How long to paint interior ourselves?

[JanND]

Originally Posted by Jukesgrrl

I've painted many, many interiors in my life. I do a room a day myself, but as I said, I'm experienced. I highly recommend Kilz 2 Latex Primer (yes, have it tinted if you're painting a color) and (as rrah suggested) Benjamin Moore or Sherwin Williams paint as a top coat. You can buy cheaper paint, but it just means you'll be doing the job again that much sooner.

Painting a new empty! house is far easier than painting an old one so you are lucky — but as others have said, you still need two coats of paint. Your drywall is going to soak up a lot and all the builder probably did was spray it once. If I were you, I'd start priming with everyone working together in the same room (as someone else noted, start in the least-used room since you are inexperienced. After you have finished priming all the walls, start over at the beginning and put on the top coat. The primer should be dry enough by then.

How long it takes is going to depend on your physical abilities as well as your skill. You use a lot of muscles painting that someone doesn't normally use unless they are totally in shape. Doing one room is not a big deal but a whole house will tax you if you're not used to having your arms above your head all day.

Ask your paint dealer to recommend the proper kinds of brushes and rollers depending on what kind of walls you have. Don't cheap out there either. Good-quality brushes and rollers make the work easier and give you a better result. For instance, if the builder has textured the walls, you need a very fluffy roller. The dealer will know all the tools you will need. Things like roller pan liners can really save you time and effort. If there's carpet in the house, make sure you tape down tarps securely.

Read some tips online about painting. They'll tell you things like, "At the end of the day wrap your brushes in plastic wrap after you clean them so they'll stay pliable."

Best answer imo

I would add. Do all your shopping before your paint day....or as my husband calls it, requisition...shopping takes a lot of time, and depletes energy.

Have all supplies organized in one area, a room you're saving for last. Also, a couple step ladders, and good heavy tarps to cover floors.

Also, in the paint dept. Buy a couple reams/rolls of that thick paper and lay it down for paths from room to room. It will protect your floors until you get moved in. I kept mine swept up too...prevented lots of "would be" damage.

Congrats on your New Home!

[Coldjensens]

We planned to paint the interior of our house (part new part restoration of historical house). I got one bedroom and the kitchen ceiling done and realized it would take about 18 years doing on on weekends when time was available.

We ended up hiring three painters and i still painted some rooms. We had an excellent - award winning painter paint the common area rooms (front and back parlor and dining room, and kitchen trim because the mediocre painter could not get the cobalt blue paint to sit correctly) the main guy charged $80 per hour, but he gave me a lot of free time because he was one of my closest friends from high school. After prepping the walls and priming, he went over every inch of every wall and ceiling with a bright spotlight held a few inches away form the wall and parked problem areas with a pencil. He also helped chose colors and taught us the old ceilings must be lighter than the walls thing is BS. He also taught me to paint properly.

We had a very good painter who was a bit cheaper. She did the wallpaper everywhere and paint in the master bedroom, master bathroom, the main floor bathroom and a few other places that would be seen more often.

We had a mediocre painter who was very reasonably priced. He did areas like kids bedrooms, basement hallway and i forget what else. He had a stroke while working at our house, so his guys finished up what they had started and the very good painter took over the rest instead.

We had me, my wife kids, their friends, people from our local historical society. We painted less critical areas, game room in the basement, kids bedrooms and basement bathroom, laundry room etc.

My original plan was to paint it all myself and I had budgeted $2000 for materials including wallpaper and in one room lincrusta and metal ceiling panels. When we were done, the total was closer to $40,000.

I learned a lot about painting form my friend the high end pro painter:

1. Buy a roller washer those white dove rollers are expensive and worth cleaning. You need at least that quality level to get a good finish. The roller washer will reduce the time per roller from nearly an hour to about ten minutes. It also does a better job and your roller will last a lot longer.

