Ask the painting contractor chick.

In My Humble Opinion
1

I’ve been a painting contractor (was licensed in the early 1980s in California and have done it ever since with a couple of short breaks, currently in Michigan) since 1979. I can identify some paint brands by odor alone, and if blindfolded can tell you whether I’m painting with semi-gloss or flat paint by the way it feels going on. I enjoy what I do for a living…I love seeing visible results at the end of every day and really enjoy working with my clients. Well, almost all of them.

I’ve painted countless acres of interior walls and exterior siding and trim, stained, lacquered, varnished and oiled wood, removed thousands of square feet of wallpaper, hung and repaired tons of drywall and plaster, painted new homes and Victorians, homes that have ended up in Sunset magazine, blocks of McMansions and nice retro homes, painted countless roach-ridden apartments and freeway underpasses and commercial buildings and restaurants and stores and stained decks and painted in hospitals, nursing homes, kennels and horse properties. The highest exterior I’ve worked was a five-story building. The lowest was a deep-underground gun locker for a firearms collector.

I also do color consulting, as well as some faux painting and decorative plaster (although usually I refer faux and plaster jobs to a friend who is much better at it than me.)

Since I am in my 50s, post-menopausal so my tolerance for working outside on hot, humid days is somewhat diminished… and I have two blown discs in my back, so I chose a couple of years ago to quit doing giant exterior jobs…I have no wish any more to spend my days in the heat, hauling 40-foot ladders around, wasps, hanging off roofs and fighting with trees and prickly shrubs. I will still do smaller, low exteriors, decks, etc. Mostly nowadays I prefer to work inside nice upscale homes with air-conditioning . :slight_smile:

Anyway this is the time of year that people are working on their homes and doing painting projects, and I am happy to pass on info to fight ignorance.

(I’m also happy to voice my opinion on being a woman doing “men’s work” although it’s never been much of an issue and I’ve always refused to make a deal out of that aspect…I’m a lousy feminist. Sorry.)

Anyhoo…colors, procedures, primer questions, whatever, ask away.

2

Okay, assuming I were painting a house, is it worth it to shop by brands or are all paints relatively equal?

3

Latex interior semi-gloss paint: Can I add anything to keep it from drying so fast? (Live in AZ, don’t need answer fast)

4

IMHO, they are not all equal…especially since the cost of paint (relative to the cost of labor; on average my materials cost are about 10 percent of total costs; painting is labor-intensive so IMO it doesn’t make sense to try to save a few bucks with cheap paint.)

Valspar by Lowes is definitely decent. Behr sucks…but any painting contractor will tell you that; as a group, we hate Behr. Sherwin Williams Superpaint exterior is IMO a very good, long-lasting product. And incidentally, what I just bought to paint my own house.

5

What is your opinion on Benjamin Moore. Is it over priced?

6

Definitely - Penetrol. :slight_smile: It retards drying time. Cheaper: so do ice cubes. I also lived (and painted) in Colorado, so I know from arid, dry conditions!
I know both Sherwin-Williams and Home Despot carry Penetrol.

7

B-M is an east-coast-developed paint. It is an excellent choice for interior paint, but (my experience only) it fails as an exterior paint for arid, sunny conditions…fails miserably under sunny exposure. Major color fade, terrible horizontal-surface performance (windowsills). Sucked in Colorado 10 years ago, at any rate -perhaps their formula has been changed since.

I am a fan of good regional paint companies especially for exterior coatings. What works in humid, cloudy, mildew-prone Portland may fail in arid, sunny Colorado.

8

What a timely thread for me! I notice that the people across the street are having their interior trim (at least) painted. I see all their interior doors lined up on sawhorses in the garage, stripped of all hardware, being sanded.

To me, this is the right way to paint doors. That’s what my folks did: took everything down, removed hardware, sanded everything, then painted. But when I had our house painted, the guys didn’t take anything down except switchplates, and I had to insist on that.

So my question is, what is the norm for painting contractors? Tape & paint, or take down and paint? Is there a ‘standard’, or does the customer just get what he pays for and insists on?

I’m thinking I should have been a lot smarter when I did my interviewing and research, but better late than never.

9

Depends! (Sorry.)

I’m guessing your neighbors’ doors were stain and lacquer wood, and now being primed and painted?
In which case…absolutely, my preference would be as you say: take the doors down, remove hardware,prime and spray.
However, many doors in even the most upscale homes these days are those pre-painted, fake-wood-grained doors. It’s a lot of work to remove, prep and spray doors…I (personally) don’t bother unless the doors were previously primed, or high-end wood doors to begin with. I can get a spray-like finish with a mohair roller on a hung door.

