing process, take a scraper and remove all the chipped areas and loose paintings. No need to scrap the whole wall. But the uneven areas need to scraped as they create problems while painting. Next thing to do is to calculate the area of the wall by square footage so that you can determine the amount of paint required. Buy paint in 5-gallon pails, rather than gallons to save more money.

Collect your tools

You will need painting brushes and rollers during painting. What type and how many brushes you need can be best decided by consulting your local paint store. For oil based paints, you can opt for natural or synthetic bristles, while you can use synthetic bristles with latex paint. The same rule applies while selecting rollers. Don’t forget to purchase some painter’s tape. It is a blue tape that comes in different widths and can be easily removed without messing up your paint job.

Precautions before applying

Don’t start painting out of the paint cans. Because during painting it will remain open and come in contact with air, that would dry it out, thus making the paint difficult to apply. Also the brush or roller will take foreign particles like dirt into the paint that will enter your paint and can change the color as you go long. Painting should be started from the edge of the wall and move towards the middle. Most of us do just opposite and face problems. If you start painting with a new can of paint in the middle of the wall, then there are chances of differences in the color and that will look more prominent in the middle of the wall. Therefore with each new can of paint, start painting from the edges. Before starting painting, dip you roller in water for latex paints and in solvent for oil based paints. Either you use a pan or a 5-gallon bucket, roll it out a little to make sure it isn’t dripping. You don’t need to go all the way from the top to the bottom as you paint.

How you should apply?

It is good to apply the paint in a N or Y pattern. Then apply in columns up and down smoothing out all the edges or ridges. Don’t try to stretch the paint, and make sure you have enough amount of paint on the paint roller to give it a good coat. In case of applying more than one coat, the first coat should be completely dry before applying a new coat of paint. It is always difficult to paint the corners. If you are careless you light see paint dripping from corners later. Get close to the corners but but don’t scrape the roller against the corner. It will cause drips. Always keep a paintbrush ready for taking care of any drips or ridges you leave behind. It is better to do this rather than trying to fix it later.

Everyone has a desire to have a well-organized and well-designed home to represent a perfect combination of style and comfort. With smart home remodeling plans and little investment one can do wonders. Now days, homeowners prefer rebuilding their existing home rather purchasing a new one.

Home remodeling has advantage of transforming the existing space into a customized and designed space. It also updates outdated structures and designs and adds beauty to your house. There could be several reasons for home remodeling such as unattractive designs, unmanaged space, or cracked floor. The problem with most people is that they are not sure where to start with their home remodeling project from. Should they begin home remodeling with kitchen, bathroom or basement or with a room addition? Unlike opening a den where you need to remove walls, a kitchen remodeling or bathroom remodeling project is done on a smaller scale. As a result, you don’t have to spend much money on your home remodeling project to make your house look more attractive.

Apart from kitchen and bathroom remodeling, you can also re-design the other areas of your house. Basement remodeling is one such example; it is like building an addition onto your home. Basement Remodeling is one of the best ways to increase the livable space of your house. With proper planning and remodeling, finished basement could become a place to enjoy with your family and friends.

A room addition is one of the best ways to add an extra space to your room. Room additions are often done to fit the family’s current needs while increasing the comfort and function of the home. It serves as a good and cost-effective alternative to get a bigger house or moving into a larger space.

There are many home remodeling companies who offer home remodeling services but you need to be very careful while choosing them. One should choose a professional remodeling company whom you can trust and rely on. These companies offer you a reasonable and fair price for your remodeling projects.

A Garage Floor, what is there to say about a slab of concrete used to park your car and store junk. Although this sentiment may have been true in the past, today’s garage floor materials and coatings are nothing if not extremely high tech and quality driven.

First, let’s talk coatings. We’re not talking simply about paint here but polymers that literally lock themselves into place. These high tech coatings not only make your garage look better but also resist oil and many of the inevitable solvent and chemical spills that happen in the typical garage. Unlike a porous cement garage floor, these high tech coatings not only look beautiful but stand up to all but the harshest chemicals.

Another benefit of garage floor coatings is the cleanliness factor. Your garage may be kept cleaner simply because it’s seen more as an extension of the house instead of “just the garage.” It’s also easier to keep clean when the dirt and debris start to collect.

Instead of the dull gray garage floor, these coating come in a variety of colors. Many of the most popular polymer coatings for garage floors are a two or three step process that includes a base coat, a measure of color flakes and a top coat. Once cured, parking your car on this wonder of modern science is not a problem.

Another alternative for garage floors are high density, oil resistant mats. These cushioning maps are perfect if you’re a do it yourself car mechanic and spend a lot of time under the hood of your favorite toys.

All in all, the garage is an important part of your homes operation. Doesn’t it deserve a high tech finish?