2. The same it true with brushes. (i.e. user only good quality brushes and a spinner/cleaner.

3. Forget all the conventional "wisdom" about how to paint properly. Making a W on the wall and then filling it in is completely wrong. Roll up and down only, never side to side. Roll up once, then down then dip (or you can go down then up). It is hard to get used to this, it does not seem right. Even when you learn this, you will still find yourself going up and down a couple of times - don't. Most people spread paint out too much and that is why you get a crummy looking - short lived paint job.

4. Spend the time for prep. Maybe not as long as my friend did, but going over the wall with a bright light held a few inches away is a great way to revel defects in the wall, in primer or in paint. Figure on spending at least 2 - 3 time on prep compared to what you spend painting.

5. Get GOOD primer and paint. Benjamin Moore was recommended by all three painters and all but the mediocre painters refused to use the Behr paint we had bought. They said it is harder to put on with a good finish and does not hold up well and they were not willing to have unhappy customers in a couple of years. It is certainly thicker and goes on a lot better than Behr and the rooms we painted with Behr ourselves did not hold up well at all. Nine years later, the Benjamin Moor paint still looks like when it was new. The Behr ( and the Lowes brand - I forget what it was called) has faded or rubbed off from cleaning or otherwise just looks like worn paint.

6. Take the time to plan. Do not get anxious to get started and just go. Spend hours or days masking, sanding, spackling, and figuring out exactly how you will cut in, roll, plan timing ect. When painting a wall will look better if you do the entire wall in one go. The different areas, cutting in etcetera blends in better if it is still damp when the adjoining/overlapping paint is put on.

7. Lighter colors and pastels are much easier to paint with good results. Heavy dark colors are just that - heavy. Because of all the pigment, they tend to run really easily and are difficult to get a good finish. Even the mediocre professionals could not get our cobalt blue kitchen trim paint to lay down well and the award winning guy had to re-do and finish that work (and he had to do it himself his workers although very experienced had difficulty with it as well. After the deep blue, red/organ was the next most difficult.

8. You cannot paint as well as professionals. Even with my friend standing there watching and guiding me for an hour, I still did not get as good a finish as him or his crews. One thing I noticed watching them is I was spreading the paint too much even with his advice. They used about 50% more paint for the same approximate areas. HE said one problem ws I was pressing the roller too hard. A light touch is ideal.

9. Take your time cutting in. You will want to get to the rolling, because that is the productive work with quick visible results. However if you do a bad job cutting in, your room will look bad no matter how well you roll.

10. Before you spend a lot on paint or painters for a given wall, think about the future. It there a bathroom directly above that may someday overflow, leak or otherwise damage your costly paint job? Maybe re-think making that area a premium area. Are you likely to add outlets, remove or move a wall or doorway or something simlar int he next few years? Don't spend the money for premium paint or workers in that room. Get a professional perfect job done After you take care of the issue.

11. Do not hurry. Take your time. And if you will hire painters to paint only part of your house - have them paint the ceilings. Ceilings suck to paint.

[harry chickpea]

Good stuff, Coldjensens.

[Csj50]

Originally Posted by Coldjensens

3. Forget all the conventional "wisdom" about how to paint properly. Making a W on the wall and then filling it in is completely wrong. Roll up and down only, never side to side. Roll up once, then down then dip (or you can go down then up). It is hard to get used to this, it does not seem right. Even when you learn this, you will still find yourself going up and down a couple of times - don't. Most people spread paint out too much and that is why you get a crummy looking - short lived paint job.

Now this I'm very surprised to hear about! I've watched several youtube videos and they say otherwise!

Thanks everyone for the tips!!!

[Coldjensens]

Originally Posted by Csj50

Now this I'm very surprised to hear about! I've watched several youtube videos and they say otherwise!

Thanks everyone for the tips!!!

Watch or talk to really good professional painters, or just try it both ways and look at the results in a day. Really you will understand the difference immediately. Spreading the paint all over gives you about as good a result as spraying (ie terrible). Another way to watch is to track how much paint pros use to paint a wall compared to how much DIY homeowners doing a bad job use. The former use half again as much as the latter, sometimes even twice as much. That whole W thing creates a mess, visible lines all over the place. If you want a nice even paint job with no lines - up down dip.