Painting is time-consuming but relatively straight-forward, as long as you have the right tools and have done the right preparations. Here is a short DIY painting overview.

Painting is generally easy and it can even be a little bit of fun. But preparing the surface is a time-consuming and tedious task. Unfortunately, the quality of your paint work will depend on your preparations. No matter how skillful painter you are, poor preparations mean poor results. On the other hand, if you do the preparations right and have the right tools, you are likely to get good results.

What tools you need depend on what you are painting. If you are working on or near the ceiling, a stepladder is the best solution. Chairs are not a good solution. But even a simple stepladder requires some safety precautions. First, make sure that you have a sturdy ladder. Don’t step on the on the top rung of the ladder, it is meant for hands not for feet. Never lean out to the side, trying to paint some spot that is just within reach. Instead move the ladder to the spot.

A breathing mask is not necessary but it prevents dust and fumes from reaching your lungs. Goggles are seldom needed for painting but can be useful when preparing the surface for the paint. If you are painting the ceiling, use a painter’s cap to protect your hair and head. Needless to say, you also need some old clothes and shoes. Wet paint is easy to remove from clothes but once it has dried it is much tougher to remove. Put on old clothes so you don’t need to go and remove paint all the time.

Before you can start painting, you need a clean and smooth surface. How you achieve this depends on what kind of material you are going to paint. For wooden surfaces a sander is the best solution. A pressure washer is a good way of cleaning concrete and masonry. Be careful with other materials, a pressure washer can damage softer materials. Caulk is generally the best way of getting rid of cracks.

Paints are divided into exterior and interior paints. Obviously, exterior paints are made to withstand weather while interior paint is supposed to be used only indoors. You can use exterior paint indoors but most of them are not designed to withstand scrubbing. The same goes for stains, you have indoor and outdoor stains. Note that stains can be used also on concrete, not just on wood. Before you start painting you also need to mask the areas you are not going to paint.

Estimating how much paint you need is easy but you need to make sure that you have enough with paint. A rough surface requires more paint than top-coated surface. Having some leftover paint is a good idea, you probably need to touch up parts of the surface later on.

You have four different ways of applying the paint, you can use a
– paint sprayer
– brush
– roller
– pad

Rollers are best for large flat areas, great for walls and ceilings. Brushes are generally used for smaller areas. Pads don’t leave any brush marks but they are more difficult to use than brushes. If you have never used pads, stick to brushes. If you use pads, you have to dip them in paint more often than rollers and brushes.

Once you have completed the painting, you have another boring task left, cleaning up. The best solvent for water-based paints is warm soapy water. For other paints, use paint thinner. Getting dry oil-based paints off your skin is difficult so try to remove it as soon as possible.