So I've been painting the interior of the house the past few weekends. Of course, now that I'm pretty much done (er, done for), I wish I went about it a different way. But the "Green Tea" color looks great.
There's a lot of info out there on the 'Net about how to paint interiors using a brush and roller. Fine Homebuilding has one of the best articles available on their Website. But there isn't much info on spray painting--maybe some basic techniques, but no process, no order of battle.
Here's what I did:
1. Masked and taped doors, windows, switch boxes, etc.
2. Spray primed ceiling.
3. Spray painted ceiling, 2 coats in some rooms.
4. Masked and taped around ceiling perimeter.
5. Spray painted walls, 2 coats.
6. Brush paint trim: door casings, window stools, etc.
Here's what I wish I had done:
1. Masked and taped doors, windows, switch boxes, etc.
2. Spray painted walls: 2 coats.
3. Mask off walls.
4. Spray primed ceiling.
5. Spray painted ceiling, 2 coats in some rooms.
Why walls first? Most texts say to paint from the top down.
The reason is because it's hard to mask off the ceiling when prepping for spraying the walls. You have to tape plastic up to the ceiling, so you're upside down a lot. If taping plastic from the ceiling-wall seam to protect a painted wall, you can let gravity hang the plastic dropcloth down, and you only have to tape one edge.
Of course, you would end up using a lot more plastic though. I cut the cheapo dropcloths into 1.5 ft wide strips, and that was sufficient to protect from overspray. But I'd probably cover the entire wall when spraying a ceiling.
Best books on basic house painting I've found so far:
The Complete Painters Handbook: How to Paint Your House Inside and Out-The Right Way by Gregg Sandreuter
Paint Your Home: Skills, Techniques, and Tricks of the Trade for Professional Looking Interior Painting by Francis Donegan
Posted by jameshom at September 9, 2004 02:29 PM | TrackBack