Have you ever painted a house

Genre..

I'm tempted

beggars_bush

Watercolour or Oil on canvas?

Genre..

beggars_bush wrote: »

Watercolour or Oil on canvas?

There's someone really annoying me

corkgsxr

No its 5 times more work than you think

Quantum Erasure

Inside or out?

Duckworth_Luas

I once watched a guy who paints houses beat up a shopkeeper in slow-slow-motion.

At that point I stopped watching.

notAMember

Yes. This weekend. Was quoted 2k by a painter, so had a go myself.

Depends on the house how complicated it is. You might need access to equipment like roof ladders or scaffolding.

I enjoyed doing it.

Government buildings

A great help is if you can do two or more rooms at a time.

Fill all ceiling cracks wall cracks etc in both rooms. Then caulk the skirting and architrave together etc. Paint both ceilings and walls in both rooms at the same time etc.

If you can do this it will save you a great deal of time.

Immortal Starlight

Painted the outside of a house. Lovely way to spend a few warm summer evenings. Get a great sense of satisfaction when it looks good when it’s finished.

phormium

Yes, both inside and out. Originally I got it painted professionally and decided I wasn't paying that again but it depends if you like painting and are precise and careful about prep, I actually love painting and even if I say so myself am a lot more accurate about edges etc than the original job was!

Only think is I don't do heights so I paint it all bar the tops of both gables that I can't reach with extension so I get a handyman to do the gables/chimney but maybe every second painting rather than every time. As my house is white mainly I usually give the front a spruce up more regularly than the sides/back.

RobbingBandit

Yes and like Frank The Irishman I do my own carpentry too.

Outkast_IRE

Yeah I always paint my own house internally , I know what I am doing , however the previous occupants clearly didn't , lot of dust, grit and hair in the previous paint . So that means more prep work for me .

To do a colour change in a medium size room and paint the ceilings I usually plan around 4 days between sanding, filling ,taping , cleaning ,painting and cleanup . If changing colour it's usually 2-3 coats and cutting in at least twice.

Lot harder now with a baby in the house and constant interruptions .

is_that_so

Know someone who did the outside a few years back. Between scraping, cleaning and painting it took all of six weeks in the evenings. He's now banned from getting up a ladder by his wife! Personally did it as a teenager, hard work, fine to do if you don't have the money but would prefer to spend the cash to get it done.

I'd dig holes all day... carry blocks...pick stones from a field...but sweet Jesus, I hate painting

Wildly Boaring

Last house was a little 3 bed bungalow.
Did it in a Saturday and a few evenings.

It's handy it you're going for a similar colour.
If changing it can be a bit harder.

Also never a fan of getting up to do the chimney.

Wildly Boaring

MikeOxsgreen wrote: »

I'd dig holes all day... carry blocks...pick stones from a field...but sweet Jesus, I hate painting

God I hate picking stones.
It's some kind of Chinese water torture.
They keep appearing

Genre..

Think I'll leave it

I don't have a gun anyway

Esel

Genre.. wrote: »

Think I'll leave it

I don't have a gun anyway

Spray gun, be grand.

85603

The inside, yep.
Outside nope.

NickNickleby

In 2008, on a lovely July morning I got up a ladder and painted the front of our house. Its a terryline render. (I think that's what its called). I only had to do the upper part, because the lower part is a canopy over a living room window and porch. The canopy is about 90cm deep and forms part of the living room ceiling - so its cold. So in June 2008 we like a mini tiled roof to it.

Anyway, at lunchtime, the not-forecasted rain arrived and washed all my Dulux WeatherShield Magnolia paint down the wall onto the new mini roof. I had to run to the garden shed , where I swore my ****ing head off for 3 minutes, before returning with the garden hose and washing all the paint off. Shortly after, it stopped raining, and the sun came out and dried the front of the house. So back up the ladder again and paint it all again. Then back up the next day and did the second coat. And of course, it didn't rain again.

Well, I can't say I felt any satisfaction upon completing the job. More a case of "never a-****ing-gain".

Until last summer, when I cleaned and repainted everything in sight, and tidied up the clothes line that passed for piped telly cabling. I then crossed the road to look at my handiwork and thought "now, THAT looks NICE!". In fairness it was in absolute sh!te after 12 years of neglect.

