# What's the best way to paint the entire interior of our house?



## Hamilton (Nov 1, 2006)

In general terms and because you already have a first coat :

1. Spray all trim (casing, crown, chair rail/wainscot, base, doors, window stools, shelves, cabinets, staircase spindles/newell posts, registers...whatever).

2. Lightly bag off all trim, then spray ceilings quickly followed by thorough back-roll.

3. Removed trim covering except door heads, registers and base. Cut-in, and roll walls.

Every painter is gonna have his/her own proceedure, this is ours.


----------



## Shpigford (Jul 9, 2007)

Hamilton said:


> ...3. Removed trim covering except door heads, registers and base. Cut-in, and roll walls....


So what's the reasoning behind not spraying the walls? (I'm totally clueless when it comes to this)


----------



## Hamilton (Nov 1, 2006)

You can, but you'll have to bag off everything real tight. Plus, if the ceiling and walls are different color....forget it.

Personally, I like the looks a roller gives a wall, the paint looks thick with a subtle amount of orange peel.


----------



## slickshift (Aug 25, 2005)

Shpigford said:


> So, the question here is what is the best way to paint such a large area? Should we just go the roller brush route? Or is there some sort of power sprayer type of thing that would serve us better?


The best way for a DIYer or occasional painter to do even a large painting project would be quality brushes and rollers
Spraying will not save a newbie any time (or money)
The prep is intense and the chance for disaster is high
And there is a learning curve on spraying...it's not point and shoot

The only thing time I might consider recommending DIY spraying as a possibility, is unoccupied new construction, all one color (including ceiling)
Then it possibly might save some time if a proper spray unit is rented (the little DIY buzz-guns are pretty horrible compared to a good rental and won't save you time)


----------



## Hamilton (Nov 1, 2006)

You're right.

I forget these are DIY questions...maybe I'll keep bow out for awhile.


----------



## sirwired (Jun 22, 2007)

I was thinking about this... if you are going to paint every last square inch of the house anyway, any chance of getting the builder to just prime, and then leave the rest to you?

Of course, unless you plan on colored ceilings, you may want to have him paint those with primer and 2 coats of builder flat, just to get that out of the way.

SirWired


----------



## Workaholic (Apr 1, 2007)

slickshift said:


> The best way for a DIYer or occasional painter to do even a large painting project would be quality brushes and rollers
> Spraying will not save a newbie any time (or money)
> The prep is intense and the chance for disaster is high
> And there is a learning curve on spraying...it's not point and shoot
> ...


i agree. After you close you will have flooring and fixtures in, brush and roller will be the way to go.


----------



## Big Bob (Jul 27, 2007)

do you want to be smart or wise?

re-negociate with the builder.

multi- colors should cost you more / many reasons

stay with flat finish on the walls re: touch -up much easier.


----------



## Shpigford (Jul 9, 2007)

Big Bob said:


> do you want to be smart or wise?
> 
> re-negociate with the builder.
> 
> ...


No renegotiating. We chose to have them just paint the walls a flat white because we didn't want to have to pick colors at the time or have them paint everything the same color. There was no option to have multiple colors done from the builder.


----------



## Clutchcargo (Mar 31, 2007)

Step 1: Put a 5 gallon bucket of paint in the middle of the room. 
Step 2: Light a stick of dynamite.
Step 3: Drop the dynamite in the bucket.
Step 4: Run like hell.


----------



## karenwxyz (Jul 15, 2011)

*Bite the bullet*

Since the interior is empty and if you are not good with rollers and paint, you should be able to get experienced college students for pretty cheap. I couldn't believe what I went through every time I wanted a room painted because "everyone can DIY painting a room" and I discovered that painters were relatively cheap since the idea that we can all DIY keeps the price down. I guess this sounds anti-DIY which I'm not. Good luck.


----------



## Workaholic (Apr 1, 2007)

After 4 years they are probably looking to repaint.


----------



## m1951mm (Apr 16, 2011)

I would have the builder do ceilings and walls in the same flat finish. A flat finish that you like for the ceilings in the future. The flat finish will help "dead out" all the joint compound (mud) work, and a flat finish will in the future hold other paint better than other sheens. If your builder will then go in and do semi gloss in the same color for the trim and doors, go for it. After the house sets for a year or two you will find lots of issues that will come up and then you can address the color issue and the repair issues at the same time. I would not ever try to do FINISH colors on a NEW home. It will shift and you would be repainting after the house finds it comfort zone. That is not to say that it wont keep moving on you:yes:. This is just my experience over 20 some year of painting.


----------



## chrisn (Dec 23, 2007)

m1951mm said:


> I would have the builder do ceilings and walls in the same flat finish. A flat finish that you like for the ceilings in the future. The flat finish will help "dead out" all the joint compound (mud) work, and a flat finish will in the future hold other paint better than other sheens. If your builder will then go in and do semi gloss in the same color for the trim and doors, go for it. After the house sets for a year or two you will find lots of issues that will come up and then you can address the color issue and the repair issues at the same time. I would not ever try to do FINISH colors on a NEW home. It will shift and you would be repainting after the house finds it comfort zone. That is not to say that it wont keep moving on you:yes:. This is just my experience over 20 some year of painting.


 
All well and good but you are "talking" to dead air.:laughing:


----------



## jsheridan (Jan 30, 2011)

chrisn said:


> All well and good but you are "talking" to dead air.:laughing:


I agree and disagree. Short of outdated technology/products, the process information is timeless. The internet is forever, and people are still researching old threads, which is how that was resurrected. We're simply restarting an old conversation with new participants. Just like the hate Behr thread, just when you think it's taken its last breath, someone stumbles upon it and brings it back to the top. :laughing: BTW, I don't think she realized. I try to make mention that I realize it's an old post.


----------



## chrisn (Dec 23, 2007)

OK:thumbsup:


----------



## DannyT (Mar 23, 2011)

any post over a year old should be purged.


----------



## jsheridan (Jan 30, 2011)

DannyT said:


> any post over a year old should be purged.


Why? Just as news articles are stored, and people research them, so are threads in the forum. As I said, information on processes is timeless, which means that two years from now someone can retrieve a solution to a problem discussed today. If you look at the bottom of some screens in the forum you'll see a list of threads that people are reading, a lot which date back 2-3 years. You may not see it this way, but when we all work together to help a member solve a problem, we're creating a body of work with valuable (sometimes) information that can be helpful to others down the road, it would be senseless to destroy that information.


----------



## mustangmike3789 (Apr 10, 2011)

i found this site because of an old post.


----------



## Workaholic (Apr 1, 2007)

DannyT said:


> any post over a year old should be purged.


I disagree, an old thread can hold a lot of content from people who are not posting at this time so it does offer some different insight. Not all necro threads are winners but some of them are gems.


----------



## Leah Frances (Jan 13, 2008)

I find it funny when they are resurrected with a direct address to the OP who hasn't made a peep in months or years.


----------

