5 Reasons Why Most DIY Repainting Fails
Lots of home improvement shows make the DIY painting look like something anyone can do in one sunny afternoon, without fuss. Sadly, the reality is rarely what we expect. The following are 5 reasons your paint job may run into problems and make doing it yourself more trouble than it’s worth :
Not sampling the color
Feelings of excitement are common among first-time office or home painters, and they can skip some important preliminary steps in their excitement. As with most things, the visible changes to your space rest on a foundation of hard work before you see anything as exciting as you may have seen on TV. One of the steps of DIY planning that takes patience is experiencing a color before you commit. As an example, some DIY projects fail because a color or brand was bought blindly in a rush to get the work done.
Painting too small a test area
So perhaps you aren’t that impatient and have invested wisely in a color sample first. It is also possible to get stuck on a DIY painting adventure when novice painters choose a test area that’s too small. It is always wise to paint an area of at least 0.2–0.5m2 and let it dry for a few days to see how it looks in varied natural and artificial light.
Choosing the wrong finish or type of paint
Paint consists of much more than just color. The best way to show off the characteristics of each color is to use it on a specific surface that can show off that finish’s best features. There are satin, gloss, and flat finishes, not to mention exterior or interior paint choices to consider, so it’s easy to choose the wrong one. It is also important to decide what you plan to paint over – latex paints will not adhere to surfaces that have been painted with oil-based paint or stains. If you don’t know what you’re looking for, it can be a minefield, and using the wrong kind of paint can be costly. Imagine coming home and accidentally selecting a ceiling paint for an outside wall!
Cutting corners with the prep
Getting excited about painting and jumping right in without picking a color scheme — without adequate preparation — comes along with just getting started. Repainting in your home or office over an improperly prepared surface is a waste of time, because either you get a messed up job out of it or you have to repaint so soon and have to spend more money. It is always best to smooth and prime your walls to avoid unnecessary trouble.
Underestimating the time, cost and skill involved
Home painting projects tend to fail because they take more time and skill than most people expect! Though they are more expensive, they are more durable, since any paint job is only as good as the skills and patience of the painter, combined with the quality of the paint. Sometimes it’s just easier to reach out to the experts, and relieve yourself of all the pressure of figuring out home painting overnight.
Royal Painters Edmonton will help, and we’ll show you how we do it too if you ask! We’ll take care of the projects you can’t afford to relegate to DIY and reassure you of a job that’s done right the first time. Contact us and make use of our home painting services. We’ll put our more than 50 years of experience into transforming your house into a home. We serve Edmonton and surrounding areas. Your no-obligation quote is only a phone call or email away!