A guide to painting

Everybody knows how to paint walls and ceilings right? You don't really need an expert or professional to help you paint walls and ceilings, right? Its elementary stuff, right? Wrong. Proper cutting in, painting and rolling in techniques is not a national secret but there is a lot more than meets the eyeOtherwise, how do professionals and experts make their money from just painting other people's walls and ceilings? Here is a comprehensive guide on how you can do a professional job painting the walls and ceilings yourself.

Prepare the room or the area for painting

The first thing you'll need to do is to clear the room and place professional-quality drop cloths over the floor and large furniture before you paint. Canvas is better than just plain cloth because soaked paint doesn't seep through canvas as easily as plain cloth. Plastic is a bad idea because plastic is slippery and you don't want to slip when you are painting!

Wear a respirator if you're using oil-based paint.

Cover smoke stains and water stains on the walls with an alkyd-based primer paint or better known as a stain blocker.

Most professionals will paint a coat of primer under the real paint layer. The primer will act as a seal, makes the actual coat of paint go on more evenly and smoothly. In fact, if you're thinking of applying a layer of paint gloss as a finishing, applying a primer paint layer is critical.

Patching and repairing

The next step is to do some reparation work on the walls. Patching up holes and cracks is best done before you start to pain the walls. You caulk, patch, trim, and paste over faulty areas of the walls and ceilings before you paint over it. Paint won't normally cover large patches of faults on the walls and ceilings. Besides, caulking usually makes job look much more professional.

Paint fact: cutting in first

First, work on the 'cutting-in' part of the paint project. Cutting in is a type of painting that professional painters call painting over the areas that the rollers won't reach¦like corners and sides of the wall or the borders of the wall or ceiling. It'd be hard to paint over these areas with a roller. Use a cut bucket instead of holding a can of paint in hand while painting.

Applying paint during the cutting-in stage

When applying paint during the cutting in stage, you need to take care that you create a straight line between the two surfaces you are painting. Accuracy is most important on the area that will not be covered up later when you paint with the roller, but a clean line is the sign of a true professional. Work your way from the top down.

The real paint job

Now, we're ready to paint the rest of the walls….using the roller. Buy a reasonable priced and high-quality paint roller frames that holds the roller, paint and paint roller pad. To reach the top parts of the wall, use a paint telescoping extension pole.

Correcting paint faults

Once you're done with all sides of the wall, paint over sections or areas where there are lots of paint runs, paint ropes, and drips. Applying an extra layer of paint over these areas will normally smoothen out the patches.