Truly A Performance Above The Rest
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High Performance Painting

Paint Preparation

1. Remove everything from walls.
Take down window coverings, and remove the switch-plates and hardware from doors (and cabinets, if you'll be painting them).

2. Protect furnishings and floors.
Move all the furniture to the middle of the room and cover it with plastic. Use drop cloths and/or plastic to cover floors as well. You can buy disposable plastic drop cloths that absorb paint that work quite well.

3. Sand trim.
Enamel paint on trim needs to be dulled using either sandpaper (be sure to wear a dust mask) or a liquid deglosser. (Be sure to follow directions on the label.) Sandpaper is good because it enables you to sand out old brush marks and roughness.

4. Spackle over cracks and holes.
Next, fill cracks with a paintable latex caulk, fill nicks and dings with spackle or bondo and spot prime these areas. Wall prep usually isn't as time consuming.

5. Remove all grease and dirt.
Clean any grease, wax or dirt with Tri Sodium Phosphate (TSP) or another degreaser, then rinse.

6. Apply primer.
Walls which were previously painted with an oil-based enamel (most likely in older kitchens, bathrooms or laundry rooms) should be primed with an oil-based primer. If there is oil-based enamel on the trim or cabinets, you'll need to apply a prime coat there, as well. A slower-drying oil-based primer with good hiding ability is recommended. However, you'll probably need paint thinner to clean up.

8. Cover stains.
Smoke stains should be primed with a stain blocking primer.

9. Tape off the area.
Cover baseboards with two-inch masking tape.

Start Painting
1. Put your nine-inch screen in your five-gallon bucket (eliminating any need for a roller tray) and pour three to four gallons of paint in the bucket.

2. Attach your rolling pole to the roller frame, slide on the roller cover and dunk it into the bucket.

3. Roll only three feet at a time to spread the paint evenly over the wall, using the roller to get as close to the corners as possible.

4. After rolling, pour some paint into the two-gallon bucket, dip your new brush and start "cutting in" around the trim and corners.