The Money Mustache Community
Learning, Sharing, and Teaching => Do it Yourself Discussion! => Topic started by: shelivesthedream on March 21, 2017, 06:05:06 AM
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My husband and I are moving into a new house and, well, let's say it's got a lot of potential. We haven't got loads of money to spend but I have got a lot of time and enjoy DIY so we're trying to decide what's worth doing to the house. I'm 5'2" and not particularly strong. I'd say I'm a practical person and while I've not done any of these before (we've never had a house we can change), I've done woodwork and painted furniture and so on.
So, how hard are these things going to be to do single-handed? If there's anything that'll be a nightmare with one person but a doddle with two I can ask my dad to help but I don't want to use up all my favours at once.
- Take up carpet
- Lay laminate flooring in rooms
- Lay laminate flooring up stairs
- Paint stairs and attach stair runner (goes round a corner)
- Replace interior door (including adding door handle)
- Paint walls
- Paint ceilings
- Replace light fixtures
- Add ceiling rose
- Put up picture rail (decorative)
- Paint kitchen cupboards (doors only)
- Replace cupboard door handles in kitchen
- Put up a washing line
- Put built in shelves under the stairs
I'd just like some estimation of difficulty for one person to factor into my "is it worth douing?" calculations.
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I'm 5'0" and very weak and I've done some of the things on your list. Most are no problem, IMO.
- Take up carpet - (I had to cut it out in squares, where DH did rooms where he just took out giant strips. So it took me much longer.)
- Lay laminate flooring in rooms (I was slow, but it got done.)
- Lay laminate flooring up stairs (DH did this one, but the idea is about the same as the floors. Your size shouldn't matter.)
- Paint stairs and attach stair runner (goes round a corner) (Haven't done this)
- Replace interior door (including adding door handle) (I couldn't do a solid wood door, but I've done lightweight doors. Handles aren't hard.)
- Paint walls (no problems!)
- Paint ceilings (I had to outsource this one, as I have neck problems, but telescoping tools mean your size shouldn't matter.)
- Replace light fixtures (DH always does this, so I can't say.)
- Add ceiling rose (If you have proper ladders/scaffolding, shouldn't be an issue.)
- Put up picture rail (decorative) (I haven't done this, but I'm sure you could.)
- Paint kitchen cupboards (doors only) (No problem. Done this.)
- Replace cupboard door handles in kitchen (No problem. Done this.)
- Put up a washing line (I don't know what this means.)
- Put built in shelves under the stairs (As long as you can carry them, shouldn't be an issue. I love furniture sliders, but in our house we have to get things downstairs, and that can be hard.)
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they all honestly sound doable for 1 person, although some of them may take forever going at it solo: laying flooring, pulling up carpet, painting cabinets...things like that. You may need another person to help move all of the pulled up carpet out of the house...but i think everything else is totally doable. Putting up a door by yourself can be a bit tricky to balance and align, but not impossible. If you have the time, then you should be able to do about everything on the list.
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My husband and I are moving into a new house and, well, let's say it's got a lot of potential. We haven't got loads of money to spend but I have got a lot of time and enjoy DIY so we're trying to decide what's worth doing to the house. I'm 5'2" and not particularly strong. I'd say I'm a practical person and while I've not done any of these before (we've never had a house we can change), I've done woodwork and painted furniture and so on.
So, how hard are these things going to be to do single-handed? If there's anything that'll be a nightmare with one person but a doddle with two I can ask my dad to help but I don't want to use up all my favours at once.
- Take up carpet
- Lay laminate flooring in rooms
- Lay laminate flooring up stairs
- Paint stairs and attach stair runner (goes round a corner)
- Replace interior door (including adding door handle)
- Paint walls
- Paint ceilings
- Replace light fixtures
- Add ceiling rose
- Put up picture rail (decorative)
- Paint kitchen cupboards (doors only)
- Replace cupboard door handles in kitchen
- Put up a washing line
- Put built in shelves under the stairs
I'd just like some estimation of difficulty for one person to factor into my "is it worth douing?" calculations.
I'd say you could do all of those things, based on your description.
Taking up carpet is unskilled, but potentially heavy. Laminate flooring for a normal room with straight walls is not too difficult, provided you can measure and cut accurately and don't rush it. Likewise shelves. The most difficult job on the list, IMO, is hanging a door. There's plenty of online guides on how to do it, but it does require you to cut out a mortise on the door and frame to put the hinge into - and to be able to lift the door up.
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the "hard" stuff on your list is definitely the laminate flooring and shelf building.
Finally in my 40s I decided no more cheap tools. Pros don't use cheap tools. Fancy tools won't turn my work to pro level, but they at least remove one of the barriers.
If you are doing the flooring, I'd definitely invest in a nice miter saw.
On the painting, pretty much anybody can do that. Paint before you pull the carpet and then you don't even really need to worry about making a mess.
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- Take up carpet
- Lay laminate flooring in rooms
- Lay laminate flooring up stairs
- Paint stairs and attach stair runner (goes round a corner)
- Replace interior door (including adding door handle)
- Paint walls
- Paint ceilings
- Replace light fixtures
- Add ceiling rose
- Put up picture rail (decorative)
- Paint kitchen cupboards (doors only)
- Replace cupboard door handles in kitchen
- Put up a washing line
- Put built in shelves under the stairs
None of these are in the hard category. Buy some basic tools, a cordless drill driver and a mitre saw. For painting, get good quality brushes.
Painting should be the easiest. Just you tube how to paint. Use high quality paints, since with a good paint you can get away with lesser coats compared to cheaper paint.
I would put these three as the hardest
- Lay laminate flooring in rooms
- Lay laminate flooring up stairs
- Replace interior door (including adding door handle)
They are not physically limiting, but you have to cut laminate and that would need some skill.
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- Take up carpet
- Lay laminate flooring in rooms
- Lay laminate flooring up stairs
- Paint stairs and attach stair runner (goes round a corner)
- Replace interior door (including adding door handle)
- Paint walls
- Paint ceilings
- Replace light fixtures
- Add ceiling rose
- Put up picture rail (decorative)
- Paint kitchen cupboards (doors only)
- Replace cupboard door handles in kitchen
- Put up a washing line
- Put built in shelves under the stairs
- Taking up carpet is fairly easy. I layed carpet for a couple summers and we would roll the whole thing up and take it out with a couple guys. If you want to do it by yourself then cut the carpet into manageable strips and roll it up.
- laminate flooring is not bad on a floor
- laminate flooring on stairs will be tedious because there will be a lot of cuts but if you take your time it is not hard
- Painting is not hard but make sure you invest in good tools. Don't buy the cheapest brush and roller. A good brush if maintained will last years and makes cutting in worlds easier. A good roller will hold paint and put it on evenly.
- Hanging a new door is a little involved and recessing hinges and cutting holes for handles is a little more technical and difficult if you don't have the right tools. This one could be better off hiring out or asking for a favor.
- You already have the tools for paining so all of these painting tasks are cake now.
- Light fixtures are fairly simple once you understand what is involved. Safety is paramount here and always make sure the breaker is turned off especially in an older house because who knows what is going on with the circuits.
- Ceiling rose is fairly simple and straightforward but could get tricky if the drywall is wavy
- Do you mean chair rail? If so this is a bit involved in order to get right.
- Painting again. No problem.
- Putting hardware on cabinets is not bad. I always make a jig so I can get the holes put in the same place every time and get it done quickly. If there is already hardware and holes then the easiest way to go is to replace with hardware that has the same mounting otherwise you need cover plates, new doors, or try to fill the holes and paint.
