I’m about to paint the downstairs half bathroom. The house is relatively new [15 months old], but I want to add some bazzazz to some rooms. I figure that this is the first test of my painting skills, however I wanted to know if I had to wash the walls first. I plan on putting on a primer. Any advice?
Unless you have mold or mildew on the walls, washing them is not necessary.
Thanks Wanderer. I appreciate your response. It’ll save me a step.
Also, putting on a primer is not necessary. (I’m assuming you’re painting over existing paint.) You will need to sand any cracks or peelings, and putty any holes first.
There are two types of interior house paint, stuff for kitchens and bathrooms, and stuff for other rooms. I can’t remember the names of the two types. The stuff for bathrooms and kitchens is glossy and water-resistant. Be sure that’s what you use.
You don’t need primer unless it’s bare sheetrock.
Get some oil based paint and have fun.
This is getting easier than I thought!
“Get some oil based paint and have fun.”
No, don’t do this. That stuff stinks for days & you can’t use the bathroom. Get some nice latex at the store & get a pad instead of a brush, youll do it in half the time.
Oh, I’m so glad Kiffa started this thread. What I wanna know is, I’ve got an old kitchen that needs painting badly, but it’s got about 20 years worth of grease all over the walls and ceiling (real plaster, not wallboard). Do I have to wash it before I paint it? I got some trisodium phosphate at Menard’s (or at least the ersatz stuff that is all the EPA will let them sell nowadays), but the prospect of standing on a ladder scrubbing that 12-foot ceiling was rather daunting. Please tell me I can just slap some oil-based paint over it and the grease won’t come bubbling through.
It isn’t really “scrape it off with a knife” thick with grease, just definitely dark yellow.
DDG – I’m no expert, but the expert painters say that prep work is crucial.
Our house is up for sale and we painted the kitchen (walls and cupboards) a couple weeks ago. I used TSP and a scrub brush and the grease came off pretty easily. We painted a shade of white (bisque?) over yellow, and one coat covered just fine. It looks great.
In fact, with all the work we’ve done to get the place ready for prospective buyers, we’re thinking we just might stay here. Amazing what a little bit of work (and clean-up) can accomplish.
DDG, too bad your house isn’t kiffa’s because she seems pretty willing to prime and almost willing to wash. But in your case, I would wash the walls, though I don’t think you would have to get up on a ladder and do it as I don’t think you need to scrub. Use a floor mop - the sponge type - and you should be able to reach the top of the wall. Maybe you will need to use a step or two of the ladder, but with a good degreasing cleaner it should get clean without scrubbing, so it shouldn’t take long.
If you don’t clean the wall, it isn’t so much that the paint won’t stick, because the astringency of the paint will actually clean the wall pretty well as you are painting, but the texture of the paint will be corrupted by the grease.
Actually, I don’t know why I am bothering you to tell you Goose. As effectively as you use Google, you can probably find websites that will inform you much more adequately than I did.
Oh – and our walls are “real plaster” too. Damn stuff’s so hard, I tried to drill a few holes to hang a few things, and couldn’t make a dent. Shoot, the plaster’s probably holding up the ceiling. Same thing in the bedrooms and bath.
Does anyone even know how to plaster anymore?
[Putting aside her copy of Tom Sawyer or was it Huck Finn],
would you like to come over and show me the best way to paint the insides of house? I’ll probably catch on after you finish painting the bathroom, kitchen, living room, dining room, family room, hallway and the cathedral ceiling foyer… I’ll make anything you need available just to keeping you working at a good pace [double espresso, chocolate souffle, jolt cola, my sister, Brachy’s, cookies…[no, NOT those!].
As you can see, I’ll do just about anything to lessen the work for myself.
AuntiePam
The good new is YES. It is an artform really enjoying a comeback, especially in cities where the urban infrastructure is seeing a lot of revitalization. Even a lot of new construction uses skim coat plastering now, though it is done over sheet rock instead of the lathe of 50 years ago (though plaster over existing lathe in older homes can be repaired).
According to my experience (we have several rent houses of which I’m the chief painter) I would take great pains to clean grease off the walls, then use a primer over the formerly greasy parts. There’s nothing more disappointing than finding you didn’t do the proper surface prep and having to start all over. Grease comes through.
Don’t mix your paints: for example, don’t use and oil-based primer and then a latex paint. Latex paint won’t stick to oil-based paint. It comes off in sheets. Latex creates less fumes and dries faster.
You cannot paint over crayon, unless you put a couple of good coats of primer on first. For best results, put a newspaper over the crayon marks and heat with an iron; most of the crayon will come off onto the paper. Then prime the crayon marks with an appropriate primer.
The problem with primer in a small bathroom is the fumes will knock you dead. Ventilate as much as possible.
If the bathroom doesn’t have adequate ventilation, either install a fan and/or use the type of mildew-resistant paint especially made for bathrooms.
As for drilling through real plaster to hang pictures and such, try heating the nail first. It’ll go through like butter.
