Field Notes
What prep actually matters
Prep · 5 min read
Paint is the last 20% of the job. If the wall isn’t sound, a $60 gallon looks like a $20 gallon in six months.
Do these
Wash greasy kitchens and bathroom walls. Degrease beats extra coats.
Fill holes and sand them flat. Shine a raking light across the wall if you can. Your eye will miss what the afternoon sun will not.
Caulk the gaps at trim. Hairline cracks telegraph through even good paint.
Prime stains, bare drywall, and patched spots. Water stains, marker, and nicotine need a stain-blocking primer, not another finish coat.
Skip these
Sanding every inch of a sound eggshell wall “because that’s what YouTube said.” Spot-sand glossy or peeling areas. Don’t manufacture dust for no reason.
Three coats of finish over a stain. The stain will still bleed. Prime it once, then paint.
Painting over peeling exterior without scraping back to a sound edge. Michigan freeze-thaw will peel it again.
Exterior, briefly
If siding is chalky, wash it. If it’s peeling, scrape and sand the edges, then prime bare wood. Paint over dirt and you bought a short job.