TL DR ?

then...YES.

mohawk

Never painted whole house only a couple small jobs here and there. Painting has some amount of prep work going into it. So a painter will come around next month and do the entire inside walls and ceilings. Outside we got some special paint that supposedly lasts over a decade (it was other half who organised that and I can’t remember exact details) so hopefully won’t be worrying about that for a few more years.

GLaDOS

Myself and my fianceé bought our first house together last year and painted pretty much the entire inside ourselves, with a bit of help from my dad. There were far more pressing issues for money so paying a professional was never really considered.

The hall, stairs and landing was by far the worst as it was wallpapered, so that had to be stripped and walls sanded and treated. Everything else was fine for the most part bar the odd patch up job.

While we obviously didn't do as good a job as a professional, we got an enormous sense of self-satisfaction at looking at how the house was transformed with our own hard work.

Have done parts of the outside, but its mostly pebble-dash and I can't be arsed tackling that.

NickNickleby

Here are some useful tips, to make decorating time pass more quickly...

Ask a loved one to stand behind and ask (in order of helpfulness):

Are you putting down newspaper first?
Are you going to sand it down?
Have you enough paint?
Why did you start at that end?
Is the other room finished already?

Ultimately followed by the ever helpful...

"Well, if I was doing it.... "

BTW, anyone know the record for paint-brush throwing?

branie2

No

Wanderer78

Pain in the fcuking hole, don't bother

PMBC

Yes most of inside and outside including pine skirting with Sadolins.
It was a second hand house with 'parquet' style flor tiles. Sanded it and tow coats of varnish so smooth. Visitors used say 'I wont walk on your wet floor'! But I would have been quite slow. I also had mahogony windows with all smallpanes. Stripped them back, all the coats of varnidh removed, primed with aluminium primer to kill any resin/oil and then gave them two or three coats of off white. People thought from a distance they were pvc. Long time ago though. And very enjoyable
.... when it was finished.

Thelonious Monk

The interior of some rooms in my own place yes, it's very satisfying. Have another room to do that I've been putting off for years, hope to get it done in the coming weeks.

the purple tin

Doing the ceiling is the worst. Paint spattering down on top of you, hard to see whether you have painted an area or not, up and down the stepladder like a yo-yo, and your shoulder is killing you in no time

Wildly Boaring

Wildly Boaring wrote: »

God I hate picking stones.
It's some kind of Chinese water torture.
They keep appearing

But at the end of the day, you've a pile of stones where before there was no pile.

With painting a room.
You've a painted room.
You might have started with a painted room.

Fils

the purple tin wrote: »

Doing the ceiling is the worst. Paint spattering down on top of you, hard to see whether you have painted an area or not, up and down the stepladder like a yo-yo, and your shoulder is killing you in no time

Use a roller with extension handle. Work smarter not harder.

the purple tin

Fils wrote: »

Use a roller with extension handle. Work smarter not harder.

From now on I will box clever and just get someone in

stratowide

I used to paint houses myself one time.Kept getting it all over the walls though.

Got a guy from South philly to do it now.

Much cleaner.

stratowide

stratowide wrote: »

I used to paint houses myself one time.Kept getting it all over the walls though.

Get a guy from South philly to do it now.

Much cleaner.

Let the painter paint

nelly17

Painting a house is the quickest route to a divorce in my household - never again I'll pay up every time.

colm_mcm

I’m from the country, there’s no way you’d pay someone to paint your house when you can do it yourself!

MetzgerMeister

When I bought my house 3 years ago myself and my girlfriend at the time painted all the interior walls and exterior walls out the back. I paid someone to do the front of the house as I don't like being up high on ladders. It's not a fear of heights, more so a fear of falling from them

I think I will however paint the front of the house myself this year. It's a terraced house with no access for a cherry picker so a ladder will have to do. I'll only be up on it to do the cutting in at the very top, after that it'll be a roller on a telescopic handle.

listermint

When the war eventually comes . This thread shows there's alot of soft people that will be taken first. :P

o1s1n

My dad's a painter and decorator, so's my grandad and so was my great grandad. My great grandad actually ran a business with about 30 guys working for him at one point which he passed down to my grandad.

