Preparing walls for painting
Preparing the walls for painting. This is an important stage of the work. Its incorrect implementation can lead to the most unpleasant results.
Well-prepared walls are the basis for subsequent painting work. Without preparation, problems will make themselves known very soon - peeling paint, color change, uneven surface, excess paint consumption, etc. A professional painter must carefully prepare the wall surface for subsequent manipulations.
First of all, we need to answer ourselves – are we painting the walls for the first time or repainting them? And then consistently preparing walls for painting.
Repainting the walls
If the wall has already been painted, pay attention to the following characteristics:
- degree of preservation of old paint
- wall porosity (degree of paint absorption)
- degree of pollution
- when painting walls for the first time, it is necessary to select paint to match the type of material from which the walls are built;
- follow the manufacturer's instructions;
- Observe the sequence and timing of application of all layers.
So, first you need to assess how well the old paint adheres to the wall. If it peels off, there is no doubt that it needs to be removed with a spatula. Any unevenness that may appear during this process is leveled with special solutions. It is a good idea to treat the leveling areas with acrylic primer before this. By the way, you can also cover the wall with it after it has been leveled.
If the old paint holds well, let's check whether it can be left on the wall - stick a small piece of masking tape to the surface and after a few minutes try to tear it off as quickly as possible. If there are no traces of paint left on the tape, then everything is fine. If not, the surface must be sanded, washed with water and, after drying, primed.
A common problem is the color of the surface. Bright walls require a lot of paint when repainting them. The solution is to use an opaque thick primer that will “interrupt” the color of the old wall.
The next stage of assessing the quality of the wall being painted is to determine the degree of paint absorption. Wipe the wall with a wet sponge. If the water simply runs off, it means that the wall does not absorb moisture and, therefore, does not require a primer. Otherwise, the degree of wall absorption is reduced with a primer layer.
The third stage is to assess the degree of surface contamination. The simplest way is to wipe the wall with a light cloth. If there is dirt left on it, the wall needs to be cleaned. Stains that cannot be cleaned will simply need to be painted over.
Preparing walls for painting for the first time
If the walls are painted for the first time, there should be no particular problems. In this case, the primer only makes it possible to reduce the degree of absorption of the walls and neutralize dust. The choice of paint depends on the material from which the walls are built.
For example, work with plasterboard walls should begin with assessing the degree of humidity of the material. The maximum level of their humidity should not exceed 2-3%. All irregularities can be smoothed with sandpaper. Dry plasterboard panels must be primed.
In addition, you will need to carefully check that there are no cracks in the slabs and that they are installed well.
When we prepare the walls for painting, we should remember that