Hiring a professional interior painter or do it yourself (DIY)? When it comes to giving your home a fresh paint job, you might be tempted to pull out a roller and paint pan. Some serious considerations when taking on a project yourself are the skill level of the individual, the tools they have, the detail of the project, and the amount of prep that needs to be done.
Should You Do Your Own Interior Painting? | Professional Interior Painting
High Ceilings
If you can’t reach the ceiling with a step ladder, hire a professional interior painting specialist. Straining to paint a high ceiling can cause neck pain and rotator cuff injuries. Messy mistakes result from stretching to reach a high ceiling. If the ceiling has water damage, repairs will need to be completed before covering with paint. Major water damage may need drywall replacement.
Specialty Finish
Unless you have experience using specialty paints yourself, leave the lacquer and high glosses to the professionals. Lacquers are typically spray applied only. Any high-shine product will be quick to highlight imperfections. Even professionals should be careful when it comes to applying this sort of paint because of the likelihood of marks and uneven coating. Instead, opting for flat or matte finish paints. Those are more forgiving, and they don’t telegraph imperfections as much.
Walls are in Poor Condition
This one’s pretty simple: If it can’t be fixed with a dot of spackle, hire a professional. A few little dings and nicks aren’t a big deal. But when you’re starting to talk about major holes in drywall, that’s something you might want to consider hiring out.
Trim
Plan to paint all the trim throughout the main areas of the house the same color to create a unified effect from room to room. In more personal spaces, such as bedrooms, basements, and bathrooms, you might want to play around with more unique wall and trim color combinations. First, sand the trim and doors down to break through the polyurethane. What that means is that you want to sand the gloss off of the surface. Second, apply a shellac primer over the surfaces that you want to paint. This makes sure that the paint is going to adhere to the surface properly. The trim and moldings need to be completely dry before taping them off and painting the walls.
Need to Strip Old Paint
If your home was built more than 40 years ago, there’s a chance that your walls could be covered in lead-based paint. If inhaled, it could cause serious health problems, like lead poisoning, giving you all the more reason to bring in the professionals. Any type of sanding or scraping or scuffing could create lead poisoning. Remember paint is only as good as what’s underneath it. Removing age-old layers of paint will increase the durability and longevity of the new paint. Moreover, without suitable prep work, new paint would simply sit atop the old layer, and over time will peel and crack. Sanding and priming create a bonding surface and improves adherence of the paint. You should really strip old paint down and do it properly, then the new paint will last an extended period of time.
Professional Painting
If your walls are in good condition and you’re just looking for a simple color change, go ahead and DIY. Touching up small spots or repainting a child’s room, for example, don’t necessarily require a professional. Painting something like a bedroom is as simple as taking your furniture out and getting out a step ladder out. It doesn’t require a lot of time or energy. However, just because you’re not using a professional, doesn’t mean you should skimp on tools. Using the same tools as a professional can get pricey. If your walls need repairs or preparation to create a bonding surface, use a professional painter.
Should You Do Your Own Interior Painting? | Professional Interior Painting
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Productive painting is the best Monmouth and Union County Painting. With excellent time management, we deliver high quality interior and exterior painting services. We offer professional power washing and residential, commercial, and industrial services throughout Union County, NJ. Productive Painting Company is owner operated fully licensed (NJ LICENSE #13VH04439800) and insured. Hours of operation Mon to Fri 8 AM to 5 PM and Saturday 8 AM to 1 PM. Closed Sundays.