Interior painting
Written by No Doubt Marketing
If you want to give any room in your house a facelift, the quickest and cheapest way to do it is by tackling some interior painting. You can literally transform a room by adding some paint and it normally only costs about $100 a room. Before you run out of the door to buy paint, there are a couple of things you should keep in mind:
The most popular interior paint is Latex and it is also the easiest to use. It is water based. Latex is easy to work with and dries in about 4-5 hours. It cleans easily with soap and water. Oil based paint, or Alkyd, take a much longer time to dry, although they are very resistant to traffic. To clean Alkyd paint, you will need turpentine as soap and water will not remove the paint. Alkyd also tends to last longer than Latex paint.
How much paint will you need? That depends on the size of the room. One gallon of paint is enough for 400 square feet. This sufficiently gives a normal sized room one coat of paint. It is best, however, to measure the room LxWxH and see how much paint you will need. If you are painting over another color you will probably need two coats.
You can paint the room yourself or you can hire a painter. This is entirely up to you and based on what your budget and preferences are. If you paint yourself, be sure to protect your floors, furniture and baseboards or moldings. You will need the right equipment, including at least one paint roller, a paint pan, paint, drop cloths, cleaning solvent if using oil based paint. and also a couple of small paint brushes for the tight spots.
If you decide to hire a painter ask to see photos of some of their previous work. Normally, you will not have a problem finding a good painter but it is best to check their work. If you hire a painter, they are liable for any damage that occurs to your floors, furniture and other items. Of course, you don’t want that to happen, but just in case it does, you’ll know. When hiring a painter the cost will be more than $100 per room in most cases. This is because you will have to add labor. You can still get a room done for a reasonable fee if you don’t want to bother painting it yourself.
If you have never painted, it is probably best not to attempt a room on your own. There are techniques to painting and although it isn’t rocket science, the job you do will determine how the room looks when you are finished. Some painting errors are very easy to spot. If you have painted before, then you may enjoy doing your own interior painting in your home. It is work, but many people enjoy painting and have a sense of satisfaction once the job is done and everything looks great.