- Wash line and shelves. Easy.
Go get em. There is no better feeling then finishing a DIY job at home. At least for me there isn't.
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All of these projects are quite doable for a single human. The picture rail, crown molding, or similar can be a bit of a shit show when done alone. Your best friend is a prop to hold the other end of the moldings. An adjustable, telescoping extension handle for a paint roller can be pretty useful in this case.
I would strongly advise that you give some second thoughts to using laminate on the stairs. I'm no fan of the stuff in general, but stairs are often a disaster. The proprietary nosing is ridiculously obscenely expensive. It takes a lot of professional trim carpenter grade skills to end up with a well done job, and the entire installation is often far from durable, with prematurely worn and loose nosings being a common feature on many installations I have seen.
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They are all totally doable. When in doubt measure again and allow yourself time to figure it out. (seriously, who cares if you do it 10% or 200% slower than a pro? you did it for your self)
Consider painting before you replace the floors... if there is an oops. Not that I have ever done that. nope.
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All of this is doable.... I've pretty much done all of it single handed.
Trim work and setting doors will be much easier to handle single handed if you have a finishing nail gun. Even a brad nailer would help. You wouldn't want the door held in place with brads, but they'd be enough for you to get it in one place and plumb, then come back and sturdy it up with finish nails/screws.
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All of this can be done. A few things:
1. Learn what tools you need to do it correctly. Buy good tools (there are a few exceptions which you can find out about on various handyman forums or youtube). An air compressor, finish nailer, miter saw, good level, good cordless drills/impact drivers are fabulous investments.
2. If something is a struggle, there's ALWAYS an easier way. Youtube this easier way. Whether it's calculating cuts, hanging a door, how to lay your laminate, building square boxes/drawers, etc.
b. You can generally tell if a Youtuber is full of shit. Use good judgment.
3. Family Handyman is a terrific magazine for a novice, because it teaches you the tricks of the trade.
4. If you happen to live near a Menards/small lumberyard, their employees generally have knowledge relating to their department. They are VERY helpful in my experience. If you live near a Home Depot or Lowes, just use Youtube.
I'll say it again: if something seems like a real struggle, there's ALWAYS an easier way.
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The only thing I'm unsure about is the ceiling rose. The rest is totally doable if you take your time to do it properly. Preparation is half the work, with painting sometimes more than half the work. L
We have done most of the things on your list. My husband is an engineer and pretty handy and likes to do things properly. I am not a handy person, but have helped with his instructions. The result has always been very neat.
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Thanks for all the advice, everyone. I was also wondering - several people have mentioned painting walls before doing the floor. Is there anything else about order that will make a big difference? Like, if you decide to put up a picture rail you should/shouldn't paint the wall first?
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A second person is nice for carpet take up. Very heavy work unless you cut very small.
Also an interior door is easier if someone holds it level while you adjust. Especially if you are doing the whole thing with replacing jamb and shims, too.
Laminate takes a long time. One or two person can be the same pace, but double the overall speed, if you work independently, except that with two you may split who cuts and carries and who lays as getting up and down on your knees is tiring and takes a lot of time.
Painting cupboards is more about prep and knowing what products to use, it turns out great or horrible, independent of your skill - more about knowledge.
I would try it all.
ETA -- corrected for severe grammatical errors! OMG.
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Thanks for all the advice, everyone. I was also wondering - several people have mentioned painting walls before doing the floor. Is there anything else about order that will make a big difference? Like, if you decide to put up a picture rail you should/shouldn't paint the wall first?
Your not doing all this but here is the order for a normal "Flip"
http://www.homefixers.com/downloads/homefixers_fifty_steps.pdf
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Thanks for all the advice, everyone. I was also wondering - several people have mentioned painting walls before doing the floor. Is there anything else about order that will make a big difference? Like, if you decide to put up a picture rail you should/shouldn't paint the wall first?
Your not doing all this but here is the order for a normal "Flip"
http://www.homefixers.com/downloads/homefixers_fifty_steps.pdf
Wow, what a useful document! Thanks so much!
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Thanks for all the advice, everyone. I was also wondering - several people have mentioned painting walls before doing the floor. Is there anything else about order that will make a big difference? Like, if you decide to put up a picture rail you should/shouldn't paint the wall first?
Your not doing all this but here is the order for a normal "Flip"
http://www.homefixers.com/downloads/homefixers_fifty_steps.pdf
Wow, what a useful document! Thanks so much!
That is awesome! Thanks for sharing it. I wish I'd seen it months ago!
Dreamer - have you been following the Barnhouse thread? We've done much of what you are contemplating - and some that you are not. I would say most of your list is at the basic DIY level with some encroaching on the advanced level. All of it I would be comfortable doing single-handed. But I like to work alone.
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All these things are very doable. I've done many of them myself with no previous experience. One general piece of advice is to start in an area where mistakes would be less visible, if possible. For example if you've never painted a room before you might want to start with a bedroom, or even a closet. You will make some small mistakes and you will learn from them. By the time you get to the living room you'll be better at it and the result will look nicer.
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- Take up carpet
Only a problem if the padding underneath it is covered in pee stains... :) This is easy.
- Lay laminate flooring in rooms
Easy. Is this a floating floor, or will you be nailing it down? You may want a pneumatic hammer instead of a honking big mallet if you are nailing.
- Lay laminate flooring up stairs
More custom fits, so much slower than a floor. I'm guessing this is nailed or glued down?
- Paint stairs and attach stair runner (goes round a corner)
Painting is straightforward. Never done a stair runner. That's the carpet on the stair treads? Why do both laminate floor and carpet? Just more stuff to wear out and vacuuming carpet on stairs is a pain.
- Replace interior door (including adding door handle)
Easy.
- Paint walls
Your shoulders will get sore, but otherwise easy. Haven't tried painting interior walls with a paint sprayer, but I hear it's faster and easier. A bit worried about breathing in paint , though...
- Paint ceilings
Ditto, only more soreness.
- Replace light fixtures
Usually easy, occasionally hard. Depends on how much of a hash the last person who worked on it made of it.
- Add ceiling rose
Don't know.
- Put up picture rail (decorative)
Not even sure what that is.
- Paint kitchen cupboards (doors only)
Easy.
- Replace cupboard door handles in kitchen
Easy.
- Put up a washing line
Do you have to dig holes and put up posts? Or do you have ready-made end connection points. Easy if you do, a bit harder if you don't. The tasks are easy, but concrete comes in REALLY heavy bags that might well give you a problem. (Me too!)
- Put built in shelves under the stairs
Unless the access to it is really awkward, pretty easy.
If you want the final results enough to pay for the tools and materials, it's worth doing. All of the skills you will learn will be worth it to know.
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YouTube has lots of very helpful videos - but you will need to go thru some not-so-helpful ones.
Yard/garage sales and estate sales are very good for finding some great deals on tools - old hand tools were made better than the new ones are.
There are many tools you can rent that make certain jobs easier, faster, better.
If NextDoor (.com & app) is active in your area, they are a great source of info and referrals. Very good to have if a project turns out more complicated than you expected (which has a way of happening).
Also, you can often learn things just from getting an estimate; what they'd do, how they'd do it... it's also encouraging to know how much money you're saving.
Or you can offer to pay an experienced professional for an evaluation and recommendation.
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- Take up carpet No
- Lay laminate flooring in rooms No, just may be tedious
- Lay laminate flooring up stairs No, just may be tedious
- Paint stairs and attach stair runner (goes round a corner) Doesn't sound like it would be
- Replace interior door (including adding door handle) might be tough getting door aligned, and how heavy would it be?
