Tips for preparing your home for painting

A new lick of paint is refreshing and can increase the value of your home in a weekend. However, a vital step often missed before tackling DIY painting is preparation.

If you don’t prepare for painting properly you could end up exerting more effort than a Ninja Warrior contestant.

There is more to painting services than the colour selection and painting tools. Much like tradesman services, you need to follow some planning fundamentals long before picking up a paintbrush.

Here are some tips for preparing your home for painting

1. Check the weather forecast

Paint takes longer to dry when there is humidity, moisture in the air, or wet weather about. Painting is best done when the days are dry and warm.

If the ants are performing their invasion tactics, take it as a good time to check that no inclement weather is on the way.

2. Prepare a painting greenroom

Set up an area, close to where you are painting, as a staging and prep station. Store your paint and tools, fill your painting trays and pots, and clean up in that area.

Have your cleaning solutions, spare trays, buckets, water, and plenty of spare rags and drop sheets ready. A table and chairs will also be useful for prepping paint and for when you want a break.

Do some thrift shop shopping for a card table and folding chairs to use for your sitting and prep station as it could get messy.

3. Move furniture

Decide on an area to use as storage then relocate your belongings there. This saves tripping over or bestowing your favourite piece of furniture with a new feature colour by accident. Large furnishings that are hard to move can be covered with old sheets or plastic.

4. Check for existing flaws

Flaking or chipped paint needs to be scraped and sanded before applying a new coat. Investigate cracks in walls to ensure there is no water seepage problems before refining with a plaster and sanding process.

5. Prepare for the finer detail

If you are not savvy with cutting in, use masking tape as a protective barrier on cornices and skirtings before you paint.

Cover around the edge of light switches and power points with masking tape and remove any bulky light fittings before painting.

6. Protect the area

Avoid any spills or splashes by applying canvas drop sheets to the floor.

7. Try before you buy

Before you spend your hard earned on a huge tin of paint, buy a small pot to trial first. Paint generally looks different once it is applied and you might find you need to change the colour up a little. This provides the chance to do so at minimal cost.

When you are settled on the colour you will need to measure the area you are painting so you know how much to buy. Here is a paint calculator from Bunnings that will help.

Not sure you are up for painting? Contract some painting services from our Airtasker tradies instead.