EASY STEPS TO PAINT YOUR ROOM

Painting is the DIY job that gives you the most bang for your buck. For a small outlay, you can totally transform your home!

Gather your supplies

• Plaster base coat

• Plaster finishing compound

• Undercoat

• Low sheen acrylic wall paint

• Enamel paint for woodwork and trim

You’ll also need Scrapers; water; bondcrete; painting equipment; gear; sanding float; 180-grit sandpaper; spakfilla; acrylic gap filler; cloth; wood filler

For you to note

‘Laying off’ evens the finish of your paint and removes lap marks or drips. When the roller is out of paint, run it down the wet paint, moving across the wall.

Here’s how

STEP 1 Use a scraper to remove any loose or flaking paint. When you’ve gone over the edge of the paint and it doesn’t come off easily, the paint is sound. Brush off scraped area to remove any loose particles.

STEP 2 For cement rendered walls, mix water and bondcrete in a 4:1 ratio. Use an old paintbrush to apply it to all the scraped areas to seal any loose material and provide a firm base for following coats. Leave to dry.

STEP 3 For deep gouges or scratches, mix plaster base coat with water as per product instructions, then use a wide scraper to fill the wall. Make sure base coat is flush with wall surface as it is hard to sand. Leave to dry.

STEP 4 To cover the base coat, cover a bare wall that is rough or to smooth over the line between sound paint and where it has been scraped off, use premixed finishing compound. Make compound slightly proud of surface and feather edges to wall surface. Leave to dry.

STEP 5 Use a sanding float and 180-grit sandpaper to smooth out finishing compound and blend to rest of wall. Use fingers to find any ridges to sand or small holes to spot-fill. Brush wall down well to remove dust.

STEP 6 For screw or nail holes in the wall, fill with a rapid-drying spakfilla.

STEP 7 Fill gaps between architraves, skirtings and surrounding walls with acrylic gap filler. Remove excess with your finger, then smooth using a damp cloth.

STEP 8 Use a brush to cut in around edges of wall and in corners with undercoat.

STEP 9 Use paint roller to undercoat walls, laying off a er each section. Let dry.

STEP 10 Use roller to give walls at least 2 coats acrylic paint. Let dry a er each coat.

STEP 11 To prep woodwork such as windows, skirting and architraves, scrape away loose paint, then sand to blend remaining paint with scraped area. Fill any holes with wood filler, allow to dry and sand smooth.

STEP 12 Undercoat woodwork (if using an oil-based enamel as the finish, use an oil-based undercoat). Let dry then sand lightly for smoother top coats. Apply 2 coats of enamel paint, leaving to dry a er each coat and sanding lightly a er the first coat.

STEP 2

STEP 1

STEP 8

STEP 5

STEP 9

STEP 3

STEP 4

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