# Time to paint ~2500 wall sq. feet



## Shpigford (Jul 9, 2007)

So my wife and I have the overwhelmingly fun task of painting the entire interior of our home.

The walls will already be a plain white so we shouldn't need a primer.

The approximate wall square footage will be around 2,300-2,500.

We've never painted this much space so I'm curious about how long it might take 2 people to paint this. As of now we're just planning on going the traditional roller/brush route of painting all of this.


----------



## joewho (Nov 1, 2006)

Very general question there. Have you painted before? Have you painted before, with your wife?  

The time will get eaten up on trying to cut in the ceilings, especially with deeper colors.

There are other variables, ie: is it furnished? Is the trim being taped off?

What colors are you using? Kitchen and baths too?


----------



## Shpigford (Jul 9, 2007)

joewho said:


> Very general question there. Have you painted before? Have you painted before, with your wife?
> 
> The time will get eaten up on trying to cut in the ceilings, especially with deeper colors.
> 
> ...


Sorry for the lack of info. Shows our experience (or lack of) with this. 

We have both painted rooms in a house before but never an entire house...just a single room here, a single room there. And yes, we've painted together before. 

It will not be furnished and we'll be taping off everything under the sun (trim included).

For the most part everything will be a mid-tone beige color. There will be one wall that is a blue color and another room that will be an entirely different color altogether (not sure what yet).

Baths - yes. Kitchen - no.

Hope that helps.


----------



## sirwired (Jun 22, 2007)

If you want to save a very large boatload of time, don't tape off all the trim. Using a quality brush and with a little practice, all but the most clumsy homeowner can work much faster, and end up with a better looking result by not taping off door and window casings.

Tape has the disadvantage that paint almost always leaks under it somewhere, and usually ends up slightly crooked, which sticks out like a sore thumb.

Personally, I used a masking machine (combination tape and masking paper dispenser) to tape off my quarter-round, but that was it. I left the door and window casings alone.

SirWired


----------



## NateHanson (Apr 15, 2007)

I agree with the taping advice. 

As far as primer, I've always gotten a more even finish when I use a coat of primer regardless of color. It's been described to me as the glue that holds the paint to the wall. Not sure what the expert opinion on here is, but my understanding is you should use primer regardless of the current color. 

Are you painting trim as well, or just walls and ceilings? 

For my wife and I, it takes about a days worth of actual work time to paint a large room with trim. Maybe half a day without trim. (that's subtracting all the drying time.) One of us is chasing kids about half the time though.

Is 2500 sf the WALL area you're painting? Or is that the floor area of the rooms you're painting. If it's walls, it doesn't actually sound like that much, considering that a 200 sf room is about 500 sf of wall space, so you're talking about 5 rooms?


----------



## Shpigford (Jul 9, 2007)

> As far as primer, I've always gotten a more even finish when I use a coat of primer regardless of color. It's been described to me as the glue that holds the paint to the wall. Not sure what the expert opinion on here is, but my understanding is you should use primer regardless of the current color.


Hmmm...interesting. I'd certainly be interested in hearing some other thoughts on that. The fewer times we have to go over the wall with a brush, the better...but I certainly don't want it to look bad because we took a shortcut.



> Are you painting trim as well, or just walls and ceilings?


Just walls and possibly not even ceilings...but no trim.



> Is 2500 sf the WALL area you're painting? Or is that the floor area of the rooms you're painting. If it's walls, it doesn't actually sound like that much, considering that a 200 sf room is about 500 sf of wall space, so you're talking about 5 rooms?


It's my estimate of the "wall" area. It's a 1400 square foot home with the first floor having 9 foot ceilings and the 2nd having 8 foot ceilings. It's a realllllly rough estimation and doesn't include subtracting stuff like doors, windows, cabinets, etc from the equation. We'll be painting a living room, kitchen/dining, stairs/hall, 3 bedrooms, a laundry room, and 2 1/2 bathrooms. The kitchen won't consist of much as almost all of it is cabinets and stone/tile.


----------



## NateHanson (Apr 15, 2007)

Any time I've skipped the ceiling, I've been disappointed, and gone back to do the ceiling after putting a coat on the walls. Ceilings never look dingy until you put some nice fresh paint on the walls! And ceilings are really really quick work. You can roll a coat of flat white wall paint on in about 20 minutes, and I usually just roll right along the corner, getting paint on the walls, but covering the ceiling right to the edge. Then paint the walls second, and you'll cut them in, but no need to cut the ceiling paint in. 

My $0.02, but it's your house, so make your own decision.


----------



## Shpigford (Jul 9, 2007)

NateHanson said:


> Any time I've skipped the ceiling, I've been disappointed, and gone back to do the ceiling after putting a coat on the walls. Ceilings never look dingy until you put some nice fresh paint on the walls! And ceilings are really really quick work. You can roll a coat of flat white wall paint on in about 20 minutes, and I usually just roll right along the corner, getting paint on the walls, but covering the ceiling right to the edge. Then paint the walls second, and you'll cut them in, but no need to cut the ceiling paint in.
> 
> My $0.02, but it's your house, so make your own decision.


Well we aren't planning on painting the ceiling because they'll already be painted white by the builder...it's just that not only will the ceilings be painted white, but so will the walls and trim. Hence us wanting to paint all the walls in the house. 

At any rate, does anyone have any guestimates on time? 

I'm really just looking for something rough like "around 30 hours" or "around 80 hours." Basically wondering if this will take us like 2 days or 5 days.


