[gabchoud]

OK, I run a handyman business. I do a fair amount of painting, and some of it I would even consider med/high end.

The bulk of my painting however, is low end stuff for a property management firm.

Scenario:
1600 sf home. 3-bedroom, 2-bath, 1 single hung vinyl window per room.
All of the flooring is being replaced.

The house is vacant. Everything is getting painted (except cabinets and other obvious things).

Ceiling: Flat White
Walls: Flat Antique White
Trim: Satin/Semi White

Layout your strategy for me.

Matt

 

[vermontpainter]

Matt

I'm sure you already know this, but:

1. Two coats on ceilings
2. One coat on walls
3. Two coats on trim
4. Final coat on walls

Multi-task as much as possible. Dont do one room at a time. Set up and do as many ceilings as you can at one time. Trim and walls too. If floors are out maybe you can spray ceilings...

 

[Rich]

this is how I would do it

plastic on anything you don't want paint on, take off outlet/switchplate covers and stuff with paper (the prep is always the most important step)

get out sprayer

spray ceilings

spray trim

let ^above^ dry

cut and roll walls

done

 

[gabchoud]

ceilings

Scott,

On ceilings how do you tell if it is rollable. Most of the places around here have popcorn texture on them. The last time I tried to roll one, it came down on my head.

I loaded up the roller, and with the first swipe it came down. I lost my butt on that job. Had to scrape the whole ceiling and re-texture. I'm terrified to roll one now, and haven't since.

Matt

 

[vermontpainter]

Scott,

On ceilings how do you tell if it is rollable. Most of the places around here have popcorn texture on them. The last time I tried to roll one, it came down on my head.

I loaded up the roller, and with the first swipe it came down. I lost my butt on that job. Had to scrape the whole ceiling and re-texture. I'm terrified to roll one now, and haven't since.

Matt

Matt

If you do a search on Painttalk for "Popcorn ceilings" there has been at least one comprehensive thread lately exploring that topic. The key is determining if the ceiling has been painted previously. If not, your latex is effectively acting as a remover.

 

[gabchoud]

Why trim first?

Why spray the trim before the walls. Is it that much faster to cut and roll the walls? I've done a couple where the trim was just going to get touched up here and there, so I masked it all off. Literally took one whole 10 hour day to mask off the entire house. The next day I came in sprayed the whole place.

Matt

 

[Rich]

Why spray the trim before the walls. Is it that much faster to cut and roll the walls?

it is for me

remember Matt...use our advice as a guide, not the backbone to your company

 

[gabchoud]

Just looking for different thought processes. I will try some of them and see if it works for me. Others I'll reject out of hand, having tried them or maybe they just won't make any sense at all.

 

[vermontpainter]

it is for me

remember Matt...use our advice as a guide, not the backbone to your company

Good point Rich. Part of the whole process is implementing and tweaking systems, whether operational, administrative, or marketing, that work for you.

 

[The paint whisperer]

Matt,
My strategy will be the similar to Rich.

Too me, cutting from the walls is easier than from the trim.

 

[plainpainter]

I was taught old school to save the trim until the very end of the job - but somewhere about 10 years ago - it seems everyone switched and now walls are last. I think it had lots to do with how good paints have been lately with spatter. But I still save the second coat on baseboards til the end. But yes definitely much easier to cut walls around trim than it is to cut trim onto the walls - god I hated that.

 

[vermontpainter]

I was taught old school to save the trim until the very end of the job - but somewhere about 10 years ago - it seems everyone switched and now walls are last. I think it had lots to do with how good paints have been lately with spatter. But I still save the second coat on baseboards til the end. But yes definitely much easier to cut walls around trim than it is to cut trim onto the walls - god I hated that.

That is exactly what we do. You get much better lines cutting walls into trim, and we save final coat on baseboard till absolute last. That works best for us.

 

[gabchoud]

Well, I'll give it a try on my next job.


Thanks for the input.

Matt

 

[BenPaintinTooLong]

Scott,

On ceilings how do you tell if it is rollable. Most of the places around here have popcorn texture on them. The last time I tried to roll one, it came down on my head.

I loaded up the roller, and with the first swipe it came down. I lost my butt on that job. Had to scrape the whole ceiling and re-texture. I'm terrified to roll one now, and haven't since.

Matt

Spray is best if at all possible on popcorn.
Ben

 

[JTP]

Vermont is right

Scott,

On ceilings how do you tell if it is rollable. Most of the places around here have popcorn texture on them. The last time I tried to roll one, it came down on my head.

I loaded up the roller, and with the first swipe it came down. I lost my butt on that job. Had to scrape the whole ceiling and re-texture. I'm terrified to roll one now, and haven't since.

Matt

Matt--

I started the popcorn thread. We knew the popcorn had never been painted and we sprayed it. If you try to roll an unpainted popcorn ceiling, it's going to come down on your head, mess your roller up, and screw the whole job up.

If you remove popcorn, make sure to have it tested for asbestos. There is an excellent chance that popcorn ceilings 20 or more years old contain asbestos in the original slurry mix. This was also mentioned in the popcorn thread.

Do yourself a favor and only spray paint a popcorn ceiling--especially if unpainted.

Another topic you mention-- I was taught to complete trim at the very end. But, I can tell you, now that I use Vermont's and Plainpainters system. I save trim for last. We use a blue tape lip shield placed over trim that could possibly be spattered by rolling. It is far easier to cut walls than trim. If there is a substantial color change, or huge amount of trim, and it is practical to spray, we will sometimes. An empty house with carpets going is an ideal situation to learn interior spraying--including ceilings, walls, and trim. I don't like spraying inside for health reasons as opposed to efficiency standards. You must have a very good respirator, make sure you have a seal between your nose and mask, covered arms and head, etc.. If you don't have the proper protective equipment for spray work, don't spray until you do. If you want to have some serious lung problems, just ignore this advice.

JTP

 

[vermontpainter]

Matt--
Another topic you mention-- I was taught to complete trim at the very end. But, I can tell you, now that I use Vermont's and Plainpainters system. I save trim for last.
JTP

Just to clarify, if you are doing it like Plain and I, you are painting door and window casings in between wall coats and saving only the base cut into the wall for last...

 

[jodon]

When I did new const my plan was to mask out windows, hinges etc. Spray entire house, ceilings twice. Next day or two go in and spray out all doors with SG, and brush out all sg trim. After all final elec, plumbing, cabinets, tile, wood flooring was in went back and did a roll out of all walls, ceilings if needed. After carpet and before co we went back in and did a final touch up. This worked best for me.

Joe

 

[JTP]

Just to clarify, if you are doing it like Plain and I, you are painting door and window casings in between wall coats and saving only the base cut into the wall for last...

Scott--Yep, I messed the post up. Meant:

1)Ceilings
2)Trim
3)Walls

4)Last pass on base trim after final (2nd coat usually)

Thanks for the clarification.

JTP

 

[Rich]

4)Last pass on base trim after final (2nd coat usually)

I do agree this is easiest most times...it's not like you have to get a perfect cut line on the second anyway, since establishing that on the first coat

 

[JTP]

I do agree this is easiest most times...it's not like you have to get a perfect cut line on the second anyway, since establishing that on the first coat

Establshing color and cut lines (among several other reasons) = primary purpose for first finish coat. The second coat, man, wouldn't we all love to start right from here!

JTP