- Paint walls No
- Paint ceilings No, as long as you have ladder
- Replace light fixtures Probably not
- Add ceiling rose Probably not
- Put up picture rail (decorative) No
- Paint kitchen cupboards (doors only) No
- Replace cupboard door handles in kitchen No
- Put up a washing line No
- Put built in shelves under the stairs Probably not
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The stairs thing is an either/or - either to do laminate up the stairs or to paint them (and put a runner down if the paint is too slippery). The advice on here and watching a few Youtube videos makes me think I will end up weeping if I try to laminate the stairs, so paint it shall be, I reckon. Haven't had a chance to look under the carpet yet, though, and not sure what I'll find...
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Haven't had a chance to look under the carpet yet, though, and not sure what I'll find...
We lived with a seventies monstrosity of fireplace for about a year, before unscrewing it from the wall to find a very nice stone fireplace hidden behind it, the kind of thing that people pay thousands of pounds to have installed. You might find that under your carpets are some nice floorboards that can be sanded & varnished instead of putting down laminate.
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My mom is 5'2" and 65 years old. She definitely does all that stuff. You will need a second hand when moving the laminate flooring.
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I am 5'4" and used to be very thin, now a little more rounded but not much muscle to speak of. I am much more able now that I weigh more than 108 pounds.
And I have done some of the jobs on the list before I gained all this padding.
All of the jobs require some muscle and endurance. If I haven't painted a room in a long time, my wrist gets tired doing the cutting in between the ceiling and the walls.
Take up carpet
- hardest part was getting it out of the house - reeking of cat urine - and it was closest to my face carrying it up the basement stairs. Getting it up off the floor was fairly easy with full protective gear and vise grips and not being frugal on the blades of the cutting knife.
- Lay laminate flooring in rooms
I put down a cork floor in our sunroom by myself last year and that just took time. I only had a few extra pieces because I bought the last of a lot for super cheap so I couldn't make a cutting mistake.
- Lay laminate flooring up stairs
I was not able to do this as the tread kit did not fit our stairs so Hubs took over and had to run all the risers through a planer to make them thinner. so that was a fail
- Paint stairs and attach stair runner (goes round a corner)
Have painted steps - and added some clean sand into the paint to make them not slippery. I used oil paint for the durability but I don't think you can buy it anymore. Sorry no experience with carpeting.
- Replace interior door (including adding door handle)
Have not done this. My hubs likes me to help him hold things every now and then when he does a door swap. I have replaced the handles/dead bolt including installing new. I rely on Hubs to keep the chisel sharp.
- Paint walls
Easy work IMO - but watch some videos to pick up some tricks to get a really superior result and buy a good paint brush.
- Paint ceilings
Fairly easy - but buy a good roller cage and telescopic extension arm that easily attaches and doesn't collapse mid-roll. Do not cheap out on the gear or the paint. And if you get a ladder - look for a sturdy but lighter ladder. I hate our ladder, it is so heavy. I have difficulty getting it down from the hangers in the garage and have pinched my fingers so many times trying to make it taller.
- Replace light fixtures
If the fixture is heavy, I need help. I get tired really quickly with my arms over my head and have next to no strength working overhead. We both hate Ikea light fixtures because they are so damn complicated to install but it has nothing to with skills or strength.
- Add ceiling rose
Never done this but with the right glue and some careful measuring and a light weight nailer it might be possible. I would think having a really good tape measure that doesn't collapse constantly would be critical.
- Put up picture rail (decorative)
Hubs and I did this together because we made our own plate rails from crappy lumber that was free. Getting the wonky long pieces on the crooked old walls so that it looked straight was a major PITA even with four hands.
- Paint kitchen cupboards (doors only)
Tip: number the doors on a non-visible edge so that you can put them back on the right cupboard including the drawers. I did our bathroom vanity for a brand new but highly frugal result. There were only two drawers and appear to be the same but not exactly as it turned out. Fortunately figuring out just two drawers was pretty easy.
- Replace cupboard door handles in kitchen
Piece of cake - hardest part is finding inexpensive replacements with the same distance between the screws but if you are painting the fronts you can fill the old holes and drill new ones. Make a jig so that the holes are all in exactly the same place.
- Put up a washing line
I put in the umbrella drying line by myself - including restoring the lawn. But the big pulley one with the lift drilled into the brick wall and the other end up a huge dead tree trunk - didn't do that myself. The umbrella thing works great. When we did the big high traditional line, I was still off the feeling that clotheslines had to be in the back yard and there wasn't room for an umbrella one. When our dryer broke, I decided to get more drying space and the front yard was where there was space and sunshine. Hubs didn't say much when he came home and it was installed but confessed he wouldn't have put it there if I had asked him.
- Put built in shelves under the stairs
Haven't done this myself.
I started out pretty afraid of power tools. What I have found is they are less intimidating if I am wearing ear protection and I am the one turning them on. I have not yet overcome my fear of the router or the table saw but I am fairly comfortable with the chop saw, drills, sawsall, skill saw, jig saw and vibrating sanders. The nailer and compressor are kind of freaky but I just take a deep breath and hit the trigger. The belt sander is pretty scary and I avoid it. The hammer thingy with explosive things and the tile saw are just too loud.
Biggest thing for me is to take it slowly and work at my pace.
If my arms are getting too tired, I just take a break.
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Haven't had a chance to look under the carpet yet, though, and not sure what I'll find...
We lived with a seventies monstrosity of fireplace for about a year, before unscrewing it from the wall to find a very nice stone fireplace hidden behind it, the kind of thing that people pay thousands of pounds to have installed. You might find that under your carpets are some nice floorboards that can be sanded & varnished instead of putting down laminate.
Here's hoping! But half the rooms have laminate already, so I'm assuming there is not some glory underneath the carpet, and also it would be nice to match the laminate in the other rooms.
Frugal Lizard: Thanks, this is all really helpful advice. I think I'm starting to get an order of priority, based on necessity, cost and difficulty!
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About paint:
Please use water based paint. It is 100% more easy to clean brushes then with oil based paint.
When you have a paint job over several days, you don't need to clean the brush in between. Just wrap the brush in plastic and put it in the fridge. Professional painters do this too.
There is a special floor paint available, which tolerates more than normal paint. Use that on the staircase.
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Don't own a house right now (working on it!) but I owned a house in the past. The living room area had a TERRIBLE looking floor. It was very solid and fine structurally, it just badly needed to be sanded and refinished. The previous owners just covered it up with a very large rug. Husband and I didn't have the tools or knowledge to sand/finish the floor. So instead, he bought laminate floor and installed it himself. He did the job almost exclusively alone. I helped him in minor ways with cutting, but it was mostly all him. I can't remember how long it took him since he did this about 10 years ago now. It definitely took him at least a month to do, since he only had time to work on it on the weekends and he took it slow since he'd never done it before. He had to buy a saw to do it, but the expensive saw purchase was worth it since he's used it for lots of other projects over the years.
So I think you can do it, but I agree that it's one of the harder things you'll have to do. Take it slow, measure the room and parts out carefully, and make sure you have a little bit more than you need since 1) you'll most likely mess up a few pieces accidentally since you'll be learning and 2) walls generally aren't built perfectly straight. You'll end up having to cut some pieces smaller to fill gaps and may not be able to use the parts you chopped off later depending on the size/shape.
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About paint:
Please use water based paint. It is 100% more easy to clean brushes then with oil based paint.
