Painting 101: How To Paint The Walls

There are a few ways to paint a wall, but before you start drawing pictures with your paint brush, it’s important to know how the paint will behave if you do. You can get creative with your painting project if you like, as long as you make sure everything is effectively covered.  It can be a fussy medium to work with.

Prepare To Paint

Always wipe down the walls before you begin. If you apply a topcoat paint over the walls that are even a little dusty, the paint and the brush or roller can move the debris around the wall, completely unseen, or turn that dust into unexpected texturing. Your smooth, flat wall suddenly has bumps, or a trail of bubbles in it, all because the paint brush found some dust that you missed. If you’re painting with a new roller, it’s a good idea to rinse the rollers before use, so none of the fibers from the new roller get into the paint.

Roller Tricks

For larger surface areas, a roller is your friend. It holds more paint and covers a larger area at once, letting you move quickly so the paint doesn’t dry. It’s also easier to keep the coat of paint consistent with a roller.

• Start painting at the top of the wall and work your way down.
• Too much paint loaded on the roller will go on unevenly and requires extra work to smooth out.
• If you’re using a paint bucket and a grid, run the roller around the grid so that you don’t get too much paint on the roller at once.
• Be careful to use moderate pressure so the paint doesn’t pile up in a line at the edges of the roller.
• End with a downward stroke as you paint so that the wet paint doesn’t pool against the already-painted upper edge of the stroke.
• Work roller splatter or paint drips into the painted area quickly so that it does not dry and create unwanted texture.

If you’re working with a large area, another useful trick is to utilize an extension pole with your roller. It makes for quicker work with fewer movements required on your part.

Wet Paint Warning

Whatever you do, don’t drag a wet paintbrush or roller over a dry, partially painted wall. This can texture your walls where you might not want them textured. It can raise a noticeable line where the wet paint meets the dry paint and adds a new layer on top. Always work from the wet edge of the paint on the wall so that the paint blends and goes on without creating any “seams” to show where you started and stopped.

This can be a tricky warning, because the temperature of a room or house can influence drying times. If an area is more humid, then the paint will stay wet and fresh longer, but a warm, dry day can have you rushing to get an area fully covered before it dries.

Work Small

One way to combat the problems presented by quickly drying paint is to divide your working area into smaller sections. Some people have great luck starting at one end of the room and taking the roller brush from top to bottom in straight, even lines. For a sharp, seamless, professional finish, roll on one line of paint at a time and slightly overlap the next line into the wet edge. Just work quickly and be careful to work the roller evenly in the paint bucket against the grid.

W The Walls

Another way of working in small sections is to load the roller and then paint a zigzag pattern, like a large letter W, on the wall. Then, without refreshing the paint on the roller, you work in up-and-down lines over the pattern to spread the paint. This gives you a 2’ to 3’ rectangular area to cover so it keeps the immediate area smaller, with better chances of covering it before it dries. Use sweeping movements to spread the paint onto the wall in a more random pattern so it’s less likely to create texture lines, and it is less likely to pull up any paint you’ve already applied to the wall.

Cutting In

Many people paint the edges of the wall first, referred to as ‘cutting in,’ before they tackle the larger project with the roller. It’s best to cut in a rough line about 2-4” from the edge with a smaller brush and not with the roller. This helps to keep the roller away from the corner created by one wall and another, or the wall and the ceiling, as well as prevents any opportunity for splatter from the roller getting on the wrong surface.

Be careful when working the edges in a straight line, as it runs the risk of ‘hatbanding’ or ‘picture framing’ the wall. This happens when the edges of the wall are darker because the line that was cut-in was allowed to dry before the rest of the wall was painted and the paint did not blend together. If you use a thin layer of paint and make jagged strokes with the brush, the line won’t be as noticeable when you go over it with the roller later. Done properly, however, the second coat of paint will hide cuts.

Even if you’re careful, the edge of the paint roller can drag paint against the wrong surface and leave a trail of unwanted paint as the roller edge makes curved marks across the ceiling. If the wall and the ceiling are being painted two different colors, this stands out. It can make the entire project look sloppy and unfinished, so it’s important to catch this common problem early before it dries. With wet paint, you can usually wipe it off with a damp rag to clean it up. If you wait until it has dried, you’ll need to paint over it with the appropriate color to hide the error.

Ceilings

Dealing with the ceiling is just like dealing with the walls, except, of course,it’s over your head. Make sure you have the entire floor covered in drop cloths to protect your flooring, not just the area under where you’re working. Any paint drips you don’t catch can transfer to your shoes and smear on unprotected surfaces.

Even with the help of ladders or risers, painting over your head is an unnatural way to work for anyone not used to it. Use an extension pole and ladders to save yourself the pain in the neck. You can still use the zigzag pattern on the ceiling with a reliable enough extension pole and roller.

When it comes to painting, there’s a lot of ways to get good results. The best way to approach painting the walls is in the way that works for you. These are just a few successful ideas that work consistently for the pros and can work easily into your own custom routine.