Just thinking I might as well jot down a few bits I’ve learnt over the past few weeks in case anyone is interested.
Obviously the masking tape stuff in post 1 sorts out the cutting in
1. Sanding....awful job, and covers you and everything else in dust. There’s a trick for that! It’s bloody brilliant.
Buy a Henry hoover (I bought a Henry wet&dry from Argos which is the same as a Charles. Just has a bit more powerful motor) and one of these,
https://www.toolstation.com/mirka-dust-extraction-handy-sander-kit/p86220
I sanded pretty much half my house, walls and ceilings and didn’t even need a shower afterwards. I was that clean.
2. Painting
I think most people already know this, but it’s vitally important when rollering to really load the roller full of paint and never let it go dry (ie rollering all the paint off it before loading it up again). Keep going in the same direction all the time. If you go up and down, don’t then start going side to side. Never paint back over paint which is starting to go dry. It’s called keeping the wet edge. Quite hard to do actually for amateurs as we are much slower at painting than the pros. The paint should always look wet. Most of the paint in the UK dries really quickly, especially this time of year. It gives a crap finish. Paint should not be really thick either, and can be slightly watered down to help it go on easier and keep wetter for longer. I painted my ceiling the first time without knowing this and by the time I’d stepped off my ladder, loaded my roller up and got back up the ladder the paint had dried so I couldn’t even see what I’d painted and what I hadn’t. Just by adding 10% water, it kept the paint wet, and it was still looking wet when I’d got half way through doing it. The second coat looked fantastic.
When painting anything, never over paint. Get the paint on, 3 or 4 passes and leave it. Don’t keep rollering it to death, and don’t be heavy handed. Let the roller just glide over. Get the paint on well, and don’t spread it too thin. Keep it quite thick. You should have a nice texture after 3 or 4 passes then leave it. It’s easy to keep going at it, but you have to be strict with yourself and just move on.
I had great success with a small roller, and used that for nearly everything, even the cutting in. It also avoids picture framing, where sometimes you can end up seeing a border around the wall where you’ve used a brush for cutting in, and a roller for the middle bit.
3. Glossing woodwork
Don’t buy quick dry gloss. It’s crap. Especially Dulux trade quick dry. It’s like water, dries in seconds, doesn’t cover very well, and runs like crazy. If you see a run, you can’t brush it out as the paint as already gone off, so it drags. Dulux one coat gloss on the other hand is really good.
Personally I do the woodwork first, then the ceiling and walls. The reason is that it doesn’t matter if you get white paint on the walls from doing the skirtings and door frames as you’ll be covering it with the wall paint. Plus, and probably the main reason is that you can wash the wall paint off gloss much easier than you can wash gloss paint off the walls! In fact, most of the time you can lightly scratch it off with your fingernail. Getting gloss off walls is a pain.
4. Window Sills
Use a small foam roller. You’ll end up with a mirror like finish. I actually used a foam roller where I could on the skirtings too. Try and do many thin coats if you can. If you get the paint on too thick, you’ll get an orange peel effect. The downside, is the more coats you put on, the higher the chance you’ll trap dust and little hairs in. Light wet sanding is ideal to get them out. Think 180+ grade paper.
Dulux has a paint satisfaction guarantee on some of their more premium range. If you are not happy with it for any reason, they’ll nearly always refund you in vouchers.
I got tons of vouchers from them for complaining about the gloss....in fact, they sent me three times as much as what I’d paid. Think they also try to compensate for lost time too, which is good service.
but stays stuck down well without any risk of damage to the underlying surface and if put on right doesn't bleed.
