Painting Issues - Part 1

Consider these painting issues now so that you don't have expensive change orders later in your home remodeling project.



▪ Before the paint can be applied, the surface needs to be "primed". This simply means applying one or two coats of primer paint to the surface so that the final coat will have something to stick so and so that the original colors of the surface will not bleed through. Usually one priming coat is sufficient.



▪ If you do a lot of home renovation, you will eventually come across persistent stains that bleed through the paint. These stubborn stains require a special coating to keep the stain from bleeding through. The product that I have seen used most is called "Kilz" and should be available in most home improvement stores, such as Home Depot or Lowe's.



▪ Here's an area where renovators often cut corners: Exterior trim should be backprimed. This means that the decorative pieces of wood on the outside of your house should have paint on all sides before they are attached to the house. Without backpriming, the wood can absorb moisture, which can cause warping, rotting, and shorter paint life on the front of the piece of trim.



▪ The best way to choose paint colors is to see colors that you like on other houses. I knocked on someone's door once to ask them the name of the paint on their house. They were happy to help. When you visit a friend's house, note the colors of their walls and ask them for names of paint colors.



Note that any paint company can duplicate a color made by another paint company. All they need is a paint sample or sometimes just the name of that paint color.



▪ Before the paint is applied to your walls, confirm that the paint in her cans is an exact match to the paint color that you specified. Have swatches and samples available for comparison. During my first home remodeling project, I had to repaint an entire room because the color was significantly darker than what I had requested.