They'd all the ecclesiastical contracts in Dublin back in the day, everything from hospitals to convents, schools - even some laundries! :eek:

Paint rollers were actually banned by unions when they first came out as they cut down on the amount of people required to do a job significantly.

My grandad used to tell me stories about how they'd be using rollers while working for his dad, an inspector would come in and they'd have to hide them and switch back to brushes.

Actually making paint back in those days was mad too. You didn't just go in and buy a colour, you bought a load of components and mixed the colours yourself. They had interestingtricks like using a feather to get marbling effects etc.

So yes I've painted houses, schools, hospitals and all kinds of places. Most interesting was probably a mortuary.

Unfortunately I had notions and decided to buck the trend and study Fine Art Painting after school instead. :pac:

stratowide

listermint wrote: »

When the war eventually comes . This thread shows there's alot of soft people that will be taken first. :P

We can all start painting houses when the war starts.

Be grand..No cleaning up afterwards either.

NickNickleby

stratowide wrote: »

We can all start painting houses when the war starts.

Be grand..No cleaning up afterwards either.

Will ye stop. It was bad enough when it rained!!

"are ye starting' the paintin luv? don't forget your umbrella flak jacket!"

NickNickleby

About 3 months ago, Mrs N decided she no longer likes the colour scheme (which she picked) in the kitchen/diningroom. Off to Woodies and find a colour she likes, plus white for the ceiling and u/coat and gloss for skirting and architraves. Then a week of agony for you-know-who, but in the end it was worth it. Having spent 40 years hating painting, I actually enjoyed it - especially the 'cutting-in". I strive for precision, and achieving it is really satisfying.

Anyway, now to the law of unintended consequences. The oak cupboards now look dated and don't fit the new colour scheme. Fair enough, we were planning on getting a new kitchen anyway. BUT..... how do we ensure the colour cupboards will match. So, being the hero I am, I've proposed settling on a colour and then PAINTING the existing cupboards that colour. If we like it, that's our new kitchen colours sorted. I'd say this will be some challenge.

mohawk

colm_mcm wrote: »

I’m from the country, there’s no way you’d pay someone to paint your house when you can do it yourself!

I am not sure this is an urban/rural thing. Painter we hired was highly recommended by a few of our fellow culchies. Now my grandparents have never hired someone to do a job they can do themselves. I think it’s common in their generation to do these jobs themselves.

stratowide

Modern science has the house painting business fooked.

Back in the the day it was in and out..bang...job done.

Now its all bleach this,clean that wash that.

I miss the good old days.

Bass Reeves

I not sure if anyone has made up a list for painting but just a few pointers

Buy a painting sheet not a plastic one a cloth one. Hold onto to any old curtains, sheets and duvet covers these act as painting sheets as well.

Box of nitrile gloves
Do not buy cheapest paintbrushes buy fairly decent middle of the road same with roller

Buy good quality extension handle and roller holders. If you need a second extension handle buy the cheaper one then.

Plastic bags to cover paint brushes and rollers for storing over night or if you need to leave it for a few hours. Smaller bin bags are ideal.

A few buckets for washing out brushers and rollers. A few smaller containers for holding small quantiers of paint. You can get small buckets that hold 1-2L in paint shops sometimes they are referred to as pain kettle.

Cutting up a 2L milk container and leaving the handle on it is a handy container to hold ain on a ladder.

Couple of S hooks for hoing paint container or small rollers or brushers on steps of ladder( more for external than internal painting.

Small rollers 3-4'' are not just for behind radiator's they are also handy to paint corners and to put paint along edges where ceilings it skirting boards meet wall

Masking tape and rags you can never have enough.
Sugar soap/ washing soda
Filler ( powder type not ready made)
Paint scrapers 2'' and 3 '' buy good quality one
Sandpaper you can get the stuff that comes off rolls it better than the sand paper



Get a pair of overalls they are handy and fast to change in and out of. Shoes try to get a pair of slip on's or a pair with Velcro on them that can be taken on and off easy

When you are finished pack all you gear such as painting clothes and painting sheets away you will need them again. Put you brushers and rollers and any unused painting gear into you buckets make sure they are dried out and store than away with the sheets and clothes

List is not exhaustive

o1s1n

Bit of a tip on paintbrushes and rollers, when you're cleaning them out and you think you're done, keep going! they hold an insane amount of paint.

