Hiring a professional painting contractor is almost always a smart decision. Oh sure, you could try this on your own, but why take the risk? If you happen to mess up your paint job (which is tragically common), then you’ll probably have to hire a professional to clean it up anyway – or spend a lot of time fixing it yourself. At least if we happened to mess it up (note: we won’t), you’d have someone else to hold responsible!
But just because you’re not painting yourself doesn’t mean you’re off the hook. You should be helping to prepare your home for the paint job, especially if you want it to come out nicely. Here’s what you should do before the painters come tomorrow:
- Move All the Furniture
If you’re having the interior painted, you should move any large pieces of furniture that are up against the walls or could get in the way. Large things like desks and couches can be moved to the center of the room – as long as there’s clear access to the walls for the painters, it’s fine. Additionally, things like clocks, paintings, photos and other decorative items should be removed from walls.
- Scrub Those Walls
You’re hiring a professional painting service, not a cleaning once, so scrubbing the walls is usually your responsibility. But who cares about clean walls? You should. When was the last time you cleaned up those walls? Probably the Bush Administration. Well, that’s going to be a problem, because dirty walls make for mediocre paint jobs; it’ll end up spotty, since dust bunnies will get painted instead of the wall. Therefore, scrub those walls tonight, to ensure a quality coat of paint tomorrow.
- Be Ready to Patch Up Those Walls
Now that the walls are clean, you might notice a few more imperfections. We want to eliminate as many of these as possible, to help out our pretty new paint job. Therefore, if you find any rough spots on the walls, use some sandpaper to smooth them down. Additionally, holes should be patched now, before the paint is applied. You can close them up with spackling or joint compound – there are patch kits available for larger holes.
