Interior Painting

Inside Work, Done in the Right Order

Interior painting is mostly not painting. Cleaning, filling, sanding, caulking and priming take the hours. The colour goes on at the end and takes the least time of anything we do, which is why a quote that is cheap because it skips the front half of the job is not really cheaper.

We paint interiors across Santa Monica for landlords between tenancies and for people living in their own place. The approach is the same either way. What changes is how much of the room has to stay usable while we are in it.

Preparation Is the Job

Old walls in this city are rarely flat. In the 1920s and 1930s buildings you get plaster with hairline cracking, a few generations of paint on top and corners that have moved. In the later stock you get drywall, taped joints that have opened slightly and hollow core doors with dents. The prep list is different for each.

Cracks get opened out rather than skimmed over, because filler laid across a live crack simply cracks again along the same line. Glossy old trim gets deglossed so the new coat has something to key into. Grease above a stove and around switch plates gets washed off, since paint does not stick to cooking film and will peel in sheets a year later. Caulk that has gone hard and pulled away from a joint gets cut out and replaced before anything is coated.

Primer Is Not One Product

The word primer covers several different jobs and they are not interchangeable. A bonding primer is what goes over a slick or previously oil painted surface so a waterborne topcoat will hold. A stain blocking primer, usually shellac based, is what stops nicotine, smoke, cooking grease, marker or a ceiling water mark from bleeding up through the new colour. A masonry primer belongs on bare plaster and stucco. Using a general purpose primer where a stain blocker was needed is one of the few painting mistakes you cannot see until it is too late, because the stain comes back through weeks after the job finished.

Sheen, and What It Costs You Later

Flat hides an imperfect surface better than anything else, and in an older plaster room that is a genuine advantage. It also marks the moment somebody brushes past it with a bag, and it does not clean. Eggshell is the sensible middle for most walls, washable enough to survive normal life while still forgiving a wavy wall. Satin belongs in kitchens, bathrooms and hallways where hands and steam are constant. Semi gloss and gloss go on trim and doors, where you want the hardness and you can accept that every ripple in the wood will show.

Two coats over a colour change, always. One coat over a colour change looks fine while it is wet and patchy once it dries, particularly on a wall that catches side light. Over the same colour on sound, clean walls one coat is often honest, and we will say so.

Living With the Work

In an occupied home we work a room at a time, mask and cover rather than sheet the whole place, and clean up at the end of every day instead of the end of the job. Low odour waterborne products have made this far easier than it used to be, though it is still a house with painters in it. Dry time and cure time are different things worth knowing about. A wall is dry to touch in an hour or two, ready for a second coat in four or so depending on humidity, and properly cured a couple of weeks later. Until it has cured, treat it gently and do not scrub it.

Get a Real Number

Call (424) 514-7572 and describe the rooms. We will come and look, write down the scope, the products and the number of days, and give you a price that does not move unless you change the work. We will also point out anything that does not need painting yet, because spending money on a wall that is fine is not a service.