** kiffa, ** I don’t want to be one of those bursting your bubble or anything. But, I did want to tell you from personal experience that I had to paint the insides of my house, and I’m sorry that I DIDN’T use the primer, because NOW two years later, small spots are appearing and I’ve been told that if I had used the primer, I’d still have a smoother appearance to the walls. SO, I’m having to plan on repainting a lot sooner, than I thought I would.
My bug a boo is taking down wall paper, I’ve not done it before, and while I’ve bought books on how to do it, I’m STILL scared. I detest the wallpaper in all three bathrooms, but the thought of having to take that stuff off with one of those heater thingies from the rent-your-stuff-here-store-so-we-get-your-money-but-you-save-on-maintence is also a bit intimidating.
Some books say you can paint over wall paper, but don’t you just KNOW, if I really did that, someone using the commode one day would end up with a long, thin sheet of painted wall paper falling on their heads?? It’s just too depressing to think on it!
I will defer to the pros here, but as a life-long home handyman I would reccommend one item to include in every housepainter’s arsenal: a shellac-based “stain-killing” primer (brand names: Enamelac (sp?), 3-in-1, and others).
The stuff sticks and seals like crazy where others fail. It is the only thing that I’ve ever known to adequately prime unpickled galvanized metal, and I believe, it will even stick to glass! It’s mostly used to prime knotty wood where sap might leech through to the top coat of paint. It also seals in ball point pen marks and water stains which also leech through latex paint.
Will it work for crayon and grease? My guess is yes, provided you do a decent job of cleaning off as much of the surface crud as you can melt/scrub off.
Because it is shellac-based it uses alcohol as it’s solvent. Be prepared for a very fumey time if you have a lot of area to cover, but it dries in a flash and the odor isn’t all that unpleasant; I use it mostly as a spot-primer to cover only problem areas – not a whole wall.
The pigment settles-out and packs pretty firmly at the bottom of the can after a while, so you have to stir it like a madman if the can’s been sitting around – at the store or in your garage. Clean-up is with denatured alcohol or ammonia (I’ve even used rubbing alcohol in a pinch.)
Another tip:
Also, if you don’t like the colors the special bathroom/kitchen paint comes in, they make a mildew-resistant additive you can add to regular paint. (I only used it once and it’s working like a charm). Others may have more knowledge/experience about this.
Gee, thanks for the pretty bouquet! 
Actually, even if I had slogged through all 29 gazillion Google hits for “Painting walls”, I STILL would probably never have had somebody give me a simple tip as useful as, “Use a mop to wash the ceiling.” Now why didn’t I think of that?
Neat.
P.S. to Auntie Pam: it’s not the plaster that’s hard, it’s the lath under it. (Also, it tends to flex and bounce back when you hammer on it.) You need to drill a hole for a molly (toggle) bolt if it’s too tough to hammer a nail into it to hang a picture or bulletin board. Make sure you have a sharp (new) drill bit. I usually give up, tell the kids they don’t really need a framed picture on the wall, and let them go ahead and stick posters on the wall with masking tape. Someday they will all have moved out and then I’ll fix the walls. Someday.
D.D.G., may I offer a suggestion?
Regarding your advice to Auntie Pam, one way to make sure you don’t have a “sharp (new) drill bit” next time, is to use one in a plaster wall this time.
NEVER use wood/metal-boring bits (real name: twist drills) in anything masonary or ceramic – including something as powdery as plaster, sheet rock or spackle; it will be dull (read: useless) in a flash.
Use a masonary bit. Sure, most people think they only need one for brick, cinderblock or cement, but they’re wrong. It’s not always easy to find MB’s thinner than 1/4" diam., but it’s not impossible, and worth the trouble (and the $$ you’ll save not buying dozens of wood/metal bits instead).
(Holly: I too have heard of using a headless nail to drill in plaster in a pinch – though never heated-up… thanks for that tip!)
If you hit lathe under the plaster, THEN switch to a wood/metal bit to keep going.
Thanks Anti Pro - I’ll prime first.
Auntie Pam: I remember helping my Mom take down the kitchen wallpaper many, many years ago. It helped that it was paper rather than flock/shiny stuff. We just wetted the paper, used a spatula kinda thing and then washed the walls. Of course, Dad, my sister and I left the kitchen for my Mom to clean up! She made my Dad hang the paper… I remember him swearing some choice words. I wouldn’t hang paper ever again.
DDG - d’oh! I was using a brand new bit (on the cordless drill my son got me for Christmas) – tried it in several places and managed to get through a layer of paint and that’s all. I’m pretty sure that bit’s ruined.
It’s nice to know that real plaster making a comeback. Our house is probably 60 years old, and at least two families have raised kids here. There are none of the usual dents and scrapes and gouges in the walls that you’d find in houses built last year using drywall.
Stuy – a masonry bit, huh? Okay. (But the masking tape idea is tempting too.)
For wallpaper, a friend recently used the new stuff/gunk – you brush it on and wait. She heard about it on one of those HGTV shows, Room by Room, I think. Said it took longer but worked better than the heat gun. Sorry but I don’t recall the brand name.