Hollywood Painting

If you have been putting this off because you’re just not sure where to begin, I can help a little. I will tell you my system we use from day to day whether it is a room or an entire house.

Start by covering the floor and surrounding floors (you might be walking in and out a few times). Make sure the floor is completely covered so you do not see any open floor at all, the paint does sprinkle.

Now you are ready to repair the walls .You can use sheetrock 20 min. for a fast dry. Mix small amounts because it sets too fast to have it on the knife too long. Look around systematically not to miss any spots (nail any holes, cracks or imperfections). Put this on smoothly or you won’t be able to sand it and will need another coat. The second coat should be thin so it should also sand easy. Now you are ready to look at the ceiling for cracks and gaps. Use the same process here but if there is a crack between the wall and ceiling, I use a paintable caulking. Use a wet sponge to smooth out the caulking in the joint. Now let all these repairs dry for at least 4 hours.

Next you are ready to sand these repairs. It is best not to sand by hand. You can use a sanding pad which sands smoother to the wall, being careful not to leave any lumps or dimples. Once all the repairs are sanded it’s time to spot prime the plaster the areas. Spot prime to a smooth finish leaving no roller marks. Be careful here; don’t over work the primer over the fresh plaster. Keep it wet or it will tear up making a mess.

Next you can paint the ceiling. What I do is paint all the way around the ceiling. I paint all four walls using the rollers open end, rubbing up against the wall tightly to fill in the corner between the wall and ceiling only leaving the 4 corner points to be brushed in with only a dab.

A few hours later, you can start brushing in the wall at the ceiling. Do not over concentrate on having perfect lines for this will never happen. Keep the movements steady and straight in one continuous motion and always paint forward. Watch the leading edge of the brush and work it up to the ceiling as you move along the cut. This does take some practice.

As you finish the top of the wall and move toward the end, you can go down the end of the wall to fill in the inside edge between the two walls where the roller won’t fill in. Make sure you don’t leave heavy brush marks on the wall. As you are brushing, make sure the edges are smooth so when the roller goes over the brush work you shouldn’t see any brush lines.

Now you are ready to roll. Place the tray close to where you are rolling so your roller doesn’t drop paint all over the place. Start rolling in a “v” shape forward then without lifting the roller away from the wall roll backwards to the beginning and roll forward again lightly for a smooth finish. You can go back up again until nice. Continue this action for all the walls until done.

Note: I use Benjamin Moore paints. I find this paint is the easiest to work with. It is a bit more expensive but well worth your time.

I hope this helps! Keep in mind, it all takes practice.

Vic Nagy

Hollywood Painting

A customer called me last week about stucco spraying his recroom ceiling and asked some pointers, so I explained how to go about it to him.

First of all I let him know you have to prepare the ceiling the same way as if you were going to paint it, this guarantees perfection. And if further, you could even finish paint it and then spray the stucco on. This is done when you want the stucco to be evenly thin not very heavy. The white background will camouflage the discrepancy of the stucco.

Next we cover up all things from the spray; basically anything the spray can land on or stick to. You need to now take some two sided tape and stick it to the wall butt under the ceiling, being careful not to go too low or too high onto the ceiling. Once you have gone all the way around the room with your two sided tape, you can now stick a light plastic drape onto the wall. Starting from the entrance where you will be spraying from, go all the way around the room and overlap the starting point by about 2 ft to ensure the spray is contained.

Now that your floors and walls are covered you can get your spray mixture ready. I use a medium texture which comes in a 50 lb bag. Fill a 5 Gal pail with a little less than ½ full of water and pour the mixture in slowly. Stirring it with a paddle, I use my ½ inch drill and keep on adding mixture till it’s a milkshake consistency (Not Blizzard or Wendy’s but runnier) relatively light. Make sure the mixture has no lumps in it; if it is too thick it will clog the gun. After you have this soupy mixture ready, pour it into the hopper and start spraying a corner with a short blast to prime the gun. Once the gun seems to be spraying properly, start in the corner spraying sections about 2 square feet and work down the ceiling watching the way your gun is depositing the spray. Correct as you spray for density and evenness. As you work across, move backwards and continue the other way watching your overlap, as it is quite forgiving. You have to stay in one spot for a long time to really over do it. Once you have done the whole, room look around the ceiling for flaws and just touch them up in short blasts.

Make sure you are happy with the job and double check it .You won’t be able to fix it after you removed the coverings.

Finally, when you are finished spraying, the cleanup starts. Have a large garbage bag ready for your cleanup. Remove the plastic from the walls, pulling down and away from the ceiling, careful not to scrape off the stucco. As you’re pulling down the plastic, wrap the wet side into the center, keeping everything clean and dry. Finally, wrap the drop sheet inward not to spill its contents on the floor. Place all waste into the large garbage bag.

Finally if you see somewhere that you have some over-spray, it’s still not too late to scrape it off and wipe it.

Vic: Hollywood painting

• The number one painting trick is you can’t be in a hurry past your capabilities. This can cause a lot if undesired effects which ultimately you are going to have to fix.
• I use only top line paints. My time is worth more than the 5 bucks I save on the gallon.
• Do your repairs first if you are very concerned about the looks of the finished product. Highlight the potential blemishes, prime it down first. This will show you how it would look finished which will make everything on the same level so you will see the flaws and cracks.
• When you have a dimple in the wood and wood putty won’t stick to it, use some drywall mud.
• Cracks and gaps are filled the best with paintable caulking (not silicon because it is non paintable). Fill the crack with a bead of caulking, not too thick, just enough to fill the crack. Take a wet sponge and wipe it down. The same goes for joints, but don’t over wipe or you will remove the product.
• On a metal door, I use auto body spot putty for dents and imperfections.
• Make sure you spot prime repairs well ahead of time. The prime has to dry thoroughly to seal the repair.
• Use a sandable primer for trim. It has to be soft enough to smooth out for the finish coat.
• .
• If you are painting other than white tint your primer the exact same color or very close or sometimes what I do is thin out the paint for a first coat this also dry’s faster.
• If you are painting walls and baseboards and your brush work on the wall over the base board just doesn’t look quite straight as you like, take some of that caulking and with a very very thin bead run a line down the baseboard. Be careful not to get too much on the wall or it won’t look good at all. Try an inconspicuous place first where you can adjust your method.
• When I am repainting walls, I just put 2 finish coats on the wall. There is no need to prime the walls because they are already primed.
• It’s easier to remove covers than paint around them. Take off the cover and just roll up around them with a little care. In some spots you still have to brush.
• Unless the paint your putting on is exactly the same paint don’t waste your time trying to do it in1 coat. 2 thin coats are far better and faster.
• Don’t forget the door bell’s plastic housing comes off so you won’t have to paint around most boxes with care.

Vic: Hollywood painting