Should you Hire a House Painter?

One of the most common do it yourself projects is painting your home. It is fun, relatively easy, and it can add a touch of character, warmth, and color to your home. Furthermore, it is relatively inexpensive and if you have some basic knowledge, it can be done relatively fast if planned ahead of time. Yet, there are occasions where you may consider hiring a house painter. When is it a good idea to call a professional house painter instead of doing the job yourself? What are the benefits of doing so, you may ask? 

Painting a home takes extensive preparation work and it can also involve a considerable amount of dedicated time (yes, dedicated to getting the job done and not to be jumping from one unfinished task to another). Furthermore, painting a home can requires a variety of different levels of skills. For instance, some areas may require some basic skills but other projects, such as the exterior of the house or painting a room with moldings may require more advance skills. By taking into consideration all of these factors, you will then be able to decide if you will be able to do the job yourself or if you will need to hire an expert to help you out.

Here are other benefits of hiring a professional house painter:

1) Professional house painters can provide you with a free estimate, which can help you budget for work in advance. This can help you plan in advance and start saving to complete the job.

2) One of the greatest benefits of hiring a professional painter is the knowledge that he or she will bring to the table and the experience accumulated. These individuals will know what paint is the best to use, what tools will be needed to the job right and fast, and how to use the tools and paint together to get the job done as you pictured it.

3) A third advantage of hiring a professional painter is that in some cases they can offer you a guarantee so that you know your investment will be worth every penny.

Indeed, there are projects that ask for a professional to be involved. It's up to you to realize the skills that you have and to decide if you will want to hire a professional to get the job you need done right and in the alloted time.

Why to Paint Your Home Inside and Out

Why should you paint your home? There are many reasons to do this. Sometimes adding new coat of paint to your home can make you feel better, as color can help change moods and feelings. Or maybe you feel like it is time for a change, for a new start. Maybe you feel that your house is starting to look more deteriorated. In short, there could be many varied reasons for painting your home, whether it is inside and outside. 

In addition to the reasons mentioned below, there are many other valid reasons for you to paint your home inside and out. Let's cover some of these main reasons so that you can feel good about painting your home and getting started with this home remodeling project, whether it is you or a professional who will be doing it.

1) One of the main reasons to paint your home has to do not so much with your mood and feelings, but rather with the real estate value of your home. Indeed, the real estate value of your home can increase with a new paint coat. This can be specially important when planning on selling your home and getting the best price on the market. 

2) Painting your home and inside out helps to hide marks, stains, and other imperfections, creating a great aesthetic feel for very little money. Imagine having to remodel an entire wall instead of just having to paint.

3) Painting will save you money if you are looking to remodel your home. The average price for a gallon of paint is between $15 and $50 per gallon. This can be a great investment.

4) Painting the exterior of your home can also save you money down the road. It is reported that adding a new fresh coat of high quality paint on an exterior surface can decrease the risk of weather-related damage.

Without a doubt, painting your home can have plenty of benefits, both aesthetic and for your pocket. Take a look at your options and make the move!

Wall Paper vs Painting

Applying a new coat of paint or a new wallpaper can add color and

character to your home. Without a doubt, both will open the doors to an infinity of possibilities. Now, what are the pros and cons of each option and many different factors to consider before making a decision. We seek to understand this in this next article:

Wallpaper benefits  and disadvantages. One of the most common disadvantages of wallpaper has to do with how tedious it is to remove an old layer. Indeed, this takes patience and a combination of tools to do it right. 

Now, one of the benefits of wallpapers is that they are can last quite a bit. Thus, they will be resistant in areas where there is high traffic. In fact, it is safe to say that wallpaper will last a bit more than paint will. Some wallpapers can last from 10 to 15 years. In the case of paint, however, it has to be redone every couple of years. 

Wallpaper can also offer something to a room that it's hard to match. It can add dimension, beauty, character to any room. Without a doubt, wallpaper that is applied right and that takes into consideration all design elements can really change the look and feel of a room. Furthermore, some wallpapers can allow you to paint over them. 

Another disadvantage of wallpaper is that in humid conditions the glue can loosen up and yes, as you can already picture it, the wallpaper can then start to peel from the wall. Wallpaper is also hard to match when you are looking to fix a specific area. Even if you have some extra rolls to fix the area, the rest of the wallpaper will have faded a bit, which does't allow for the consistency.

Paint has several advantages at that, in that it is the cheapest and easiest way to give a room a new look and fee. Furthermore, painting requires less preparation and if done right, with paint it is easier to cover up wall imperfections.

Wall Paper Basics

Painting can make a room brighter and can add a touch of brilliance to a home. Indeed, the room will look great. But painting is not the only option. In addition to painting, you can also add wall paper. Adding a wallpaper to a room can add a lot to a room. Wallpapers can add character, dimension, and pattern to walls. 

Wallpaper has been used in American homes for many years. Today, you can buy wallpaper that was manufactured as it was manufactured in the 18th century or wallpaper manufactured today, which features new technology making it easier to place on walls and easier to remove. 

What are the costs of obtaining wallpaper? Wallpaper can be obtained today from around $40 to more than $200 dollars per roll. There are many factors for this. In fact, some designer wallpapers that can be purchased for even more than $500.00. Now wallpapers today are definitely friendly for the regular home owner to use. You do not need to hire someone to help you install it. In fact, you may not want to unless you are willing to pay $50 to $60 per hours for a personal decorator to come help you out.

