Painting a home isn’t as easy as choosing a color.
There are cracks to fill, wood rot to repair and old stucco to smooth before the roller even sees a drop of paint. Without a perfectly-primed surface, your brand-new paint color runs the risk of looking old, raggedy and bumpy before it even sees the lights of day. Not to mention, selecting the wrong finish can highlight any imperfections left behind, resulting in your brand-new paint finish looking tired and worn before your friends, neighbors and guests even get to see it.
Before picking up the phone, every homeowner should have a good understanding of the painting services they need. Does your living room need drywall repair? How about the bedroom – will a eggshell finish reveal any slight imperfections in the wall? With the right primer – pun certainly intended! – any homeowner can identify the painting services they need before embarking on the home repainting journey.
Prepping, repairing and other importing pre-painting services
Every artist needs a clean canvas before beginning a masterpiece. It’s the same for a homeowner looking to refresh aging, peeling or tired wall paint.
Unfortunately, the homeowner’s “blank canvas” isn’t as perfectly smooth as an artist’s. It takes quite a bit of work to make sure the wall is free of imperfections – imperfections that can ruin the beautiful, smooth look of the newly-painted walls.
In order to ensure a perfect paint job, you may need to call a painting services provider to fix several issues, including:
- Drywall repair. Any type of drywall damage needs to be fixed properly before painting. Such a repair isn’t as simple as it’s made out to be: a proper patch requires several steps and special tools to ensure that the damage is properly and securely filled in.
- Wood rot repair. Wood rot is a common problem for homeowners, caused when water or fungi – and sometimes both – eats through wood. Proper repair not only cuts away the rotting portions but rebuilds them for an even painting surface.
- Fix nail pops now. Those ugly, annoying dots along the wall aren’t integral to your home’s structure, but they’re certainly unattractive. Nail pops have a tendency to crop up in clusters: if you have one or two now, you can expect more to creep up over time, which can ruin your newly-painted walls down the line.
- Correcting damaged corners. While corners are often made up of drywall, they typically have some metal components laying underneath that need to be molded back into place. Ignoring these damaged corners will result in an ugly, lumpy final painting job.
The canvas is ready, and now it’s time to paint
So the walls are ready, and now it’s time for the fun part: to see your color of choice go on the walls! But did you know how important the paint finish is in preserving the smooth walls your handyman worked so hard to fix?
Interior paint finishes are selected not just on appearance, but on endurance: how well its sheen, newness and resilience to dirt can hold up in a busy home. A good painting services provider can advise on which finishes are best for each room based on how often they’re used, referred to as a “high-traffic” or “low-traffic” areas. Knowing the basic names and attributes of the many paint finishes available will inform the conversation with your painter and help you select the best finish for your home.
- Flat or matte finishes mask minor imperfections on the walls — the subtle sheen doesn’t call attention to any tiny dings that occur over time. These finishes are harder to clean than their glossy counterparts, making them ideal for bedrooms and other areas where food, grime and scuffmarks aren’t likely to end up on the walls.
- An eggshell finish’s luster is a step up from a flat or matte finish, making it the ideal choice for dining rooms, living rooms and other gathering places where dirt and scuffmarks aren’t as likely to make an impression on the walls, but a duller paint won’t take away from the room’s ambience.
- Satin finishes offer slightly more sheen than an eggshell finish. This extremely versatile sheen can be used in a high-traffic area while still providing an elegant finish. Not to mention, a satin finished can be wiped clean.
Semi-gloss or gloss finishes are the perfect match for the kitchen since these finishes can be scrubbed clean without interfering with its look or luster. Grease, moisture and more hold up well against these finishes; they even have an element of stain resistance.
No matter which painting services you end up needing or whichever finish you choose, hiring the right painting professional with the right experience will help you get there. Homesquare’s experienced professionals can tackle your entire painting job from A to Z, including putting your art, portraits and other hanging items back on the walls when they’re done! Contact Homesquare today to discuss your next painting project.