How to Prepare for Residential Interior Painting
If you've scheduled residential interior painting services and you want to make your painting contractor's life a little easier, there are a few actions you can take to prepare for interior painting. Get your Hiawatha home ready for a fresh coat of paint by cleaning up the space, ensuring that the paint color you've selected is the right one, and repairing damaged surfaces.
Steps to Get Your Home Ready for Interior Painting
- Evaluate the Paint Color – Prior to interior painting, making sure that you're pleased with your color selection is important. You can test the color on an inconspicuous section of wall and scrutinize it in both artificial and natural lights to ensure that you're absolutely content with the shade. If you aren't satisfied with the color, you'll have time to select a new color before your painter is scheduled to arrive.
- Choose Your Materials – To prepare for interior painting, you may require various tools and materials, such as cleaning cloths, detergent, paint scrapers, sandpaper, painter's tape, putty knives, and canvas drop cloths.
- Wash the Walls – Cleaning walls before painting them is crucial for proper adhesion. You can use liquid soap and a damp cloth to remove dirt and residue. After cleaning, rinse the walls, and let them dry fully. An anti-mold solution can be applied to walls with visible mold growth, and roller covers can be cleaned to prevent loose fibers from transferring to the wet paint.
- Repair Damaged Walls – If you have the tools and know-how to remove flaking paint and repair damaged plaster, you may want to perform these tasks before your painter arrives. You can scrape away cracked paint with a paint scraper and then smooth clumps with sandpaper. Consider using an electric sander to smooth large sections of your walls and patching up damaged plaster before repainting.
- Tape Windowsills and Woodwork – Homeowners often make the mistake of leaving their windowsills and woodwork exposed during interior painting, but you won't have the same regrets if you line the edges of windows and baseboards with blue painter's tape. You should also run a putty knife along the tape to form a seal, preventing the bleeding of paint underneath the tape.
- Remove Outlet Covers and Switch Plates – Protect your outlet covers and switch plates by removing them before painting. You should also make sure that children are kept away from rooms with exposed wall sockets. You may want to remove ceiling medallions and light fixtures if you're planning to paint the ceiling.
- Cover the Furniture – Try to remove as much furniture as possible from the area undergoing interior painting. If some furniture cannot be removed, then you should move it to the center of the room, cover it in plastic tarps, and tape the tarps at the bottom.
- Lay Down Canvas Drop Cloths – Thin bed sheets may allow paint spills to seep through to the flooring, and plastic sheets don't allow spilled paint to dry. Canvas drop cloths are the best floor covering because they contain paint spills effectively.
Your painting contractor has all of the tools and materials required to get your Hiawatha home ready for residential interior painting, but you can still take additional preparation steps. If you want to hire a professional painter to repaint the walls in your home, contact the qualified team at Mike Wolfe Painting.