Dirty Walls? 3 Ways Your DIY Painting May Have Gone Wrong

Sometimes, saving a buck or two with a little DIY pays off, but sometimes it doesn’t. For instance, painting, which is one of the most common DIY projects around the home and even in the office, can turn out to be a disaster. As a readily available product, painting is often misunderstood as a grab and go process. However, as one can quickly find out, spending the extra money to hire a team of professional office painters is generally worth the price. Here, we’re looking at a few common DIY mistakes that can leave your walls looking the opposite of what you intended.

The cheaper option may be tempting, but …

Often, when tackling a home or office project on your own, the goal is to save money. So, when heading to the local hardware store to purchase paint, opting for the cheapest option can be tempting. However, this is an instance that you’ll want to remember the saying, “you get what you pay for.” Regardless of the room you are painting, using high-quality paint is a must. While several options provide immediate visual appeal, over time, the product’s performance will become apparent. This is especially important to keep in mind when painting high-traffic areas like offices, kitchens, and bathrooms.

You went with the wrong finish

Another area that DIYers tend to steer in the wrong direction is with gloss selection. While the gloss affects the overall appearance, it also plays a crucial role in how well your walls will hold up against cleaning. Let’s go back to those high-traffic areas for a moment. Choosing a high or semi-gloss paint provides a surface that is easier to clean and holds up well to frequent cleaning. However, if you opted for a matte or flat look, you will find routine cleanings damage the surface tone. When it comes to selecting the proper type of finish, understanding the requirements of the area at hand is critical. If you are painting a kitchen, bathroom, or high-traffic environment, stick with high or semi-gloss to ensure your walls stay looking as fresh as the day they were painted!

No, skipping wall preparation isn’t an option

Finally, and possibly the most common area of DIY goofs comes with preparing the walls. Often overlooked, painting involves more than covering furniture, floors, and taping. In fact, the preparation process is key to achieving the results you seek. From cleaning and dusting the existing surface to filling holes and applying primer, every detail matters during preparation. Without these steps, your freshly painted wall could look worse than the original surface!   Whether you’re looking to repaint your home or your business, hiring a team of professionals is always the way to go! At Metrowest Painting, we’re not only the region’s top office painters, but we are also the go-to for residential projects! For more information on how we can give your space the fresh new look you desire, contact our team today at (508) 393-0000.

Interior Painters Tell the Truth: Does Weather Matter?

As one Massachusetts’s top interior painters, Metrowest Painting is often asked several questions concerning the ins and out of interior painting. However, there’s one that stands out the most. And, that is if weather matters. From rainy to freezing days and then the hot and steamy, how does the weather affect the paint, the application process, and how it dries? Well, we’re taking this time to answer all of your questions about painting and the weather!

Humidity and Rain

As New Englanders, we find it only appropriate to begin our conversation around humidity. Yes, we all love those 100% humidity levels that so frequent the region. But, does humidity make a difference to interior painters? The short answer is maybe. Depending on the paint and the environment, humidity can play a huge factor when it concerns drying times. For example, water-based based are manufactured around specific ratios of pigment, additives, and water. When you increase the levels of water with moisture droplets in the air, solvent is added. The added solvent then thins the paint, which changes the expected drying time. However, many interior painters have the luxury of working in temperature controlled environments during these unpleasantly sticky or rainy days. If this is the case, more often than not, your paint remains unaffected.

Temperature

Again, working indoors provides a more controlled environment which leads to fewer complications within the painting process. However, depending on the type of paint being applied, the recommended range of temperatures fluctuates. For latex-based paints, the ideal temperature range is between 50 and 85 degrees Fahrenheit. However, for oil-based paints, the range changes to 40 and 90 degrees. Although the difference seems minimal, we promise it makes a world of difference. If you’re attempting to paint the interior of your home outside of the manufacturer’s recommendations, the results may be less than desirable. Cracking and peeling paint are generally the results of paint applied outside of the ideal temperature range.

And there you have it. As the top interior painters in Massachusetts, our team at Metrowest Painting is always here to help! Whether you’re considering interior or exterior painting, our team of experts understand the intricate workings needed to get the job done right. To schedule your consultation with Metrowest Painting, contact our team today at (508) 393-0000.