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Professional Painter Articles
DIY Vs Hiring a Professional Painter
Have you considered painting your home? Are you looking to change the appearance, update to a modern and contemporary look, looking to refresh your house prior to or following a sale or looking to enjoy the clean and fresh feeling a repaint can provide?
If you answered yes to any of these questions you have likely weighed the options of DIY painting vs hiring a professional painter.
House Painting whether interior painting or exterior painting can enhance the appearance, value and aesthetics of your home.
DIY Painting can be a relatively cheap option to achieve these goals, however if you have limited understanding of the processes involved in completing a painting project I would recommend hiring a Professional Painter Canberra
A small cost DIY can result in a large cost repair if not correctly completed. Professional House Painters Canberra bring with them experience, knowledge and skill. These are invaluable when completing residential painting as each house painting project is different and there are number of issues that can be encountered when repainting a house, all of which a professional painter will have the knowledge and skills to determine the most suitable options to deliver the best interior painting or exterior painting.
This experience and knowledge also ensures the Professional Canberra Painter knows what is involved in the house painting process, the preparation, paint types, paint application, surface needs and protective measures.
Sure, a DIY painter could access all of this information online, this would be a time consuming endeavour.
Another difference is in the quality and result, Professional Painters Canberra are hired to provide quality that will last. Through significant research of paint preparation and application including paint types and their different application, the types of tape and which areas and paint types each can be applied to a DIY painter may achieve the same quality on first glance, however the quality house painting services provided by professional painters will ensure the paint quality lasts and that the painting process does not cause damage, for example from using the wrong tape type resulting in paint being removed when the tape is taken off.
Given that professional painters complete house painting on a daily basis there is a significant difference in the time involved for a professional painter compared to a DIY Painter. Professional Painters have the experience and skill to prepare, apply (have you ever tried cutting in? for novice painters this can be a highly time consuming task!) and plan each house painting job to complete in the most timely and efficient way possible.
Now that I have covered the experience, quality and time differences between Professional Painters and DIY Painters the most important aspect for most people is the cost. DIY Painters save on labour costs, although their paint is likely more expensive as they can't access trade prices and have limited experience on how much paint will be needed.
Have you considered the cost of equipment and tools required? What will you do with the equipment once you have completed the DIY House Painting? If you purchase cheap equipment will you achieve a quality result? Do you know what equipment is needed?
Professional Painters Canberra have all the equipment needed to provide the best quality painting service that will last. Finally, what if something goes wrong?
Absolute Property Services are fully insured. This insurance protects your house painting service, your home and your possessions. Not all home and contents insurance policies cover for DIY painting, if something goes wrong it could result in a massive cost, far exceeding the cost of hiring a professional painter.
Owning and operating Absolute Property Services, I admit I am biased towards hiring a professional painter to complete your house painting project. However, I have experienced the frantic phone calls from home owners that have spent time and money only to end up calling a professional painter because without the experience and skill their preparation or application hasn't achieved the quality they were hoping for.
My recommendation would be to get a quote from a professional painter. House Painting Services can be adjusted to suit specific budgets and still achieve results. Talk to your house painter about what you want to achieve and how much you want to spend. Once you know what it will cost to have the house painting completed by a professional painter then consider my other points before making a decision. Contact us today if you have any questions.
10 BEST DIY House Painting Tips
If you have read my article on DIY Vs Professional Painter and have decided to try out DIY Painting, the following tips will go a long way in providing you with a professional painting finish and are guaranteed to save you time, money and many headaches!
1. Where to start?
Have you looked at the area you want to paint and thought, “where do I start?”
There is a technique for the order in which a room or house is painted. Start with: Ceiling, Trims then walls.
Starting at the highest point of the room saves you time, money and energy.
Complete your preparations and start with painting the ceiling.
There is no need to be neat; anything on the walls will be painted over later. Focus on obtaining a consistent finish. Then the trim, again as the wall will be painted after there is no need to tape. Focus on obtaining a smooth consistent finish. If you get some trim paint on the wall, don’t worry it will be painted over later.
24 hours after painting the trim you can apply tape on the trim to protect it from the wall paint. Use a good quality painter’s tape. You get what you pay for when it comes to tape. Finally, you can paint the walls.
2. Painting Products
Buy quality! There are so many painting products on the market from painter’s tape to brushes and rollers and then the paint itself. Spending the extra to get good quality will save you on time and money in the long term. The paint will last longer, have a better finish and the application process is much easier when working with quality products.
3. Pre-paint cleaning
Depending on the cleanliness of the walls you may need to clean the walls using a de-glosser or heavy-duty cleaner. This will increase the paint adhesion. Follow the manufacture guidelines for use and application and ensure the product is made for pre-paint cleaning. Not all areas will need to be cleaned. Focus on high touch points, around door handles, light switches and in specific areas like kitchens, bathrooms and laundry.
