K2 Interiors, painting and decorating contractors, articles

Even for non professional, to paint a room could be an experience that will give a lot of satisfaction and good results.
It takes a bit of knowledge, bit of effort and systematic work, which is something that anyone can do.

To make it easier, it could be divided for four stages:

Preparing of the room
Preparing of the surface of the ceiling and walls
Painting of the ceiling
Painting of the walls

How to prepare a room for painting
You probably wouldn't like your moves to be restricted by chairs, tables and other furniture so its a good practice to remove all the staff to another room or if impossible to put it all in the middle but with the access to the ceiling rosette or lamp for cutting in purposes. The furniture should be covered by polythene sheets and the floor around them with the dustsheets if available or other materials. All pictures and paintings should be taken off the walls along with all wall flap – shades. At this stage a room is more less ready to work with.

How to prepare the surface of ceiling and walls

If you want to achieve really good results the first thing is to remove all existing wallpaper from walls and ceilings. The top layer needs to be taken off first. Most often it can be done manually. The top layer is waterproof so soaking it will not help. Scoring tools are sometimes useful but don’t always work. Predominantly, the sharp filling or stripping knife will do the work, piece by piece. All top layer could be taken off this way. It leaves you with the back of the wallpaper on the wall. The most effective way to remove it is to use the large rectangle bucket (or any other container that will easily contain the 9” roller) and 9” short or medium pile roller. Best practice is to use a hot water with a bit of washing up liquid. It will let the soaked paper to stay wet for longer. All walls should be made wet, trying to move roller upward only in order to avoid splashes of water on the floor. After first soaking its good to take larger brush and and to make wet all the corners and the top and the bottom of the walls where the roller have not reached. It is a good practice to repeat both operations to get a good results. After such a preparation a good stripping knife should do the work with no problem, but please be careful not to damage the surface of the actual wall behind the paper. It is recommended to wash the walls now using clean warm water and sharp sponge to wash off any remaining bits of adhesive as the paint applied on the unwashed adhesive will bubble in short time. Now you can see the actual wall or ceiling surface. Sometimes, especially in the old buildings it can be a bit of horror but don’t worry to much. At this stage all you need to do is to examine the walls surface with a sharp heavy duty knife and if you see any larger cracks, just open (deepen) them a bit by catting out a bit from left and right site of the crack to let the filler get into it. Use any powder wall filler (like Easi-Fill from Gyproc, available in most building stores) to fill in all the cracks but make sure that you not overfill them, keep it flash with the wall surface. It takes good few hours or even a day if the cracks and holes are deeper to dry out properly. It is good then to smooth them out with 120 grid sanding paper, remove the dust and fill them flash again. When dry, the whole the surface of the walls and ceiling needs to be rubbed down with the 120 grid sanding paper (done easy with sanding block fixed on the pole) until reasonably smooth and all dust removed either by broom or even using vacuum cleaner. At this stage your room (except woodwork that if you wish to paint as well, at this point needs to be sanded and filled with 2 part wood filler) is prepared for painting.

How to paint a room ceiling

Usually white but not necessarily (off whites and creams gives nice classic results in older homes). It is best to buy a good quality paint as dulux trade as this will give best coverage, nice looking surface and it will last many years (such a paint, although a bit more expensive has more pigment for richer colour and good coverage as well as more binder that holds pigment on the surface and acts as an adhesive). If the paint is really thick then adding a bit of water to it will not make any damage and will actually help to spread it over a ceiling so the result is going to be smoother surface. Fist task requires a small paint kettle and 2” good quality paint brush (like Hamilton perfection). Pour in enough of paint to cover half of the brush bristles, it will make the work easier and cleaner. Then just push the brush in gently but to the bottom a few times to let the paint get in between the bristles, not just sit on the outside part of them. When taking the brush out, scrape gently the excess of paint on the one edge of the kettle but to let most of the paint stay within bristles. Then just start cutting in the ceiling from one corner by applying the paint to the ceiling in most part and on the coving if there is one, along the wall corner and overlapping an inch or so on the wall. You need to spread the paint good and not to leave thick paint edges but to smooth them out. Do the same aground the ceiling rosette or lamp. You are ready now to start rolling. At this stage you could wear the protective goggles to prevent the paint spray get into your eyes. It is best for home conditions to use 9” medium pile roller on the extension pole and 9” plastic paint scuttle. Do not deepen the roller in the paint too much. You just want to grab some paint on the roller sleeve all around by moving it back and forth on the scuttle side. Do not let too much paint to go to the sides of the roller as this will later splash easily on the ceiling and floor. Start to apply the paint to the ceiling from one of the corners painting it in strips. You need to keep the balance between drying out the roller on the ceiling and leaving too much paint in one area but the principle is to keep it wet. Let the paint dry and repeat the task.

How to paint a room walls

Generally the same principles apply to the walls as to the ceiling, with a few differences. When you cut in your wall at the ceiling, there is no overlapping this time. Using the same technique and 2” brush (if you comfortable with it, if not smaller) apply the paint to the top of the wall along the ceiling but keep your brush edge tight to the corner. You don’t want to get too close as to touch the ceiling with your wall paint. The same way cut in the corners, light switches, sockets, and above the skirting board. Then apply the paint using same type of roller as on ceiling working vertically (creating vertical stripes and overlapping them) from one corner to another. Always finish with downward move as this will give better finish. Let the wall dry and repeat the action. It is better for beginner to do one wall at a time. Then clean your equipment and room and you can be proud of yourself because you know now, how to paint a room. How to protect and prepare the site for painting and decorating project? Before any painting or decorating work is done, one of the most important tasks is to protect any areas, items and fixtures that could be damaged. A quality painting and decorating contractors will never rush straight into work without taking time to prepare and protect the site first. Because the damage done during painting and decorating can be very costly it is essential that before the project starts, all is protected or removed.

