Paint School

Planning Your Project

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Painting is not as easy as it may appear to be. Unfortunately it's not just about slapping a coat of paint onto a wall. There are several considerations you will need to take into account before you begin to transform you home.

First Things First

So inspiration has struck! What next?

Before you start your project you'll need to make some decisions:

• Identify the rooms you wish to paint.
• Decide the shades/ theme you want to use in each room.
• Measure your rooms to find out the area you need to paint.

In order to decide how much paint you are going to need to buy - use our Paint Calculator - it's a quick way to estimate how much paint you'll need for your project.

What You Need Before You Start the Painting Project

Before you start make sure that you have the following items at your disposal:

• Drop sheet
• Good quality paintbrush / mohair roller
• Paint tray
• Paint stripper
• Sand paper
• Paint scraper
• Turpentine
• Masking tape
• Mutton cloth
• Stepladder

Water Seepage and Damp Considerations

It's important to remember that paint, even enamel paint, is not a waterproofing solution. In order to rectify water leakage and damp you'll need to address the source of the problem.

Typical causes of water seepage include:

• Cracks in the external walls.
• Leaking drainage pipes or water supply pipes.
• High ground water level that is getting absorbed in the walls from the foundation.

Eventually the water seeping through the wall will erupt on the surface at some place or another. Our advice is to contact a civil contractor or waterproofing expert to rectify the problem before you begin painting.

Now that you've planned your painting project be sure to read our tips on how to prepare your surfaces for painting.