----------



## NateHanson (Apr 15, 2007)

Ah! I see.  I'd guess more than 2 days. If it's clean and freshly painted then I might skip the primer, and just plan to put two top coats on everything. Primer seems to help when walls are a little dirty or worn, or have some spots that I've just patched. But in your case, probably not necessary. So two coats per room, I'd say 3 hours to do a coat in one room, if there aren't too many doors and windows to cut. Another 3 for the second coat. You've got about 7-ish rooms, and two people working, so maybe 20 hours of actual work for the 2 of you. What's that? 3 days? I should add that I'm a chronic underestimator, so better give yourselves 5. 

So no chance of slipping the builder some other paint colors, eh? Seems a shame to paint a house twice!


----------



## Shpigford (Jul 9, 2007)

NateHanson said:


> Ah! I see.  I'd guess more than 2 days. If it's clean and freshly painted then I might skip the primer, and just plan to put two top coats on everything. Primer seems to help when walls are a little dirty or worn, or have some spots that I've just patched. But in your case, probably not necessary. So two coats per room, I'd say 3 hours to do a coat in one room, if there aren't too many doors and windows to cut. Another 3 for the second coat. You've got about 7-ish rooms, and two people working, so maybe 20 hours of actual work for the 2 of you. What's that? 3 days? I should add that I'm a chronic underestimator, so better give yourselves 5.
> 
> So no chance of slipping the builder some other paint colors, eh? Seems a shame to paint a house twice!


Yeah, we'll be painting it about 10 days after it's all painted the white color.

So what dictates needing 2 coats? Is it just that way with all paints? Or is it based on the darkness of the paint?


----------



## sirwired (Jun 22, 2007)

That is just the way with all paints. (Dark colors may require additional coats, especially if applied by an inexperienced painter.)

For me, even with a small color change I know that with a single coat, there are still going to be little "pinholes" or thin spots. Maybe a pro could get away with a one-coat color change, but most won't even try.

SirWired


----------



## NateHanson (Apr 15, 2007)

sirwired said:


> For me, even with a small color change I know that with a single coat, there are still going to be little "pinholes" or thin spots.


Exactly my experience. A couple times I painted with one coat, and it looked fine, so I left it, but both times I later noticed that there were patches with these "pinhole" spots where the roller didn't completely cover the old color or primer below. Now I always do 2 finish coats.


----------



## ron schenker (Jan 15, 2006)

It sounds like this is a brand new house. If it is, be forewarned that you will see numerous nailpops in the first year that will probably ruin the look of your beautiful new paint job. It is recommended to wait at least a year until all of the house settling is finished, then have the builder come in and repair these at no charge. I know it's nice to paint before the furniture goes in, but just a head's up.


----------



## Shpigford (Jul 9, 2007)

Great tips so far (especially on the needing 2 coats...).

Any other guesses on a rough time estimate to complete all of this?


----------



## NateHanson (Apr 15, 2007)

I'd go ahead and paint. You can always touch up any nail-pop repairs down the road. Make sure you save paint from each room.


----------



## joewho (Nov 1, 2006)

Shpigford said:


> Sorry for the lack of info. Shows our experience (or lack of) with this.
> 
> We have both painted rooms in a house before but never an entire house...just a single room here, a single room there. And yes, we've painted together before.
> 
> ...


No one wants to make a committment to guess the time it will take the two of you. :no: 

I'm fairly sure it won't happen in two days. More like the 5 days you mentioned. I can give you some tips to make it go faster. 

Rather than dropping off all the rooms, just use runners along the walls and stay on them. 

When painting a closet, walk into the closet and turn around. Do that header wall first, trust me.

Use tape. I realize this is a new home and you want to get in asap. After it closes, but before you move in, you're carrying two house pmts. This is why I suggest using tape. You're familiar with and can do it faster than cutting in. It also allows you to lay on more paint quicker. If you want to get it in one coat make sure your cut ins cover the first time around and use a razor knife to cut the tape before pulling it.

Use your own discrestion on the number of coats. If you get a good paint and it covers, then use one coat. On very dark colors, like a dark blue, definatley prime. Any reds need gray primer first.

The house already has a primer and 1 1/2 to 2 coats of paint. Your paint color may cover in one coat, but, keep an eye on the finish. The new construction paint is flat. Sometimes, on new construction, the flat paint will pull moisture out of your paint at an uneven rate, leaving flat spots or an uneven finish. If you use flat paint, you will have a better chance of gettting it done in one coat. If you use satin, eggshell or any other sheen, make sure you use plenty of paint on the first coat.

Except with deep colors, those are best applied in thin coats, lots of dry time in between coats.

I could go on and on and , but hopefully the tips will help you get moved in quicker. It's not the painting that will slow you down, it's fixing screw ups that will slow you down.


----------



## slickshift (Aug 25, 2005)

If it will be new "builder's white" paint up there, no need to primer

Tough to give an exact estimate on time though
#1) Not enough info on stuff being painted
#2) Not enough info on painters

It's just that I've seen DIYers take 8 days to do what would have taken me 9 or 10 hours....there's just no way to tell what_ your_ production rates are from here

But as there is (should be) absolutely no prep on this finished new const. (if it was done right), like repairs, or furniture, sanding, cleaning...you really _should_ be able to get two "rooms" per person per day w/o trouble
If that's one person doing two coats in one room, or two people doing one coat four rooms....know what I mean?
Obviously a 5 x 8 bathroom will take less time than an open entrance foyer w/cathedral
But really, this is a dream job and you should be able to burn through it with minimal problems slowing you down
However I've seen DIYers that couldn't get one coat one room done in days


----------



## alpnts1961 (Oct 30, 2007)

just paint the walls slamming evr so neatly the ceilsing one wall at a time and put some paint on that roller and backroll for those missed holidayz,wipe base as needed should take two coats 4 days and call me to do the trim,lol


----------

