Expert Advice

"Wall Wizard" Brian Santos Answers Your Questions

What’s the difference between latex and oil-based paint? Should I use satin, semi-gloss or flat paint? How do I repair holes in my drywall? Check out Brian’s answers to these and other frequently asked painting questions.

A clean wall is essential for proper paint adherence. First, dust off all surfaces with a vacuum cleaner or sweep with a clean dust mop. Set up two separate five-gallon buckets with two sponge head mops -- one for washing down the surfaces the other for rinsing off the dirt. Fill your cleaning bucket with three gallons of warm water. For each gallon of water add one-quarter cup TSP (trisodium phosphate). Mix well.

Using a sponge mop with a scrubbing head, wash the wall in eight-foot widths, from the button up, working around the room. When you reach your staring point, turn the mop head around and begin scrubbing the wall with the nylon scrubbing head (wet scrubbing).

After wet sanding the first 8-foot section, use the rinsing solution immediately to remove the dirt and the cleaner off the surfaces. Fill your rinsing bucket with three gallons of warm water. For every gallon of water add one cup of distilled white vinegar (a mild acid). Mix well. Using the rinse solution, wipe down with the second clean mop. Change the solution often. Allow the wall to dry for 24 hours before painting.

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Absolutely, but don’t just pour it back into the can from your bucket. Stretch a piece of nylon stocking over the opening of the can to strain any contaminates that dropped into the paint or were carried to it by your brush.  Throw away the stocking when finished.

No!  Not a good idea at all! Water-based paint is ruined in freezing conditions; nylon bristles become brittle and break; and a wet wooden handle will crack.  If you want to store brushes temporarily during a paint project, wrap them in plastic so the paint and bristles are completely covered.  Properly clean brushes for long-term storage.

No! Don’t use dish soap – it will gum up the ferrule and bristles. And there is no need to rinse the tool in fresh water. The more often you clean it with the softener solution, the better it gets. (See item below on the best way to clean brushes).

I admit it: Disposable roller covers are more convenient for some jobs.  To pull it off the frame, put the roller inside a plastic bag, grab the cover through the bag, pull it off, then seal the bag for disposal.  Or, if you prefer, use the SHUR-LINE Easy Release Roller Frame – and avoid the mess! 

Taking care of brushes, rollers and pads will save you time, energy and money. Here’s how you can clean water-based paint from brushes and paint pads in just 10 seconds:

1. Remove excess paint from the brush or pad by scraping it with the edge of a 5-in-1 tool.
2. Mix up several gallons of this magic potion in a 5-gallon bucket: for every gallon of warm water, add ½ cup of fabric softener.  The fabric softener is a surfactant – it actually makes the water “wetter,” so it can more easily dissolve paint.
3. Dip your brush into the mixture, swish briskly through the water and count to 10. The paint will release from the bristles and settle to the bottom of the bucket.
4. To dry your paintbrush quickly, use a paintbrush spinner to fling the water from the brush. Spin the brush in an empty 5-gallon plastic bucket with a lid.  Cut an 8 inch hole in the center of the lid. Place a plastic trash bag in the bucket and snap on the lid.  The lid keeps the splatter inside the bucket; toss the bag when finished. Rub the tool with a small towel.

A ‘wizard’ knows – cleanup is not the last thing you do; it’s what you do throughout your paint project. For starters, it’s easier to wipe up wet paint than it is to chisel dry paint off a surface.  Here are some more helpful hints:

• Maintain your workspace.  Centralize all your tools into one area so you can find them throughout the job.
• Wipe down, sweep and vacuum frequently so debris will not settle into the surface finish.
• Cleanup any paint splatters or spills immediately.
• Set up a large, lined trash can in a convenient location.  Consistently pick up and throw away used masking tape, plastic wraps, and other debris as you work.
• Select products that are designed for easier clean-up, such as SHUR-LINE’s family of products with Teflon surface protector.

Nap length or pile height of a roller is very important. The length of the longer fibers will enable the roller fabric to reach deep into cracks and crevices of rough stucco and concrete. The shorter fibers in short nap rollers provide for a smooth surface film or finish.

Short nap rollers do not release a lot of paint but deliver a smooth finish. The reverse is true for long nap rollers. These will typically release a lot of paint and cover fast but leave a very rough or orange peel effect.
   
Always pay close attention to the manufacturers recommended surface on the roller packaging. If you use the wrong roller for the wrong surface you can be left with lots of lint, rough finish or missed areas due to shorter fibers not putting the paint where it needs to go.

Make sure that you match the roller cover to the type of painting that you are going to be doing.  Choose a smooth roller cover (short nap) for painting metal doors, finished wood, or paneling.  For coarse wood, siding or light stucco, choose a semi-rough roller.  You will need a specially designed rough roller cover (longer nap) for painting projects involving concrete block, brick or textured plaster. 

Too much or just the right amount? That’s the question when trying to figure out how much paint to purchase. It is handy to have a little extra paint on hand for touch-ups, but who wants to spend the money and be stuck with more paint than you need?

To simply the process, use a painting calculator such as the SHUR-LINE project calculator which walks you through the estimating process.  If you are handy with numbers, use the below calculations to estimate on your own:
   
1. Calculate the square footage of the surfaces to be painted. Measure the length and width of the room and determine its perimeter, which is the distance all around the room. For example, if the room is 13 feet wide and 18 feet long, its perimeter is 62 feet. (13 feet +13 feet +18 feet +18 feet).
   
2. Multiply the perimeter by the room’s height to get the square footage of wall space. If the room is 8 feet high, then its square footage is 496 square feet. (62 feet X 8 feet).
   
3. Count the doors and windows in the room. Subtract from your wall area 21 square feet for each standard door and 15 square feet for each standard window. The room in the example has one standard door and three standard windows, so subtract 66 square feet. (21 square feet + 3 X 15 square feet) from the wall area. The answer is the amount if wall area to be painted: 430 square feet (496 square feet – 66 square feet).
   
4. To find the number of gallons of paint needed, divide the wall area by 300- the square footage easily covered by a gallon of interior paint. In the example, you would need a little more than 1.4 gallon to paint the walls; round that up to 1 ½ gallons- one gallon and two quarts.

I’ve been painting all my life and I still do not like the smell of paint! Here’s a tip: To every quart of interior latex paint, add four drops of vanilla extract.  You can also use other extracts, such as peppermint, as long as the alcohol in the ingredients is methyl alcohol, which is formulated to mix with water. Do not use perfumes or other alcohol-based fragrances; they won’t mix properly with water based paint. Unfortunately there’s no similar trick you can use for oil-based finishes.