As to what is the norm…there really isn’t an “industry standard”; I think it’s whatever the painter thinks is right, or easiest. To be honest, most painters (myself included) will take whatever is bottom line the best approach. Mostly, you want to hire someone who is concerned about reputation and cares about doing a good job!

10

Yeah, the neighbors’ doors (and mine) are those fake wood things - already painted. In fact, I wondered if the sanding was intended to remove the fake wood texture. Thanks!

11

About the gender thing. You say it’s never been much of an issue, but do other contractors or tradesmen ever make it difficult on the job?

12

Not really. Have there been some dumb or sexist comments, or assumptions that the little woman can’t handle big scary ladders or whatever? Sure, but I would say it’s rare, at least overt sexism is. Meh, doesn’t bother me and when it does I am not shy with my opinions.

OTOH, I’ve gotten jobs precisely because I’m a woman. Quite often, I think. Other women, especially elderly women, feel safer having a woman (or women, or a woman in charge of the men, etc) working in their house. Some people assume that women are more detail-oriented and neater, so we’ll do a better job. I was once told that I got the job because the parents wanted their children to see that women could do all sorts of jobs. Also I’ve gotten jobs because I’ve flirted with the general contractor or male homeowner. LOL.

At one point I had three women working for me, all lesbians. A female couple hired us to paint their house and said they loved the idea of having an all-dyke crew. Except I’m straight and felt like I was deceiving them somehow. (There’s often an assumption that women doing typically male-type jobs are lesbian.)

13

I’m interested to hear that you think Behr sucks. That’s what I’ve always used, but now you make me doubt myself. What is the biggest qualitative difference between a paint that you don’t like, and a paint that you do like? What brand is your favorite for interior trim?

And I’ve also begun to think that spraying is the way to go, generally, for interior work. It seems to me that even with the time spent masking, you still come out ahead timewise after you’ve done a certain number of coats. Plus, with spraying, you can get a very smooth finish, no?

14

I have what I think is called “popcorn walls”, they’re not particularly sharp but I hate them.

What would be the best way to paint on that stuff? I tried with the kind of roller they said to use at the paint store but it didn’t work too well, I ended up adding some more water and using a longer-haired roller. Any pointers for next time I attack a room?

There is a piece of furniture in my entranceway which has about as much in common with the rest of the furnishings as Queen Elizabeth’s profile with the left elbow of a triceratops (and I don’t care if trikkies are something else’s young). Moving it proves to be an exercise in archaeology, though: it’s covering a largish area where you can see the original paint from c.1970, and that three layers of wallpaper were added without covering that space; then the popcorn finish on top of the wallpaper, again leaving that silhouette. What would be the best way to remove the whole mess? (Other than “just put some pladur on top”, that entranceway is narrow enough as is)

Thank you :smiley: (I used to work for the company which makes, or made then, their bases).

15

Wait, I have another question! What’s the deal with ceiling paint? I’ve had zero luck putting it on such that you can’t see lap marks, holidays, etc. even after three coats. Is there anything magical about ceiling paint that makes it different from any other flat white paint? I feel like I’d have better luck with ordinary flat white. The ceiling paint I’ve used is… well, maybe it is Behr, and it’s sold as ceiling paint.

16

For whatever it’s worth I have a stucco home and we chose their elastomeric when it was painted last year, our contractor’s recommendation. While it took about a month to dry completely and aquire the final hue, my impression based on close inspections since is that this too is an excellent, top notch paint. Wonder if you’ve had any experience with it?

17

Not a question, just a minor rant.

My landlord had my exterior trim painted last weekend, including my door. The painters painted right over the door handles and latch. They also didn’t tape the six panes in the door and then spent over an hour scraping paint off the glass.

Yes, you do get what you pay for.

18

I too have a stucco house that’s already painted and needs to be repainted, and we’re planning on doing it ourselves (tho’ we may contract out). What paint would you recommend? Could you give me tips or pointers on how to go about it? It’s a neutral beige/cream now, will probably be a slightly deeper or yellower beige/cream when we go to choose new colors.

Round these parts, we’ve a specialty house that manufactures its own paint (Hirshfield’s, for those playing along at home) that has one line of paint that combines primer with the paint itself. (It’s possible bigger paint manufacturers do this too.) Is this worth looking into, or is it better to keep the primer separate?

19

As another woman doing “men’s work” I find I have more trouble with sexist comments and attitudes outside the trades. I find most men, once they see you’re there to work and willing to do you share, really don’t care (a few exceptions aside). Do you also find that the case?

20

There is a lot of trim around the doorways in my house that have so many layers of paint that all the edges are rounded, chips have been painted over, and there are new chips that go all the way to the wood. I’ve been thinking the house wouldn’t look so old (80 years) and worn if the trim was cleaned up.

If you were painting an interior with trim that already had 1/8" on paint layered on it, would you sand it, strip it, or recommend a carpenter?