What are the most common items that needs protecting?

·           Carpet, rugs and all other types of flooring
·           All furniture incl. sofas, chairs, tables, curtains
·           Shelving, pictures, sockets and wall lights
·           Door fittings
·           Plants

What to provide the protection with

Cotton twill dustsheets are the most common means of protection of floor and larger pieces of furniture during painting and decorating process. They are not easily disturbed when walked on and provide good protection against paint spray. They should be used every time if there is even a small risk that paint or other decorating materials damage anything on site and experienced painting and decorating contractors always have sufficient number of dustsheets on hand. Another means of the most common protection are the polythene dustsheets with the advantage of being waterproof and inexpensive to purchase. Cordex is yet another means of protection and is available in 2.4x1.2 m boards that can be jointed with 50 mm masking tape offering more appropriate protection to dustsheets. It can be very effective way of protecting floors where there is a high volume of traffic or where the project will last longer. The best and most effective way to protect small fixtures that can not be removed such as wall lights is to wrap them up with plastic bags and tighten up with masking tape and experienced painting and decorating contractors will always remember about them too. There are a few items that are often overlooked during protection process. One is the door furniture (handles, finger plates, numbers, hinges, kick plates, push plates etc.). Experienced painting and decorating contractors will know that the best way to protect them is to remove them and will take time to do so. Another is wooden, glass or metal shelving. It is easier and safer to remove them rather then to paint around them and it can even safe time of overall painting and decorating project . Radiators are yet another item that very often must or should be removed before redecoration process starts in order to provide really good quality and sharp finish. It can easily be done by painting and decorating contractors themselves if they are properly instructed and have experience in doing so.

How the good painting and decorating contractors prepare the work surface?

The correct preparation of work surface is essential for work to look good and last long. It is important that all surface contaminants such as dirt or flaking existing coatings are removed. If they are not, the paint or wallcovering will not adhere properly to the surface. The most common type of surface that painting and decorating contractors work with is a plasterboard – newly fitted and refurbished.In surface preparation of just fitted plasterboards there are two main factors that are essential for the final product to look excellent and last long. One is taping and jointing process that bonds to boards and create even finish. It is very common practice to overfill or underfill joints which spoil the result and makes the final surface look “bumpy”, instead of flat.The other factor is about removing as much dust after sanding process as possible with brush, broom or even vacuum cleaner before painting and if emulsion used, to water down the first coat of paint slightly to let the paint to penetrate the surface rather than just to “sit on it”. Good make primer sealer should be used before applying any wallcovering. Often painting and decorating contractors have to deal with old plasterboard wall partitions, that for example divide two offices and have been coated with emulsion or finished with a vinyl wallcovering. In that case the top layer of wallcovering needs to be removed manually, which is not much of a problem and then the back that is often made of paper needs to be soaked with water and carefully stripped using good quality stripping knife, the way that will not damage the actual surface of the plasterboard. There is usually no problem with that unless the surface of the plasterboard was not originally primed – sealed, then it takes hard and long labour and the result is the surface that needs to be made good before any decorative finish is applied. Considering how much preparation of work surface has to do with the quality of final product and endurance of wall itself (the ability of wall surface to be redecorate), the good painting and decorating contractors will always put enough attention and will spend time (often more than painting and decorating itself) on appropriate preparation before they start to apply any decorative finish.

What are the most common risks involved in painting and decorating project and how to cope with them

Painting and decorating is part of construction industry which in turn has the highest injury and accidents rates and unless painting and decorating contractors adopt a good health and safety attitude they might be at constant risk.People often say: accidents will happen, but in construction industry they don't just happen sometimes. We might think of the accident as being no one’s fault and that it could not have been avoided. The truth is that most of them are caused by human error. They often happen when someone is hurrying, not paying enough attention to what they are doing or they have not received the correct training.While working as painting and decorating contractors, painters themselves and people around them are exposed to substances and situations that may be harmful to their health. The most common causes of the accidents and ill health related to painting and decorating work are:·

Failing from step ladders.

It may possibly cause the head or back injuries or be even fatal. Painting and decorating contractors should always use only good condition, industrial ladders and never overreach from them. The ladders must be placed on a firm level surface and at correct angle of 4:1.

Slips and trips.

It also may lead to broken bones, back and head injuries. Therefore work area should be kept clear and free from all types of derbis, cables and materials.

Use of solvents.

It may lead to health problems such as dermatitis and other skin diseases. Painting and decorating contractors should use water based paint wherever possible. They should keep working area well ventilated during painting with doors and windows open as minimum. In some circumstances forced ventilation may need to be used. They should always be aware of the information included in the hazard data sheet for particular paint they use.

Asbestos.

It may lead to serious health risk including death. If the asbestos is present or if painting and decorating contractors only suspect its presence, they should not work. Only trained staff can work with it safely. In case that asbestos is present in form of sprayed coatings, boards, insulation or lagging on pipes or boilers, only contractor with license must be used to deal with it.

Dust.

May lead to breathing problems. Sheeting protection should be used to protect third parties and all involved painters and decorators should wear appropriate overalls, dust masks and eye protection.
Noise. Can be a cause of partial or total loss of hearing. Painters and decorators working in noisy conditions should use appropriate noise control devices.

Electrical injuries.

It may lead to electrical shock, burns, loss of muscle control or to thermal burns. Only good condition, pre-checked electrical equipment should be used. During painting and decorating project site operatives should not open or remove any electrical outlets themselves unless they are trained to do so.

Lifting or moving heavy objects.

May lead to possible injury of back and feet. Only experienced and trained staff should be used to do so.The risk assessment should be carried out on every new project. It will have direct impact on the safety of painting and decorating contractors and others.