Painting Tips For Your Fort Lauderdale Real Estate Home Or Condo

Fort Lauderdale Real Estate Painting Tips
One of the most popular do it yourself activities for homeowners or investors is interior painting. There is no easier way to put your personal touch on your home or condo. As a part of our home improvement and repair series, we will share with you some of the painting that the pros use on a daily basis. Since most home painting projects are interior, we will focus on that in this article.

Should I use latex or oil based paints in the improvement or repair of my Fort Lauderdale real estate home or condo?

Most paints today or made up of either latex based or oil based materials. The main differences between the two products, from a home improvement viewpoint, is cleanup, drying time, and cost. For do it yourself home improvement projects, we choose latex based paint almost 100% of the time due to the ability to clean them up with soap and water, they dry much faster than their oil based counterparts, and the costs are almost always cheaper.

What type of finish should I use?

There are three main finishes used for indoor painting today and each of them has their own strengths.

Flat Finish
The standard finish in wall paint is flat. When we say flat finish, we mean that there is very little to no sheen or light reflection when the paint is dried. Most walls throughout the house will have this finish on them. The advantage of the flat finish is that it is usually the least expensive of the other paint finishes.

Eggshell or Satin Finish
Eggshell or Satin finishes are also primarily used for wall paints. When these paints dry, they will have a slight sheen. The reason that eggshell got its name is that the dried surface resembles the shell of an egg. One of the more popular uses for this finish is on walls that will see more traffic and may collect dirt or dust. The finish coating on these paints allow for cleanup with a damp cloth. Trying this on a flat finish might result in removing some of the paint.

Semi-Gloss Finish
While there are some cases you would use semi-gloss finish paints on walls, these finishes are used primarily for trim painting. More than likely, all of the trim work in your home is painted with a semi-gloss finish. From the baseboards, to door casings, to any moldings you might have, semi-gloss is the standard in the industry for trim. Some instances, like kitchens or bathrooms might have semi-gloss painted walls, but this is fairly rare.

What type of brush and roller do I need?

For most rooms you will apply wall paint by using two separate applicators, a brush and roller. You will use a brush to paint the corner areas and where the walls meets the ceiling, baseboards, or other areas where you will transition to another paint color or type. The majority of the wall will be painted using a roller. All trim will be painted by brush.

Brushes
Since we are using Latex based paints, it is important that you use brushes with synthetic bristles. The two most popular types of synthetic bristles are polyester and nylon. We recommend polyester bristles for beginners as these brushes keep their shape better for detail work. For almost any project, you will be able to finish with only three brushes, Â a 2-inch trim brush, a 1 1/2-inch sash brush, and a 4-inch straight-edged brush. Be careful of choosing the least expensive brushes, the bristles tend to come out and find their way onto your paint job.

Rollers
The type of roller you will use depends entirely upon the surface you are painting. The more porous, or rough, the surface, the high nap of roller you will use. We will assume here that you are painting a standard flat drywall surface. The rule is that the shorter the nap on the roller cover, the smoother the finish. You will find that for most standard pint jobs, that you will want to use the 3/8 inch nap roller.

What other supplies will I need before I start?

Walking into your local paint store or home improvement giant can be intimidating unless you have a good idea of what you are after. Below we have compiled a list of the items we would purchase before we started any paint job.

Fort Lauderdale Real Estate Painting Tips

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- Step Ladder – Do not try to paint near the ceiling without one of these unless you are over seven feet tall.
- Extension Pole – You will screw this into the back of your roller frame so you are not breaking your back bending and stretching all day.
- Painters Tape – Make sure it says painters tape because the glue is especially formulated not to take of the finish of the surface you apply it to.
- Drop Cloths – We prefer the plastic or paper disposable kind and we put them over everything.
- Box of Rags – Always having a clean rag handy can make your drips and small spills a snap to cleanup.

Now that you have the basic tools that you will need to complete your do it yourself painting projects for you Fort Lauderdale real estate home or condo.