Secrets of Professional Painters Baton Rouge

There are some time-tested tactics that pro painters just know. Take some secrets of professional painters Baton Rouge for a spin.

Secrets of Professional Painters: Shopping

Good supplies pay off
Your painting supplies can directly affect your painted outcome. Don’t skimp on supplies. The cheap brushes and rollers will shed bristles and fuzz into your paint on the walls. More costly brushes will be reusable and give you the best coverage.

Get extra paint
There is nothing worse than having to stop mid-project because you are out of supplies. It’s best to get extra paint to get through your project, and then some.

Secrets of Professional Painters: Preparation

2/3 Prep, 1/3 Painting
Preparation can be frustrating when you are excited to get new colors up. A good preparation will set you up for an easy job. The more preparation you put in, the happier you’ll be in the end. Washing, patching, sanding and cleaning all areas of your room sounds tedious, but will help the paint do better in the long run.

Wash Roller Covers
Washing your roller covers before use will pull any loose fuzz off and avoid a sticky mess while painting. The best method is to use a bit of dish soap with water and run your hands up and down the roller. The rollers don’t need to be dried before use, they can go directly into paint while still damp.

Light up flaws
Use a handheld work light and shine it closely to the walls and trim to be painted. Any shadows casted can point out blemishes in the wall. Circle them with a pencil so you can easily find where to patch before you paint.

Clean Walls and use degreaser
Paint adheres better to a clean surface. Give your walls a sponge bath before the painting begins. Rooms of particular concern are greasy areas like in the kitchen above the stove, or scuffed and stained areas like a messy mudroom.

Sand Away Flaws
The smoother your surface, the cleaner the resulting job. You don’t want to spend all of this time and effort to paint your room only to have nicks and scuffs on your walls. A small divot becomes so much more noticeable after a new coat of paint. Sand away any small imperfections with a fine-grit sandpaper.

Remove hardware
Taping or cutting around hardware like door knobs and switch plates can take more time than just removing it. Take the switch plates, vent covers, handles and any other removable items off before starting.

Tape knowledge
Use painter’s tape to save any hardware you choose or cannot remove. Masking tape can be tempting but will leave a sticky mess behind. To avoid paint bleeding through where you thought you taped off, use a putty knife to secure the edges tight. A good seal is going to be key to your painter’s tape working.

Divot into textured ceilings
It’s very difficult to paint walls against textured ceilings without painting the ceiling too. The pros deal with this by running a screwdriver flatly along the ceiling at the edges to remove bumps close to the wall being painted. Rest assured the missing texture is not noticeable.

Cover Furniture
Furniture should be removed if possible. If not, move it all to the center of the room and cover it with taped down plastic sheets to protect it from not only paint, but dust and other messes that come up during the course of your project.

Consider floor covers
Some pros swear by canvas drop cloths. They absorb small spills and protect floors with some heft. Other pros say go for cardboard, pushing it flush with the wall as they work. Either way, avoid, slippery, messy, plastic drop cloths from big box stores.

Use Tinted Primer
Any patched or stained walls should be primed before painting begins. The pros tint their primer with a bit of the color chosen for the project. The primer will help the paint cover stains and imperfections in the walls.

Secrets of Professional Painters: Painting

Box paint
Even if a color is professional mixed, there are small variances between cans. Getting a large bucket and mixing your cans together will assure the color is consistent throughout your project. Either pour that paint into a roller tray or paint directly out of the bucket.

Start with a loaded brush
Before taking your first stroke, load your brush. The bottom 1-1/2 inches of a brush should be completely covered in paint. Tap against the can to remove big drips and start to paint.

Push the paint
If you subscribe to the loaded paintbrush, it’s common to have runs. Use the bristles to push runs out, creating a completely covered area. This method also avoids strokes showing in your finished product.

Paint a W
Use a roller to roll a w shape onto the wall. Continue to make W’s with strokes of 12 inches or longer, until the paint is evenly distributed throughout the paint space.

One wall at a time
Make sure you get an even dry by painting one wall at a time. It’s tempting to move around, but it will not yield the best results. Cut, then paint a wall creating a seamless look, then move to the next area.

Wet rag for spills
It’s easier to clean wet paint than dried. Keep a wet rag in your work space to quickly wipe up spills or drips right away.

Lights are key
Holidays: a missed spot in a painting job. It’s really easy to do, but hard to notice. Use a work light to shine each wall before you move from the section. Correcting a holiday is easier while the paint is tacky and you’re still working. Rest assured, it’s an extra step that’s better done now than after you’ve put your tools away.

Secrets of Professional Painters: Clean Up

Bag it
At the end of your workday, soak your roller in paint and wrap it in an airtight plastic bag for use the next day. It will keep the paint soaked roller ready to use for the next day. If you’ll be using a new roller, the bag provides a way to remove the roller sans sticky, painty hands.

Refrigerate it
Other painting pros swear that if you wrap your roller and refrigerate it, the brush or roller will be ready to go when you are.

Scrape windows
Taping windows takes time. Don’t waste tape and energy taping the panes off. Grab a scraper or flat razor and just scrape the dried paint off. The pane will be perfectly clean and your paint lines will be straighter than with tape.

Box cut the tape
Sometimes new paint can stretch before it’s finally cured. When you remove the painters tape, it can cause a peeling effect around your trim. Use a retractable blade or box cutter to score where the tape meets the paint before peeling. You may have bits to remove later, but the paint lines will be perfect.

Bristle storage
Washed bristles in brushes tend to have a mind of their own. Without something to tame them while they dry, your brush is done fore. Use the cardboard wrapper the brush came in to hold them down. If you tossed them, use paper and a rubber band to create a makeshift wrapper.