When you have a paint job over several days, you don't need to clean the brush in between. Just wrap the brush in plastic and put it in the fridge. Professional painters do this too.
There is a special floor paint available, which tolerates more than normal paint. Use that on the staircase.
A few more painting tips:
As soon as you open a can of paint, use a hammer to tap the blade of a screwdriver through the rim of the can. So when you pour the paint out of the can, the stuff in the rim goes back into the can rather than down the sides of the can.
when you're done with the paint and putting it away for a while, close the lid tightly, then store the can upside down. If there are any air holes, they will immediately be "sealed" with the paint, and your paint will stay fresh much longer and won't dry out.
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I forgot to mention some things:
Buy good quality brushes. They paint a lot better than el-cheapo brushes that loose hair during painting and are also more precise. But don't forget to clean them properly when you finished painting. If you will likely not clean well, then you'd better buy the cheap brushes.
You'll need different size brushes, one for the bigger surfaces and one for the small edges.
Invest in a lot of painter's tape. We think the cheapest tape with the highest turnover works best.
There is also plastic floor cover on a role that has integrated tape. This is very smart. Alternative is to just buy plastic and tape it to the wall yourself, which is a bit of a hassle.
Walls are easiest to paint with a roller. What kind of roller depends on the surface of the wall. The more uneven the surface is and the more paint is needed to cover it, the more fluffy the roller should be. For a flat surface this is not necessary. For any corners of the wall, you'll need a normal brush and in some cases a small roller.
Rollers can also be stored in a plastic bag in the fridge over night. And need to be cleaned well afterwards. Than they can last for years. If treated well, good painting tools are a good investment, as they let you paint the house by yourself with a neat result.
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This is great! I'm really excited now! So, I think the plan is (not in order):
Take up the carpet, laminate the rooms and paint the stairs (floor paint, so no runner unless we find we need one later)
Paint all the walls and ceilings
Put up picture rails downstairs but not upstairs
Paint the kitchen cupboards and replace the handles if I can find some with the exact same hole spacing and size
Seems like an achievable amount of work for me to do single-handed and are all in the "will make a huge difference" category.
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If you are painting ceilings white, get the tinted ceiling paint. It will be pink (or whatever colour a particular brand uses) while wet, but white when dry. Makes it so much easier to see where you've been, and not miss spots.
When using a roller, keep the handle/attachment to roller side opposite from the wet edge. (if you are painting left to right, handle on the right.) There will be slightly more pressure on that end, and it can leave lines in the paint. If you keep the lines on the leading edge, you smooth them out as you go.
Post photos when you're done - I love seeing how paint and small renovations can improve a space.
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This is great! I'm really excited now! So, I think the plan is (not in order):
Take up the carpet, laminate the rooms and paint the stairs (floor paint, so no runner unless we find we need one later)
Paint all the walls and ceilings
Put up picture rails downstairs but not upstairs
Paint the kitchen cupboards and replace the handles if I can find some with the exact same hole spacing and size
Seems like an achievable amount of work for me to do single-handed and are all in the "will make a huge difference" category.
It is smart to start with painting the ceiling. The paint will drip. You can buy rollers and a long handle bar, so that you can stand on the floor. This will save you from pain in your arms. My DH could paint the second floor (second building layer) of our house that way on the outside. It beats standing on a staircase. Although you will need the staircase for the finer detailed painting of the rims.
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I spent about 2 years reno'ing my place top to bottom
- Take up carpet
easy
- Lay laminate flooring in rooms
- Lay laminate flooring up stairs
depends on the laminate. i had one that the entire row had to be clipped together before being clipped to the finished sections. that needed 2 people. if you don't have one that clips at the end it can easily be a one person job. try to have your cutting station near by if possible otherwise you do a lot of running to get cuts done between rows. chop saws or mitre saws are SO WORTH IT FOR THIS!!!! easy cuts accurately each time
- Paint stairs and attach stair runner (goes round a corner)
- Replace interior door (including adding door handle)
simple. its lining up two peices and putting some screws through the bolt
- Paint walls
time consuming but i painted almost my entire house by my self. get the paint with the primer in it, it saves a LOT of coats and a LOT of time. i sure wish i had, it covers color and blocks it much better too. don't cheap out on decent paint.
- Paint ceilings
depend on the type of material. if its a hard stipple or drywall its fine. time consuming but easy enough if you can paint a wall. the color changing stuff is nice. make sure if you go left to right on one coating, then go up and down the ceiling on the other one. otherwise its easy to miss areas. if its a soft stipple that crumbles then its a pain in the ass and likely is worth removing otherwise you can't ever touch it
- Replace light fixtures
once you do one, its easy enough to repeat. be doubly careful that all sources of electricity are turned off. big kitchen or dining room ones may need a 2nd hand to help hold it while wiring. small fixtures are nice to have an extra person but it depends on how big it is and awkward
- Add ceiling rose
no clue
- Put up picture rail (decorative)
- Paint kitchen cupboards (doors only)
fussy work. don't cheap out on the paint. depends on what sort of coating is on the doors too
- Replace cupboard door handles in kitchen
just make sure you find handles that have the same hole patterns, then its usually just removing a screw or two
- Put up a washing line
not a clue, depends on what you are hanging it from
- Put built in shelves under the stairs
not very hard to buy pre made metal 'L' brackets. if you want a 10in shelf, buy one that has a 8 to 10 in length, level it and square it to the wall, set a board on top, and screw the board to the bracket from under the shelf. quick and easy shelving
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To replace a light fitting be yourself: have a look at what is holding the old fitting up and make a suitable hook. Sometimes a wire coathanger or spare piece of flex works well. Use this to support the weight of the new fitting so that you can use both hands to place the wires and screw them in. I like to use a bright headtorch even where the light is good - it just makes the work clearer to see.
If you are thinking about a new ceiling rose - check which way the joists above it run. If you can run between the joists it is far easier than through them. If they run the 'wrong' way then think about whether you can live with the cable running on the ceiling covered in plastic trunking.
I'd try to do the picture rail and door with a second person if possible. If not possible then a laser line (Quigo is the brand but cheaper options are available) will help loads. The challenge is holding it up and level while simultaneously stepping back to check it is level. Maybe a mirror on the other side of the room would help? For the door, a bunch of blocks of wood at different heights to hold the weight of the door will help.
Before you drill into anything make sure there isn't a cable in the wall - if you are working alone this is more important. If the wiring on the light switch looks atypical assume that there will be diagonal cable runs and check with a meter.
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If you are going to lay any kind of wood or vinyl flooring, I highly recommend a good oscillating too to undercut door frames. before I bought one I spent way too much time fitting flooring around thee door frames. With the oscillating tool, it takes less than a minute to undercut the frame so the flooring slides right under it.
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We went round yesterday and measured up and had a proper look at things (first time we've seen the house empty, without any furniture). I took a load of photos too.
In both of the upstairs rooms, there's this thing about the walls. I guess it's paper that's been painted over several times peeling off, but I'm confused about what's behind it. The house is a classic red brick Victorian terrace and it's dark and damp. I've attached two photos (sorry they're not closer up). In the photo of the yellow room, you can see the paper peeling off under the window. In the photo of the blue room, you can see what's behind it. They're both external walls, and to my untrained eye I guess it looks like concrete. The peeling isn't everywhere, just in a few places, but where it is peeling it's really bad.
So... what is it? And what should I do? Should I peel all the paper off, prime the walls and paint? Should I stick the paper back on? Should I peel the paper off and replace it?
