Knowing how to paint is more than just dipping your brush or rolling it on. I see people making the same mistakes over and over again. I also am guilty of making these very same mistakes myself until I became a painter by trade.

With today’s economy and all, it seems that there is a growing trend for people to do their own panting, yet they will buy paint for their home without really thinking about what they are really getting for their money.

Everyone uses this thing called spackle. Sure it is lightweight, fast drying, and sands easy on smaller areas but it also leaves sheen or flashing marks under flat paint. If you have ever tried to fix a tape seam on a ceiling using spackle you will soon become a believer in drywall compound.

If you ever go to commercial places (public bathrooms is a good example) many times you will see that the metal entry door was repainted and that the new paint is peeling off in the areas where hands push on the door a lot as well as other places.

The door was originally painted with an alkyd enamel finish and some employee of the store was told to re-paint it. So they were given latex paint to use and now you have a peeling, unsound finish.

I see cupboards and cabinets done wrong in homes all the time and there is peeling paint on them which lasts for years. This peeling paint even gets on things like plates and dishes and sticks to them due to static cling.

Sometimes I will do an estimate to paint several rooms in someone’s home and they want the walls painted but not the ceilings. Even though the ceilings are white they still look dingy and should be freshened up with a fresh coat of white. It also makes cutting in along the top of the walls a lot easier also when painting the walls.

One of the drawbacks of using latex paint is it is notorious for leaving patches and streaks. Using lower-grade paints only make it worse. If you ever take an angular look down the sides of people’s walls you will see patchy areas. You can even see where they rolled in an irregular fashion. Using a quality wall primer underneath the finish coat that works with all paint finishes helps a lot.

People usually don’t cut in the sides and edges of doors properly either. When it comes to recessed doors they don’t always brush out the door with the grain or the way the door was put together. They don’t use primer first for converting alkyd to latex or for even re-painting alkyd over alkyd. The end result is paint failure in the form of peeling or chipping.

Old sockets and the covers can be replaced with new modern-looking white ones. This looks really nice when re-painting a room and wanting to do a complete job.

Most people don’t cut in good at the top of the ceiling and it looks bad. Using the right paintbrush plus taking your time helps.

9. Only Using One Coat - Applying only one coat can cause fade-through as well as skipped areas.

Many times someone will move into a home that was previously painted by a professional painter. Not knowing anything about enamels, people can quickly screw up the woodwork, windows and doors as well as the walls.

Lee Cusano has owned his own painting business since 1991. Since 2004 he has helped others to start their own business and make good money doing it right from the start with his several painting manuals. Please visit http://www.betterpaintingtips.com/how-to-paint.html for some free valuable painting techniques and how to paint ideas.

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