Painting walls In Lexington - The roll the Lex Way
Painting walls is probably the one thing you, as a homeowner, can do fairly easily to freshen up your home. Maybe you just moved into a new place and you hate the color that is on the walls. You could be living in the same house for the last 10 years and need a change. There are 5 kids and a dog running around the house and it’s just….done. Painting trim is tedious, ceilings will wreck your arms/shoulders/neck, so walls are the obvious choice to change things up. Let me share the products and process we use to hopefully save you a few headaches along the way.
How to choose a paint:
First let’s talk about product. We use 3 different lines of wall paint. PPG Speedhide Zero, Ben Moore Ultra Spec, and Ben Moore Regal Select. All three are very good paints. Speedhide and Ultra Spec are in the $25 a gallon range while Regal Select is pushing $50. You need to answer two questions before purchasing the paint. 1. What color(s) are you doing? 2. How much durability do you want? Speedhide/Ultra Spec cover well using neutral colors (greys/tans) and hold up well to wiping down with a sponge. Regal Select has more solids (part of the paint that stays on the wall after evaporation) so we use it for lights, pastels, and deep colors. It also can hold up to tougher scrubbing. If your kids like to fling spaghetti all over the place, that might be the ticket for you.
The best tools for painting
Now that you’ve chosen your paint, you need to apply it to the wall. Here at RollTheLex we use Wooster 3” flat brushes and Wooster 18”x1/2” ProDooz roller covers. The reason we use these is they hold more paint per “dip.” The more paint you get in the brush/roller, the more efficient you’re going to be. If you’re new to painting we would recommend a 2 or 2.5” angled brush. Most people are comfortable holding those and feel more confident painting straight lines. For roller covers, you’re going to find 9” (length) and ⅜” or ½” width. The second number is how long the hairs are. So, the larger the fraction, the more paint you can hold in the roller. For rookies we would recommend a 9”x1/2”. It won’t overwhelm you with weight and you’ll hold enough paint that you won’t be re-dipping constantly.
Preparation is key
The paint is purchased, you’ve got your brush/roller ready to go, so now it’s time to get some paint going. First take off all the light switch covers and outlet plates. There’s no need to paint around them and it will take three times as long. After you do this, then run a sanding pad over the walls. We use large triangle shaped sanders, but a quick zip with a sanding pad will do just fine. You’re not trying to get splinters out of wood here. You just want to open up the wall and knock off any nubs. Many customers use tape to protect ceilings/trim from getting paint on them with the brush. We don’t do that. With our experience and the need to be efficient, we only run tape along the baseboards to keep the paint splatters down. If you want to use tape, then do whatever makes you the most comfortable.
It’s finally time to put the roller on the wall.
Now it’s painting time! When I first started painting my wife would often call me and ask how it was going. I would respond “If I could ever get to the painting part it would be great!” That’s where you’re at! I like to work “up to down/left to right”. This means I’ll start in the top left corner and cut my line at the ceiling, then work my way down and finish at the baseboards. After cutting in a wall, it’s best to immediately roll the wall. This keeps a “wet edge” which is not letting your brush work get dry before you roll it. If you’re a rookie painter, then I’d suggest going one wall at a time until you get faster.
Most walls take two coats of paint, so after you do that it’s cleanup time! We throw away all our brushes and rollers, shake out the drop cloths, and finally put the switch covers back on. If you read this and are a DIY person, then I hope it helps! If you read it and still refuse to DIY, then definitely give us a call. Thanks!