Interior house painting tips

Interior house painting can be a messy, time-consuming task. Timothy Brown from Shades & Tones shares essential tips on how to make house painting as pain-free as possible.

Preparation

• Wash the area with sugar soap and mould killer.
• Fill any holes with gyprock mutli-coat filler and sand until smooth. Fill gaps between skirting and wall with flexible gap filler. Use a wet rag to smooth and tidy up any excess on the skirting.
• Use a a heat gun on cold days to to help the filler dry. A heat gun can also be used to dry paint.
• Apply a strip of masking tape along the skirting and a drop sheet on the floor to protect the woodwork and floor.

Paint

• Paint should be stirred well to get the resin off the bottom of the pot. Add a splash of Floetrol – paint conditioner to help the paint run smooth.
• It’s good to use a methylated spirit based paint with an anti-mould agent to cover dirty markings, such as pen and prevent mould growth.
• Be careful not to overfill your painting pot or you’ll get too much paint on your brush and make a big mess.
• Always keep one side of your pot clean so you have somewhere to rest your brush.

Painting 

• Professional painters start with a technique called “cutting in”.
• Cutting in involves painting the edges of the area you’ve covering by using your eye as a guide to paint a straight line. There’s no real secret to it – the more you practise, the better you’ll get!

Using A Roller

• Load paint on the roller by repeatedly rolling it away from you (in one direction).
• Don’t start right at the edge but closer to the middle of the wall so you can offload any excess paint.
• Roll from the top to the bottom of the wall in one smooth movement. You won’t get the coverage you need in 1 coat, especially if you’re painting over a coloured wall, so you’ll generally need 2-3 coats.

Care & Maintenance 

• Brushes can dry out within minutes (especially on a really hot day) so when not in use make sure you cover them with a wet rag.
• Make sure you clean up your painting gear straightaway before all paint dries out. A quick soak should do the trick.

Happy house painting!