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Good news, though - I had a look under the carpet and it looks like it's painted floorboards in good condition, so I think what we might do is just take up the carpet and sand and paint the floors, instead of laying laminate. Seems like it'll be cheaper and less stress, especially as I remembered wrong and it's only the hallway, landing and stairs that are carpeted.
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Bad news, though... OMG THE MOULD. IT'S EVERYWHERE. The previous tenant did NOT take care of the place at all, and I know for a fact she blocked up some of the vents, but still. It makes me want to cry. What can I do about it?? We live somewhere that has mould problems right now and I just can't take it again. I've looked at anti-mould paints online, but they say that if you paint over them they're no longer effective, and I so want some nice colours in my life. Is there a chance that if I just clean the place properly with mould killer and then we make sure to actually ventilate it, the mould might not come back?
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And the yellow room.
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I found an oxygen based bleach and ventilation worked well for mould.
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I'd guess that the damp has condensed on the wall so the wallpaper won't stick any more. I think there will be more mould underneath the paper (sorry). I'd peel the loose paper off and see whether I can replace it in patches.
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I would strip the walls to make sure to find all mould. And install maybe electrical ventilation. Mould can be unhealthy and cayse allergi. You want to make sure it's gone.
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I'd guess that the damp has condensed on the wall so the wallpaper won't stick any more. I think there will be more mould underneath the paper (sorry). I'd peel the loose paper off and see whether I can replace it in patches.
Do I have to replace the paper? What even is it?
After a bit of internet searching, my conclusion is that what I can see underneath is drywall/sheetrock.
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I'd guess that the damp has condensed on the wall so the wallpaper won't stick any more. I think there will be more mould underneath the paper (sorry). I'd peel the loose paper off and see whether I can replace it in patches.
Do I have to replace the paper? What even is it?
After a bit of internet searching, my conclusion is that what I can see underneath is drywall/sheetrock.
The question I'd have now: is the paper wall paper (probably painted over)? Or is it the outside layer of paper of the drywall? Or both?
If you are seeing something that is white and crumbly... you're now inside the drywall. You'll probably want to skim coat it with something like joint compound.
If you are seeing a layer of paper (in the US, when you strip wall paper off of drywall, it will take the top layer of the wallpaper off and you'll be left with brown paper). If you can get it smooth again, you could paint or wall paper over it. If not, you'll have to skim coat it or texture it with joint compound.
I am wildly guessing this is wall paper that has been painted over and is now peeling off. It's a personal choice... but I just don't like wall paper. If I could get to drywall that still had a layer of the outside paper on it, I'd knock the nubs of the paper off, texture the wall and repaint.
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It could be lining paper (plain wallpaper). This is what I'd use to replace it with.
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I'd guess that the damp has condensed on the wall so the wallpaper won't stick any more. I think there will be more mould underneath the paper (sorry). I'd peel the loose paper off and see whether I can replace it in patches.
Do I have to replace the paper? What even is it?
After a bit of internet searching, my conclusion is that what I can see underneath is drywall/sheetrock.
The question I'd have now: is the paper wall paper (probably painted over)? Or is it the outside layer of paper of the drywall? Or both?
If you are seeing something that is white and crumbly... you're now inside the drywall. You'll probably want to skim coat it with something like joint compound.
If you are seeing a layer of paper (in the US, when you strip wall paper off of drywall, it will take the top layer of the wallpaper off and you'll be left with brown paper). If you can get it smooth again, you could paint or wall paper over it. If not, you'll have to skim coat it or texture it with joint compound.
I am wildly guessing this is wall paper that has been painted over and is now peeling off. It's a personal choice... but I just don't like wall paper. If I could get to drywall that still had a layer of the outside paper on it, I'd knock the nubs of the paper off, texture the wall and repaint.
Neither, as far as I can tell! I'm seeing something that's grey and solid. It is this sort of colour: http://www.drywallandplastering.com/images/textures/finishLrg.jpg and ever so slightly textured. The paper itself feels like extra-stiff wallpaper to me, and I can see the joins in the walls at roughly wallpaper-appropriate intervals, and I can see three or four layers of paint colour that would explain the stiffness. But I'm not very experienced so I wouldn't necessarily know for sure.
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I'd guess that the damp has condensed on the wall so the wallpaper won't stick any more. I think there will be more mould underneath the paper (sorry). I'd peel the loose paper off and see whether I can replace it in patches.
Do I have to replace the paper? What even is it?
After a bit of internet searching, my conclusion is that what I can see underneath is drywall/sheetrock.
The question I'd have now: is the paper wall paper (probably painted over)? Or is it the outside layer of paper of the drywall? Or both?
If you are seeing something that is white and crumbly... you're now inside the drywall. You'll probably want to skim coat it with something like joint compound.
If you are seeing a layer of paper (in the US, when you strip wall paper off of drywall, it will take the top layer of the wallpaper off and you'll be left with brown paper). If you can get it smooth again, you could paint or wall paper over it. If not, you'll have to skim coat it or texture it with joint compound.
I am wildly guessing this is wall paper that has been painted over and is now peeling off. It's a personal choice... but I just don't like wall paper. If I could get to drywall that still had a layer of the outside paper on it, I'd knock the nubs of the paper off, texture the wall and repaint.
Neither, as far as I can tell! I'm seeing something that's grey and solid. It is this sort of colour: http://www.drywallandplastering.com/images/textures/finishLrg.jpg and ever so slightly textured. The paper itself feels like extra-stiff wallpaper to me, and I can see the joins in the walls at roughly wallpaper-appropriate intervals, and I can see three or four layers of paint colour that would explain the stiffness. But I'm not very experienced so I wouldn't necessarily know for sure.
Okay, if you are seeing gray paper ... that's the "normal" outside of drywall. When I've removed wallpaper from drywall, I always end up tearing the gray ever-so-slightly. (It is a thick paper that is light gray on the outside and brown underneath).
If you're getting to straight drywall... and you can strip the whole room cleanly: good for you!
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I think you may be in luck.
With a 1925 home, you could have lath and plaster instead of drywall (gyproc). Looks like you have drywall. IMO, what you have is wallpaper that was put up with a water soluable glue, that was painted over. When the moisture problem started, the wallpaper is delaminating, and leaving the drywall behind. Because you can see the grey (and the nail head in the blue room picture), this means that removing the wallpaper should not be a nightmare for you.
I would start with the worst room, and score the wallpaper (they sell tools for this) to get through the paint / possibly vinyl surface. Then steam the room / apply damp rags to the walls to moisten the glue, and 2 hours later, remove the wall paper. When it works, the paper just peels away without scraping....
For mold issues -- you need to cut away and dispose of moldy drywall, paper, carpet (if any). But the wood can just be treated with a bleach solution (or mildew solution), left to dry, and recovered or painted with stain block. The mold is on the surface of the wood, and as long as you don't have rot, the stains may be visible, but you kill the mold.
If you have a fair amount of mold, I would wear a mask while tackling it, as it can cause you to cough for a few months after due to quasi-allergic type reactions even if you are not sensitive to mold already. That said, I only started to wear a mask for this type of work, and I am fine.
Images -- easy wallpaper removal of vinyl paper with water soluable glue; wallpaper removal tool; ugly old wallpaper that requires excessive scraping
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You might check out Kristi Linnauer's blog at Addicted2Decorating.com. She does almost everything herself as her husband is disabled. She has some good posts on painting and what power tools to buy.
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I've removed a lot of wallpaper in my day. Some came off easy, some almost impossible, and a lot of in between.
