One of the key things about living life in today's society - well any society - is to make sure that you learn lessons from the things that you do, so you can do them better in the future. Like when you make a pizza and it comes out more done on the one half than the other, you need to learn the lesson that your oven doesn't heat evenly and you should rotate your food halfway through. Or perhaps when you are a caveman and you kill a buffalo you learn that hitting him with a spear in one spot kills him really easily, you need to learn the lesson that that is how you kill a buffalo without getting gored or maimed or exhausted or whatever. That's evolution. So let's take a look at some of the lessons I learned from painting the basement, and what advice those lessons would lead me to give to you. Some of these things are going to seem like they are elementary to you but I didn't know them so I am telling them to you anyway. Take that.
- Take your time and be very thorough with your prep work. I am sort of ashamed to admit that this is one area in which I skimped when I was painting the basement, and I am paying for it to some degree. We sort of rushed things into production and went through the prepping very quickly and as such missed some things. For instance there were some holes that we missed filling, which wouldn't be such a big deal except when there are holes drilled in paneling there tends to be a little mound of material that builds up around the hole, and those needed to be sanded down and the holes filled. Also, there were some areas around the window and door that once had plastic on them, and that clear adhesive tape that they use to stick the plastic to the wall was still there. I didn't notice until it was too late, and now that there is paint there it is very noticeable if you are looking. So I would advise to take a lot of time to make sure that your prep work is done completely and done well. Also, make sure you take a lot of pains with your drop cloths and move as much furniture out of the room as you can.
- When painting paneling, sand the paneling before you paint. I am serious. I know that they do wonderful things with paint chemistry these days. I really do. But the bottom line is that paint - no matter how technologically advanced - still needs something to adhere to. It still needs some sort of texture to bond itself too, and paneling is just too smooth. I would advise at least lightly sanding and paneling that you might have to paint and then making sure you wipe it clean before applying paint. I did not do this, and as a consequence whenever I scratch against the wall the paint just comes right off and you can see the paneling underneath. The layers of paint adhere to one another just fine, but the first layer just can't seem to stick to the paneling when under duress, and it has lead to some annoying repairs and ugly marks.
- Beware the grooves. The grooves on the paneling cause a lot of problems. First of all, they are deep so you can't get in them well with a roller. Second, they are textured when the rest of the paneling is not, so it takes more paint to get in there and get a nice even coat than it does to do the rest of the wall, and it makes it just a pain in the ass. Also, it is really easy to miss parts of the grooves or paint the grooves unevenly, which leads me to...
- Don't divide the work. I know this sounds stupid, but hear me out. Because the grooves in the paneling are such a different animal, it is really tempting to assign one person to paint them all in and another to swoop around with the roller. That is what we did. What happened then was that I went with the paintbrush putting a heavier coat of paint in the grooves and giving it a brush texture while Traci went the other way around the room with the roller doing the surface of the paneling with a roller texture. What ended up happening was that I had by necessity laid a thicker coat of paint than she did and the wall ended up being striped when you look at it very closely, especially because we used a light colored finish coat. If you want to divide up the work, make sure that the roller person follows immediately behind the groove painter, because the roller will even out the paint and give it an even texture.
- Tape. I know that taping sucks, because it takes forever, it doesn't always work right, and sometimes it takes off the paint underneath. I get that. But it is important. We decided not to tape and even though I used a straight edge the lines aren't always straight, they certainly aren't even, and there are places where the trim paint got on the walls. So take the time and make the effort to tape, especially when you are doing painting inside, because it is probably going to get more scrutiny.
- Don't brush too much. I have a nasty tendency to get a little overexcited with the brush or roller, and all it does is thin out the paint and make it uneven. When it looks good just stop.
- Slow down and pay attention.
So that is about it. That is mostly what I learned, and I will definitely put those things into practice when I do my next painting, which will be some trim around the baseboard (because of a floor project that we did) and eventually the outside of the house. If I could do it all again I would and I would definitely use what I learned. But we live and we learn. And I hope you did too.
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