Preparing Your Room for Painting

If you are planning to change the look and feel of your home, the best idea is to paint the wall. The right color will further make you smaller room look substantially bigger. Also, you can keep the environment more comfortable by choosing the right paint color.  However, the room must be prepared properly for painting. A number of companies also offer customized residential painting services to suit your specific needs and budget. You can even consider preparing the room on your own to reduce the overall cost of the residential painting project.

When you decide to paint a room, it becomes essential to protect your doors, windows, furniture and molding. The small furniture must be moved out of the room. The large furniture can be moved into the center of the room, and covered using drop clothes. Similarly, the doors, windows and molding must be protected using removable masking tapes. Also, you can protect the furnishings and floor using drop clothes. If you have installed an air conditioning or heating system in the room, the system must be turned off while sanding and painting.

Now you have to remove the flaky and loose paint using paint scrappers and sandpaper. The paint must be sanded or scraped down till the surfaces become bare. Similarly, the screw and nail holes must be filled with spackling compound by using a putty knife. You can even consider hiring a home handyman to carry out serious repairs till the cracks are completely filed. Once the walls are repaired, you have to remove dirt and grease by washing the surfaces with trisodium phosphate. The trisodium phosphate has to be removed by rinsing the wall surfaces with water. 

After rinsing the surface, you must allow these to become thoroughly dry. Once the surface becomes dry, you can carry out the requiring dusting and vacuuming. Now you have to turn the power off to the room, and then remove the cover plats from all electrical switches, outlets and fixtures. The electrical outlets and fixtures can be protected from paint by using small bits of masking tape.

 
Similarly, you have to remove cover plates from light fixtures, and cover the devices with plastic bags. However, you must not turn the light on, as it will melt the plastic. It is also a good idea to turn power off to the room, till the painting work is not completed. You can even consider painting the room during daytime to get maximum amount of natural lighting. Otherwise, you can also consider using an extension cord to get light from another room.