If it isn't coming off easy to start, I highly recommend you buy (or borrow if you can find a friend) the steamer I linked below. It is a god send. You basically score the wallpaper, steam it, and then scrape. On difficult wallpaper you have to do 2 runs, one for the paper and one for the glue.
https://www.amazon.com/Wagner-0282018-Steamer-1-Gallon-Wallpaper/dp/B0009XEL4O
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OK guys, phase one is planned for the end of next week. The landlord has some proper builders in sorting out the shower (where part of the damp problem is coming from, we reckon) so I don't know what I'll be able to get to, but my ideal would be to paint the hallway, stairs and landing in white (from a pale peach), to paint the dining room (red to a dark blue), and maybe to take up the carpet (hallway, stairs and landing).
I'm also planning to have a closer look at what's going on with the upstairs wallpaper...
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I had a wallpaper wall that was really damaged by the time i removed all the paper and scraped the $%#@% out of it. waterproof bathroom stuff i think. anyways, if you get a really beat up wall, that has a lot of marks on it, consider doing one of those painting techniques on it to cover up the damage. You usually paint a lighter base color, and then use a texured or floppy brush over it. Usually called a faux finish. you can move it in multiple directions and cover up any damage that would show through a solid flat color
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OK guys, phase one is planned for the end of next week. The landlord has some proper builders in sorting out the shower (where part of the damp problem is coming from, we reckon) so I don't know what I'll be able to get to, but my ideal would be to paint the hallway, stairs and landing in white (from a pale peach), to paint the dining room (red to a dark blue), and maybe to take up the carpet (hallway, stairs and landing).
Wait a minute; you're contemplating replacing light fixtures and laying flooring in a rental that someone else owns?!
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OK guys, phase one is planned for the end of next week. The landlord has some proper builders in sorting out the shower (where part of the damp problem is coming from, we reckon) so I don't know what I'll be able to get to, but my ideal would be to paint the hallway, stairs and landing in white (from a pale peach), to paint the dining room (red to a dark blue), and maybe to take up the carpet (hallway, stairs and landing).
Wait a minute; you're contemplating replacing light fixtures and laying flooring in a rental that someone else owns?!
It's complicated. Basically, it's not actually a RENTAL rental - we live in it for free (we only pay utilities, no rent) while my husband works his contract job for three years. So we have no choice about what the house is (which is why we want to change stuff) but what with paying zero rent we're happy to spend a bit of time and money doing it up so it's how we like it. The "landlord" (the people my husband will work for) will make it habitable, we'll make it pretty. And we're allowed to do whatever we like to it as long as it's not irreversible or damaging to the fabric of the house. We've both agreed that we're tired of living in shit places, so we're willing to spend a bit of money to make the next three years nice for us, and we each picked the thing we most want to change about the house: he really wants ceiling roses in all the rooms (why, I have no idea, but that's what he picked) and I really want something other than the gross brown carpet (so I'm going to take it up and paint the floor a nice colour). Other than that, the list has been whittled down to repainting everything I can reach and replacing the fluorescent tube in the kitchen with something that doesn't hurt my ears. There's one door that's hideous and bashed about that we might replace, but we're going to live in it for a month or two first.
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That makes total sense and I think it's laudable (even wise) to "waste" a little money to give yourself a nice place to live for 3 years.
I was initially envisioning something a lot more ridiculous, like:
http://www.nbc.com/saturday-night-live/video/bad-idea-jeans/n9937?snl=1
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OK guys, phase one is planned for the end of next week. The landlord has some proper builders in sorting out the shower (where part of the damp problem is coming from, we reckon) so I don't know what I'll be able to get to, but my ideal would be to paint the hallway, stairs and landing in white (from a pale peach), to paint the dining room (red to a dark blue), and maybe to take up the carpet (hallway, stairs and landing).
I'm also planning to have a closer look at what's going on with the upstairs wallpaper...
That is a LOT to attempt. How many days?
Either the stairs or the dining room would be a great result in 2/3 days single handedly (depending on the amount of prep/sanding/washing required).
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UPDATE TIME
So, I'm here Mon to Fri this whole week now because I've bought some things on eBay and am having them delivered at various times this week. However, the building work on the house is slightly more extensive than we had first thought. This is a good thing, because they're doing a really nice job and are doing some decorative things that I didn't know they were going to do, but it does mean that I've got to work around what they've finished and what they haven't this week.
So, things that ARE happening this week:
- Painting the study. They did an undercoat for me over the existing light yellow, so I'm now painting it a lovely green. (This colour: http://www.diy.com/departments/colours-village-green-matt-emulsion-paint-25l/1145307_BQ.prd)
- Buying curtain fabric. Done! I measured up and went on a big shop on Monday. I bought curtain fabric for everywhere except the kitchen and landing (because we have two white linen curtains already that I think I can make into blinds) for £89. I had a great time. Now I just need to take them home and sew them up into curtains and roman blinds as appropriate. I'm going for unlined for now on the basis that the windows are new and REALLY well-sealed and double-glazed and it'll be easy to add lining (either thermal or blackout - I've actually heard that cheap fleece makes good curtain lining, but my husband might have a heart attack if I suggested that) if we find ourselves chilly come autumn.
- Painting the front fence. A little treat for me :) It's untreated wood and I'm doing it a lovely pale olive.
THINGS I HAVE LEARNED
Getting a nice paint finish isn't difficult but it IS time-consuming.
I love cutting in. It's the best bit.
You have to apply pressure on the roller to get the paint to come off adequately.
I can well see how good quality paint would require fewer coats, but not how it would make painting each coat that much easier.
I would pay extra in the future to live in a rental where I could paint the walls, even if I had to paint them back afterwards. It makes me so happy to have the colour I like, and colour is so personal.
QUESTIONS
- I have a blister from my roller! I've had to apply a fair amount of pressure on the roller and am a weak and feeble woman so it's rubbed at my hand. Can I do anything about this? It's just at the base of my index finger, on the thumb side.
- The builders rolled on a white undercoat and I've done the first coat of green and it looks really patchy at the moment, presumably based on where the undercoat was thick and where it was just a bit too thin. Should I worry about this, or will it fix itself when I do the second coat of green? Based on the tips in this thread and extensive internet research, I've been fairly sparing with the paint for the first coat. We're going to have bookcases around most of the wall, so I wouldn't be averse to doing a third coat on the very visible bits if it will make a big difference.
Also, I'll put some before and after pics up when we've done the whole house. I'm really excited!
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1. Would you like a decorating exchange where you cut in for me and I roll for you?
2. Bullshit, you are not feeble, you are badass. Sometimes badass people need to put fabric tape (not micropore, something thicker than that, like the sticky bit of a fabric plaster) on their fingers. Or cut one of those fancy shoe plasters if it is really sore. For next time, try cutting a bit of sponge to go over the bit where it rubs.
3. Your second coat will most likely fix the patchy coverage. If they used stain block rather than white paint or stain block under the white paint that can sometimes be more persistent and require an extra coat.
4. Yes please pictures, loooooove before and after pictures.
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1. Would you like a decorating exchange where you cut in for me and I roll for you?
2. Bullshit, you are not feeble, you are badass. Sometimes badass people need to put fabric tape (not micropore, something thicker than that, like the sticky bit of a fabric plaster) on their fingers. Or cut one of those fancy shoe plasters if it is really sore. For next time, try cutting a bit of sponge to go over the bit where it rubs.
3. Your second coat will most likely fix the patchy coverage. If they used stain block rather than white paint or stain block under the white paint that can sometimes be more persistent and require an extra coat.