4. Holes and cracks
Nearly all properties will require varying degrees of patching from small to large holes and cracks. When using a filler or compound make sure to read the application and drying times. To ensure a consistent sheen it is essential to cover all patched areas with a coat of primer. Primer seals the filler, stopping it from absorbing the paint. Apply the primer using a roller, choose a nap thickness to match the surrounding wall texture. Use the roller to feather out the edges, the primer should be feathered with the remainder of the wall to provide a consistent blend. Hard primed edges will appear through the wall paint.
5. Painting Preparation
SANDING, sanding and more sanding! To get a smooth and consistent finish you need to start with a smooth finish and that requires sanding. Ensure you are using the right sanding products for the surface you intend to paint. For most properties as much time is spent sanding, filling and caulking then more sanding than time spent painting. Use a sanding sponge for trim to adequately sand the different contours. Ensure to also caulk all gaps before painting and follow drying time guidelines. Paint will not adequately or consistently fill gaps in skirting boards, cornices, and frames. Caulking will save you time. Use a wet cloth to spread caulk, pushing in to fill the gap.
6. Paint protection
Use canvas drop sheets. Decent quality canvas drop sheets can be expensive but are much less hassle than plastic. Plastic drop sheets tear easily, move and can be slippery to walk on. Try Gumtree and other sites for second-hand and resell when you are done to recoup some of the cost, you will thank yourself later.
7. Paint types
Any paint supply store will be more than happy to help you select your paints based on your property needs. The biggest tip here is to read the manufacturers instructions. Most importantly weather; humidity and heat impact drying time, finish and adhesion. Most products will specify ideal application temperatures. Also, check the drying time between coats. Water-based paints have the easiest application and clean up, especially for any paint drops or spills.
8. Cutting in
Have you noticed in some properties there is a clear difference in texture on the walls surrounding the trim? The easiest and most effective way of reducing this difference is to brush on the paint and immediately use your roller as close to the trim as possible to even out the paint and provide a consistent texture. This will also make rolling paint across the remainder of the wall much easier. To ensure this method works complete in smaller sections, the roller will not provide a consistent texture if the paint has dried.
9. How to apply using paint roller
To provide a consistent finish when painting walls ensure you roll up and down the full height of the wall, overlapping the previous stroke as you move from one side of the wall to the other. When needed it is possible to move backwards to even out the paint, make sure to continue to roll the full height of the wall when doing so.
10. Removing the tape
This can be the difference between a nicely finished paint job and a waste of time, money and energy. You have just finished painting the wall and are so excited to see the final result you pull the tape off to find it is pulling off paint and destroying everything you just worked so hard to complete. STOP! Wait 24 hours after painting before removing the tape. This will ensure the paint is completely dry. Using a box cutter cut through the film that has formed between the tape and the wall. Start in a corner and pull the tape at a 45-degree angle whilst cutting along the edge as you go. This will give you a seamless finish between your walls and trim.
I hope this article has helped enhance your knowledge and confidence. Painting is no easy feat and you may be surprised at how affordable a professional painting service can be. If in doubt get a quote to weight your options.
What White do I choose?
Warm Whites
Undertones: peach, yellow, pink
Home Style: traditional, country, coastal, bohemian.
Feeling: cosy, boho. Look: earthy, organic, natural.
Cool Whites
Undertones: grey, beige, blue.
Home Style: modern, contemporary, scandanavian, industrial, art deco
Feeling: clean and neutral. Look: minimalist, simplistic, clean lines.
How to decide which suits your home best?
Is your house filled with natural or artificial light?
If you have mainly artificial light, what colour globes are you using? This can influence how the colour appears.
Cool Whites are suited to homes with natural light. Warm Whites are suited to homes with artificial light.
Changing your light globes can impact how the light appears.
A warm light globe in a room painted in a Cool White will balance the two and vice versa.
Also check the white colour against your furnishings in each room.
The dominant colours in the room will influence how the paint is seen.
For example, if you choose a cool white with a blue undertone and have blue furnishings the blue will become more apparent and appear stronger than it would in a room with beige furnishings.
One thing I come across a lot is people who like a colour but feel it is too strong as a base wall colour. All colours can be diluted to lesser strengths like 1/2 or 1/4. This is becoming more common with 1/4 strength colours used as base wall colour and he full strength used for feature walls.
1 final tip, when trying out samples on your wall remember to use an undercoat first and apply the selected colours over this. Having a solid 1 colour base ensures the original pigment from the walls does not come through and allows a better comparison between the colours.