Taking on a large paint project is about more than just putting the paint on the wall. Here at Arch Painting, we make sure to take every step necessary to produce a flawless finished result. Before we even crack the paint cans open, here’s what we do to prep your home or business for painting.

Protect anything you don’t want painted.

If we’re taking on an interior painting project for you, the first thing we’ll do is protect all the furniture in the room. To keep everything clean, furniture and the floor will be covered in drop cloths. Doors, windows, fixtures, hinges, and doorknobs will also be masked to shield them from dust and paint.

For commercial projects, we’ll also mask or shut down smoke detectors and sprinkler heads depending on building and local fire codes. To assure everything in the building runs smoothly as we work, we use signs and barriers to help direct people around us.

Exterior painting basically follows the same protocol. We use drop cloths to cover plants, parked cars, and the ground, and protect the roof, windows, and any other non-painted fixtures from paint splatter. For exterior commercial painting projects, we will use caution tape, barriers, and signs to direct people safely around our work area. Not only do we want to protect the physical objects around the project, but we want to protect the people around us too.

Prepare the surfaces to be painted.

To ensure that the paint sticks properly, we make sure the surface we’re painting is clean and smooth before we begin application. If a wall has damage, like cracks, nail holes, or dents, we use a spackle compound to fill the holes. If there are gaps between walls or the ceiling and the trim molding, we’ll caulk those too. For any leftover bumps and lumps, we use gentle sandpaper to buff them out. We want the entire wall to be level without damaging it.

It’s also important that the surfaces are clean, so we start off by dusting to remove the top coat of debris. Then, if the walls still need some cleaning, we’ll take it from there by removing dirt to improve paint adhesion. Exterior surfaces are scraped, sanded, or chemically stripped, and usually we power wash them as well. Paint will stick better if there’s no rust, loose paint, mildew, or dirt, so we make sure to eliminate all these things before beginning.

Choose your paint – AND other coatings.

Picking out a paint color is a given part of any paint project, but it’s not just the color of the paint that’s important. Depending on the requirements of each project, we will choose a primer. This base coat will help the paint stick to the wall better, hide imperfections on the wall, and help ease the transition into a new color. Primer is used to create a clean base for your paint to go on smoothly and evenly. If your previous paint color was drastically different from the new one you’ve chosen, primer will help cover it up. It can also be used to prevent rust, and to generally ensure that the paint will last longer.

We may also use a finish, especially for commercial painting projects. We want to assure that the paint job will withstand the demands of your business.

Once we’ve taken all the necessary precautions, we’re ready to go! Our careful preparation will give you flawless results, because we’re committed to making the entire process as efficient and successful as possible.

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