The interior paint job in your home directly impacts overall quality perception and whether there is an excellent or sub-par impression created. A poorly painted room is not one that you can take a lot of pride in showing off. Professional painters know how to create the desired impact, and they make the most out of how a can of paint can look when applied to walls and trim. In achieving a wow factor, they do have a few tricks up their sleeves. The following are four practices of professional painters that you may not have ever heard about and that could really improve do-it-yourself results:
1 – Boxing
Even if you buy several cans of paint in the same shade on the same day, the color will frequently vary in an obvious way. Sometimes the difference is immediately noticeable when you open a fresh can of paint after a room is half painted. Professional painters have a strategy for eliminating that problem, and it’s called “boxing.” To make sure that color is consistent from the beginning to the end of a paint project, pros mix all cans of paint in a 5-gallon bucket, and that is what boxing is. To eliminate the need for pouring paint into a roller tray, some painters paint directly from the bucket, in spite of the fact that the weighty bucket is more difficult to move.
2 – Paint Extender
Have you ever been frustrated because of brush marks and lap marks? The pros have a solution for that, too. Mix a product called “paint extender” into the paint. Also called a paint conditioner, this added ingredient serves a couple of purposes. First, paint drying time is slowed down, which allows for more time to, for instance, finish painting the trim on a large window. Lap marks are created when you paint over dried paint. Secondly, paint extender, also called a leveler, levels out paint so that the appearance of brush strokes is either much less obvious or virtually eliminated.
3 – A Good Tape Seal
A huge factor in the look of a paint job is how clean the lines are between the walls and the trim, window frames, door frames, etcetera. One trick professionals use is to apply blue painter’s tape and then press the tape down with a putty knife, to ensure a good seal. This practice will put a stop to any bleeding of the paint underneath the tape edges, professionals say. Definitely do use painter’s tape rather than masking tape, too, because masking tape can leave behind a sticky residue and paint can sometimes cause it to get wavy or to buckle. Another advantage of painter’s tape is that it will peel off cleanly even if it is left on for weeks.
4 – Textured Ceiling Tip
It is virtually impossible to achieve a straight line at the top of the wall while preventing ceiling bumps from getting paint on them. The easy solution pros use is to scrape the texture off of the ceiling’s perimeter by running a screwdriver along the edges. A ridge is created in the ceiling with the screwdriver, and the bristles of the paint brush fall into the groove naturally. The missing texture on the ceiling is never missed.
If you decide to leave the work to professionals, contact our paint professionals today. They have the skills and experience to make the very most of a fresh coat of paint.
Franklin Painting LLC – Call us Toll Free at 877-646-7774
or at our main office number 860-678-7701
160 Brickyard Road, Farmington, CT 06032