4. Yes please pictures, loooooove before and after pictures.
1. YES PLEASE I AM IN NORTH LONDON HOW SOON CAN YOU GET HERE. :)
2. I have bought a fancy pants blister plaster and made an effort to use both hands equally to apply pressure. My lily-white hands are now protected.
3. OK, phew.
4. End of May. Be there or be square.
More questions:
5. I feel like I am not getting as much coverage as it says on the tin. I used an online paint calculator and it told me I needed 5L of paint. Admittedly I bought a different brand of paint for this room, but the square metre coverage listed on the tin is the same. Am I doing something wrong or is this just how it is with paint companies being optimistic? I don't think it's going to be wildly over, but I am going to need to buy a bit more.
6. As much as I like cutting in, radiators are awful. Any tips?
7. Why is it that everyone says to do the cutting in first and then roll for any given section, rather than rolling first and filling in the edges with a brush?
8. What IS feathering, and how can I tell if I'm doing it right?
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UPDATE TIME
THINGS I HAVE LEARNED
Getting a nice paint finish isn't difficult but it IS time-consuming.
I love cutting in. It's the best bit.
You have to apply pressure on the roller to get the paint to come off adequately.
I can well see how good quality paint would require fewer coats, but not how it would make painting each coat that much easier.
I would pay extra in the future to live in a rental where I could paint the walls, even if I had to paint them back afterwards. It makes me so happy to have the colour I like, and colour is so personal.
QUESTIONS
- I have a blister from my roller! I've had to apply a fair amount of pressure on the roller and am a weak and feeble woman so it's rubbed at my hand. Can I do anything about this? It's just at the base of my index finger, on the thumb side.
- The builders rolled on a white undercoat and I've done the first coat of green and it looks really patchy at the moment, presumably based on where the undercoat was thick and where it was just a bit too thin. Should I worry about this, or will it fix itself when I do the second coat of green? Based on the tips in this thread and extensive internet research, I've been fairly sparing with the paint for the first coat. We're going to have bookcases around most of the wall, so I wouldn't be averse to doing a third coat on the very visible bits if it will make a big difference.
Also, I'll put some before and after pics up when we've done the whole house. I'm really excited!
You shouldn't have to apply a TON of pressure to roll paint off a roller. you might be trying to run the roller too dry. make sure youre loading up the roller adequately with enough paint, and reloading it more often. you dont want it dripping but you want it really saturated with paint
first coats may take a lot of paint to get things adequately covered, second coats should be easier. coverage always is just a guideline in my findings. everyone's mileage will differ. old dry wood soaks up paint fyi
also what type of roller are you using? there are different length fibers for different purposes. longer fibers are usually for texture to get in all the groves. short fibers are for flat walls etc
Part of why i liked the higher quality paints is that they 1. roll on better. 2. roll OFF better and 3. coat easier/color block better. most rooms will need 2 coats of paint to adequately cover and get rid of patchiness
I also found that walls i had primed were much easier to paint. it covers the primer way better
also, are you washing the walls before painting? hand and grease marks are best to wash off before painting
also if you're cutting in via odd places, get a wide putty knife or some sort of blocker and use it to help create an edge, but prevent paint from going onto other surfaces
and NO! you're a bad ass home renovator
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Use some gloves to prevent blisters. Think of the type of thin gardening gloves. Those are used for painting.
I have never had blisters from painting. So as said above, are you using the right roller and putting on enough paint? I put as much paint on the roller as I can without it dripping and then apply it quickly. Are you using a tray to dip the roller in the paint?
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More questions:
5. I feel like I am not getting as much coverage as it says on the tin. I used an online paint calculator and it told me I needed 5L of paint. Admittedly I bought a different brand of paint for this room, but the square metre coverage listed on the tin is the same. Am I doing something wrong or is this just how it is with paint companies being optimistic? I don't think it's going to be wildly over, but I am going to need to buy a bit more.
6. As much as I like cutting in, radiators are awful. Any tips?
7. Why is it that everyone says to do the cutting in first and then roll for any given section, rather than rolling first and filling in the edges with a brush?
8. What IS feathering, and how can I tell if I'm doing it right?
Disclaimer: I am not a professional painter. I have painted a ton of rooms though.
5. Paint manufacturers always give optimum possible results. You will rarely have a room that gives those results. Also, even short nap paint rollers suck up a ton of paint, which will never totally make it onto the walls.
6. No. Radiators are horrible to paint, unless you are using spray paint. The only house we had those in, I fobbed it off on a teenager that needed money.
7. If you cut in first, then roll, you can get the roller to within a half inch or so of the ceiling, etc. It minimizes brush marks and streaks, which you will always have with the brush. Especially since you are brushing horizontally near the ceiling - there will be little drips, lines, etc. that rolling afterwards will smooth out.
8. If you have no brush marks or roller lines, you are feathering. Just means working the previously painted/wet edge and new paint together to appear seamless. (or at least that's what I think it means - open to correction from pros).
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THINGS I HAVE LEARNED
Getting a nice paint finish isn't difficult but it IS time-consuming.
I love cutting in. It's the best bit.
You have to apply pressure on the roller to get the paint to come off adequately.
I can well see how good quality paint would require fewer coats, but not how it would make painting each coat that much easier.
I would pay extra in the future to live in a rental where I could paint the walls, even if I had to paint them back afterwards. It makes me so happy to have the colour I like, and colour is so personal.
QUESTIONS
- I have a blister from my roller! I've had to apply a fair amount of pressure on the roller and am a weak and feeble woman so it's rubbed at my hand. Can I do anything about this? It's just at the base of my index finger, on the thumb side.
- The builders rolled on a white undercoat and I've done the first coat of green and it looks really patchy at the moment, presumably based on where the undercoat was thick and where it was just a bit too thin. Should I worry about this, or will it fix itself when I do the second coat of green? Based on the tips in this thread and extensive internet research, I've been fairly sparing with the paint for the first coat. We're going to have bookcases around most of the wall, so I wouldn't be averse to doing a third coat on the very visible bits if it will make a big difference.
Also, I'll put some before and after pics up when we've done the whole house. I'm really excited!
- Blisters -- i second that you should not get blisters from applying pressure. This also may be why you are patchy. Too much pressure / too dry. Try putting more paint on the roller more often and using lighter pressure. The blisters I have had were from painting the ceiling using an extension pole, and tryng to lift / balance the roller was what caused it, not pressure.
-- Good quality paint is thicker and covers better. The covers better mean fewer coats (faster) for even coverage, and the thicker means applying it without as many splatters or tendency to drip, which means you can put more paint on the roller and run a bit longer between reloading your roller.
-- coverage is estimated for the best case, such as for a second coat over the same colour base. Also, they assume that you don't start and stop but use the can all in one go, and don't clean your brushes / waste paint.
The more absorbent your underwall is, the less coverage area possible for the first coat... but it would be even if you have an undercoat, not plaster, so the patches are from your technique. Note, the high quality "one coat" paints require you to essentially put two coats worth of paint on the wall at one time and to do a great job with even application. I am not that good, so always end up with two coats anyway (more if I am covering a different colour). And yes, multiple coats are the answer to any uneven coat. Just keep painting.
-- Radiators.
This is NOT the official way to do it, but for spindles in a railing or chair, and nooks / crannies -- I cover everywhere around with lots of plastic, maybe even an old towel underneath (I am a messy painter). Then load a small SPONGE with paint to the drippy point, and "paint" the object (push the wet sponge around, poke it down with a pencil, even, then bring it back out). Then, using a dry brush (without dipping in paint), I quickly brush out the drips / too much paint areas to reduce the amount of paint. The sponge is much better/ faster for covering the curves than a brush, but you need the brush to get the finish even and to look right.