With brushes, hold the bristles apart at the top and get water right down into the base of the brush where they connect to the handle. A lot of folks don't do this, the paint then solidifies and the brush is ruined.

Keep going until there's absolutely no paint running through the water. Handy to give them a spin by the handle between your two hands, similar to how you'd spin one of those hand twist drum things to get the last of the painty water out.

Even more so with rollers. They hold an ungodly amount of paint. Try to roll as much of the paint off before cleaning them. You can use a paint scraper to scrape some of the heavy paint out if needed.

One handy trick (if you've space under a tap) is to stand the roller up under a tap and let water come down and fill the hole in the middle of it. The hole will fill up and the water will cascade down the sides, taking a lot of paint with it. Handy to just leave it there for a while like that and let it clean itself. Then flip it over and let the water cascade down in the opposite direction to do the other end. Finally wring the remaining paint out of it.

As for painting itself:

When you're loading up a roller in a tray, don't just dip it in the paint, roll it around and start slapping it on the walls, you'll completely overload it and get paint spraying everywhere.

Roll it on the tray until you get to the point where you start hearing a sticking kind of a sound without any goopiness. That's the 'correct' amount of paint that should be on it, spread evenly. Once you get good at this you can roll a ceiling in without getting any drops on the floor.

Especially try not to get any paint on the plastic edges of the roller and this will fling paint absolutely everywhere.

Ms2011

I'm so OCD about painting that if I got someone else to paint my house they might end up beating me to death with the roller!!!
It's just safer (and cheaper) to do it myself!

costacorta

Just after sitting down after painting our hallway stairway and landing in about 4 hrs with a paint brush and yes a Small roller .
Wife had the masking tape done and kept a watchful eye on my progress . All this was because she got a new stairs carpet last week and didn’t think it matched .. Aggghhhhh

Greyfox

Nope, when i was young i helped paint a bike shed.. took way longer than expected and constantly smelled of white spirits.. havent painted since.

Fils

listermint wrote: »

When the war eventually comes . This thread shows there's alot of soft people that will be taken first. :P

The lads in the pointy shoes and pink shirts first out the gap, screw fix cowboys in the Lidl pants after.

punisher5112

Yes, I've even been up on the roof to do the chimneys....

astrofool

o1s1n wrote: »

Bit of a tip on paintbrushes and rollers, when you're cleaning them out and you think you're done, keep going! they hold an insane amount of paint.

With brushes, hold the bristles apart at the top and get water right down into the base of the brush where they connect to the handle. A lot of folks don't do this, the paint then solidifies and the brush is ruined.

Keep going until there's absolutely no paint running through the water. Handy to give them a spin by the handle between your two hands, similar to how you'd spin one of those hand twist drum things to get the last of the painty water out.

Even more so with rollers. They hold an ungodly amount of paint. Try to roll as much of the paint off before cleaning them. You can use a paint scraper to scrape some of the heavy paint out if needed.

One handy trick (if you've space under a tap) is to stand the roller up under a tap and let water come down and fill the hole in the middle of it. The hole will fill up and the water will cascade down the sides, taking a lot of paint with it. Handy to just leave it there for a while like that and let it clean itself. Then flip it over and let the water cascade down in the opposite direction to do the other end. Finally wring the remaining paint out of it.

As for painting itself:

When you're loading up a roller in a tray, don't just dip it in the paint, roll it around and start slapping it on the walls, you'll completely overload it and get paint spraying everywhere.

Roll it on the tray until you get to the point where you start hearing a sticking kind of a sound without any goopiness. That's the 'correct' amount of paint that should be on it, spread evenly. Once you get good at this you can roll a ceiling in without getting any drops on the floor.

Especially try not to get any paint on the plastic edges of the roller and this will fling paint absolutely everywhere.

I always found the back of the old Ikea kitchen brushes great for wringing a roller, just the right amount of curve and flexibility to get lots of paint out:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Ikea-301-495-56-Plastis-Dishwashing-Assorted/dp/B00PNKYZRQ/