Now, let's get to straight to how to install wallpaper on your own, as another do it yourself project. 

1) The first step to installing wallpaper is to apply the first sheet of wallpaper. To do so, you have to moisten the sheet in a tub- filled with tap water.

2) The second step is to install the rest the wall paper after the successful installation of the first sheet is to keep installing the next piece, making sure that it is aligned using the first one as a reference.

3) The third step is to cut sheets of wallpaper so that they go around the doors, windows, switches, and other tricky places. 

Without a doubt, painting or applying wallpaper to a room can really make the difference. A wall paper has plenty of benefits, including the huge variety of decorating options. In addition, some wall papers can be painted, which allows you to put some texture in the room while still adding your favorite paint color.

How to Paint a Room

Painting can all make the difference in a home. Painting a room can add a burst of brilliance. Now, even though painting is the most common project in the home improvement category, painting is an art and it requires at least some basic knowledge to do it right. Here we will cover the basics of doing a painting job right:

1) The first step to successfully paint a room consists on preparation. Yes, indeed, painting a room on a hurry doesn't leave good results. For instance it can lead to drips, uneven lines, etc. The good news is that preparation can make painting much easier and can yield great results. 

So, how do you prepare everything so that the paint job can be successful and look amazing? Well, let's start with planning the full day that you are dedicate to your paint job. Yes, make sure that you will have plenty of time to do all the necessary tasks. Now, once you have scheduled the day well, the preparation for the actual job begins. This starts with sanding and scrapping the existing surface. Why is this important? Sanding and scrapping helps to make the paint grab with more strength and thus helps to avoid peeling.

In addition, preparation work also means taking time to patch holes, caulking gaps, and cleaning surfaces that may have great spots.

2)  Now, the second step requires to apply primer. Why do you need to prime the walls? A primer servers important functions. For one, primer helps to fill pores and helps create an even, solid base to take paint well. 

3) Now, it is time to start the actual painting. It is a good idea to use angled brushes, to draw a straight line. This can contribute to saving lots of time in the long run. Angled brushes get to where rollers cannot. Also, as you start to paint, make sure not to use back and forth brushtrokes  or spending too much time to make the first coat of paint be perfect. 

Indeed, this is a brief description of the necessary steps to create a great looking paint job. It is not always easy. But the hardwork always pays off. 

Replacing vs. Cleaning a Carpet

Deciding whether to replace or clean carpets in a home, particularly a newly purchased home, can be a very big decision. There are a lot of pros to keeping carpets and having them professionally cleaned. Often having carpets professionally cleaned is all a homeowner needs to do in order to reinvigorate the look and feel of tired and worn out carpets. This is often the less expensive option than replacing the carpet in a home.

Sometimes professionally cleaning the carpets will reveal that most of the carpet may remain and only a small portion of the carpets need to be replaced. 

Sometimes you may clean the carpets only to find that you need to pay for new carpet anyway. The is the worst case scenario. Perhaps the best thing to do in order to avoid this is to have your home carpets inspected. An inspection of the carpets by a qualified professional can give you an idea of what type of cleaning may be required to get the carpets in their best shape, and the level of cleanliness you may be able to expect from a professional cleaning. 

A good inspector may also be able to tell you how much damage is present in the carpets, and whether or not this damage is reversible through professional cleaning. 

Proper Cleaning Benefits

Proper cleaning can offer many benefits. Good cleaning removes many pollutants from carpet including dirt, dust and bio-pollutants that are naturally produced in the carpet. These are often the culprits in many diseases including allergies and asthma. Once you have a carpet it is important to have it cleaned professionally at least once every 12 to 18 months. 

When examining a carpet for replacement, determine whether it was regularly cleaned at least once every 12 to 18 months. If it had been, it is a good candidate for keeps. If the carpet has no mold or fungi it is also probably in good shape and may last a few more years before replacement is necessary.

How to Retouch Interior Walls

If a touchup isn’t done right, then it can sometimes lead to disastrous results. It is important to perform touchups in the correct way, so the touchup blends in with the original finish. That way you can spot paint your walls and ceilings and help freshen up your home or someone else’s home beautifully and quickly. 

The best way to do touchups is by using the original paint. When painting walls you should always save a bit of the original paint, so that you can use it for just this purpose. If you plan to use white paint, you should know that no two white paints are ever the same. There are literally dozens of different shades of white. So, be prepared to do some comparison shopping in the event that you do not have the original paint to work from. 

Some other considerations include looking at the type of paint that you may need to use. For example, you may need to choose from high-gloss, flat paint, oil-based paint or semi-gloss paint. All of these different finishes may impact your final result. Typically the best paint to touchup is flat paint. If you try to touchup other types of paint you will have a result that is known as flashing.

What is Flashing and How Does it Affect Your Result? 

Flashing refers to the differences in finish that result when retouching occurs in old versus newer, shinier paints. Only flat paint will not show a difference between the old paint and the newer, touched up paint when you perform a touch up. When retouching newer finishes, you will have to view the surface of the paint from the side or from a different angle to see how light reflects on the touchup to notice flashing. 

You can typically see imperfections in shinier paints when the light shines on it. This is known as flashing. You can avoid this by painting a whole wall from one end to another in the new finish to avoid the shinier paint from peeking through one spot on the wall.