-- i dislike painting bare wood fences, if you don't prime first, it just soaks up all your paint and you end up with lots of coats, and the parts between the slats are tedious. If you haven't started yet, be sure to prime the wood first, it will save you a lot of time.
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If you are cutting in behind a radiator, I like to tie the brush to a dowel and use that. You can also get skinny little rollers for reaching behind radiators.
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Today I learned:
- Keeping the floor clean while painting is easy. Keeping myself even remotely clean is impossible.
- Telescopic rollers are not for me. I feel much more confident with a hand one and a ladder.
- I was not using enough paint on my roller yesterday, due to my internet-inculcated fear of putting on too thick a coat and it either still being wet when we move out in three years or it spontaneously jumping off the wall.
- The paint desk at B&Q is really helpful and they will not make fun of you for not knowing anything.
- Paint fumes on an empty stomach are not fun. (Cat jumped in the window so I closed it.)
- Paint goes trough a surprising number of subtle colour changes as it dries. This is helpful when you want to see where you have painted. This is not helpful when you get a complex about roller marks in one spot and there are three different shades of green on the wall.
- Tape is not magic. Seepage is real.
- There really is nothing like looking at something and thinking "I did that myself".
- This forum is awesome and full of awesome, generous, encouraging people.
I am now the proud owner of a painted study and a painted fence! It's not stellarly neat around the edges but we have a lot of bookcases going in that room! One of the builders came in twice to tell me what a nice colour I had chosen. The other stuck his head in and just said, "You must really like green, huh?" :)
Questions of the day:
- Tomorrow I can do the bedroom, which is basically a dark blue going to a light blue. I am going to buy something for an undercoat in the morning. What different options can I expect to encounter and how can I choose between them?
- For an undercoat like this (dark to light with two coats of colour on top), do I need the same neatness as in a colour coat?
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Oh yes! Today I also learned that a small paint pad out of its holder and small hands do an acceptable job of getting far enough behind radiators and don't smear paint anywhere it's not supposed to be.
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The more even your undercoat is, the better, but it does not HAVE to be perfect.
Undercoats-- they will just tint a primer to a "half tone" of your top colour. As long as it is not darker than your light colour, you can do with one colour for the entire undercoat.
Also, watch out -- if you paint two walls a strong colour, the other two walls (even white) will reflect that colour, too. So if you want a dark to light difference, the two shade need to be quite a difference in light to dark.
I once painted two colours in a living room, and no one could tell because it was two walls. They were on the same colour card, but one was only 2 or 3 shades darker than the other. The way light entered the room, it looked the same.
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The more even your undercoat is, the better, but it does not HAVE to be perfect.
Undercoats-- they will just tint a primer to a "half tone" of your top colour. As long as it is not darker than your light colour, you can do with one colour for the entire undercoat.
Also, watch out -- if you paint two walls a strong colour, the other two walls (even white) will reflect that colour, too. So if you want a dark to light difference, the two shade need to be quite a difference in light to dark.
I once painted two colours in a living room, and no one could tell because it was two walls. They were on the same colour card, but one was only 2 or 3 shades darker than the other. The way light entered the room, it looked the same.
Sorry, didn't explain myself well! I mean the colour now is a dark blue and the colour I am painting it is a light blue.
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If you are cutting in behind a radiator, I like to tie the brush to a dowel and use that. You can also get skinny little rollers for reaching behind radiators.
Painting behind a radiator, I like to remove the radiator. It was very obvious in our 90 year old house that very few painters agree with my technique.
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The more even your undercoat is, the better, but it does not HAVE to be perfect.
Undercoats-- they will just tint a primer to a "half tone" of your top colour. As long as it is not darker than your light colour, you can do with one colour for the entire undercoat.
Also, watch out -- if you paint two walls a strong colour, the other two walls (even white) will reflect that colour, too. So if you want a dark to light difference, the two shade need to be quite a difference in light to dark.
I once painted two colours in a living room, and no one could tell because it was two walls. They were on the same colour card, but one was only 2 or 3 shades darker than the other. The way light entered the room, it looked the same.
Sorry, didn't explain myself well! I mean the colour now is a dark blue and the colour I am painting it is a light blue.
Ask the guys at the desk about what is the best option for color blocking primers. it may take 2 coats of primer to cover a dark dark wall, before you paint color coats.
I had lots of that issue here. you can also get the primer tinted as some have mentioned, that will help change the tone of the wall as you're going. I never tinted my primers because i was using so many various coats throughout the house with different colors my primers could go anywhere because they were white
There are also some paints with primer in it. they're a better blocking color and usually a little bit more pricewise. but not as much as buying another can of primer to go with it in my case here. you'd only have to buy that paint can, and only do 2 coats. Instead of primer and paint can and do up to 4 coats. I wish i had bought more of this when i started, it goes on so much better, and i would have saved myself 2 primer coats in so many rooms(they did awful colors here like it was a clown's LSD nightmare)
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Yesterday I learned:
- Valspar two in one primer and undercoat is amazing. One coat and it totally blocked out the dark blue.
- Dulux paint is THICK.
- There is such a thing as polystyrene coving.*
- I AM a badass DIYer.**
- This house was built by a Victorian cowboy or of cardboard, held together with spit and string, and then abused for a century. I can FEEL the holes in the interior wall behind the lining paper.
- My parents maintained their house really well. (Same period and style as mine but larger.)
*I was starting the undercoat in the bedroom and I looked up and thought, "That coving's a bit yellow. I might as well pop a coat or two of white while I'm at it." I get up my ladder, touch my paintbrush to it, and it makes That Sound. One second later I realise to my horror and amusement that the whole lot is made of polystyrene.
**There were some nail holes in the wall and I asked the builder if he had a dab of filler I could use. He handed me a packet of powder, a scrapey thing and a tray thing. I was too embarrassed to ask for help, but I thought, "Now come on, you can do this. Logically, how is this going to work?" And I did it! I didn't do the best job ever, but tbh one Id sanded them a bit the general condition of the walls in the bedroom is so bad that my filled bits blend in perfectly with the rest of the pockmarks.
-
Yesterday I learned:
- Valspar two in one primer and undercoat is amazing. One coat and it totally blocked out the dark blue.
- Dulux paint is THICK.
- There is such a thing as polystyrene coving.*
- I AM a badass DIYer.**
- This house was built by a Victorian cowboy or of cardboard, held together with spit and string, and then abused for a century. I can FEEL the holes in the interior wall behind the lining paper.
- My parents maintained their house really well. (Same period and style as mine but larger.)
*I was starting the undercoat in the bedroom and I looked up and thought, "That coving's a bit yellow. I might as well pop a coat or two of white while I'm at it." I get up my ladder, touch my paintbrush to it, and it makes That Sound. One second later I realise to my horror and amusement that the whole lot is made of polystyrene.
**There were some nail holes in the wall and I asked the builder if he had a dab of filler I could use. He handed me a packet of powder, a scrapey thing and a tray thing. I was too embarrassed to ask for help, but I thought, "Now come on, you can do this. Logically, how is this going to work?" And I did it! I didn't do the best job ever, but tbh one Id sanded them a bit the general condition of the walls in the bedroom is so bad that my filled bits blend in perfectly with the rest of the pockmarks.
Yes, you rock!
And in your next house you will be even more confident, as you are currently learning a lot.