How to Extend the Life of Your Interior Paint Job

Which is true—updating your paint colors is easier and less expensive than a whole-home redesign. But still, you want your color to look great for as long as possible to make the most of your investment.

Lucky for you, there are things you can do to extend the life of your interior paint job.

Prepare for paint

For a long-lasting paint job, you’ll need to start with quality prep work. Laying the foundation for a quality paint job means taking the time to properly prepare your walls for paint.

Wash the walls

For the paint to properly adhere to your walls, they will need to be clean. Remove dust and debris by wiping the walls down with a towel. Then, go after any grime and dirty residue by cleaning your walls with a solution of water and laundry detergent, then a rinse of water, and allow the walls to thoroughly dry.

Scrape away old paint

If there is flaking paint on your walls, you will need to scrape it off to ensure a smooth finish. You can scrape or sand it away by hand in small areas or use a power sander if you have large spaces to tackle.

Repair the walls

For a flawless finish, repair any imperfections on your walls. This means filling nail holes and repairing cracks around windows and doors, and in the corners.

Prime your walls

It may be tempting to skip the step of priming your walls before painting them, but we highly recommend using a high-quality primer to achieve the best results, especially in these cases:

• If your walls have never been painted before, primer is necessary to seal the drywall.
• If you are covering a dark color with a lighter paint color, a good primer will go a long way toward covering up the darker hue, allowing your lightened-up color to shine.
• If you made significant repairs to your wall, a primer will provide optimal coverage over the patches of spackle or joint compound.
• If you need to cover up stains, a good primer will hide the signs of your past and allow you to have a fresh start that won’t allow stains to show through.

Use the proper tools

You may think a paintbrush is a paintbrush. Until you’ve seen the results of a paint job done with a low-quality paint brush. The last thing you want to see is to brush strokes on your wall with bristles dried into it. And, unfortunately, that can happen. A high-quality paint brush will apply paint smoothly and evenly for a great-looking, professional quality paint job.

Buy high-quality paint

If you’re not careful, you may be enticed into shopping for bargain-priced paints. And we get it, we’re all for saving a buck wherever we can. But paint is not the place to do it. You will get what you pay for and end up with a low-quality finish that will wipe away when you clean it, show every minor flaw on your wall surface, and require more coats to achieve your desired hue.
A high-quality paint from a reputable manufacturer will offer a layer of protection to your walls, withstand smudge-removal, look great in fewer coats, and smell fresh and clean.

Clean your walls

Painting your walls isn’t a one-and-done endeavor; it will require some further commitment on your part to keep them looking fresh and clean for a long time.

Wipe up splashes and messes as they happen. Use a soft cloth or wet paper towel—nothing abrasive, which can cause damage to the paint surface and encourage future cracking or peeling.

And when you are dusting all the other surfaces in your home, don’t forget your walls; they can hold onto some serious amounts of dust. A quick swipe with your microfiber cloth every few months is all you need.

Damage control

Those first dings to your newly painted walls are always the hardest, but don’t accept them as a normal part of wear-and-tear—fix them. If you keep up on all the little mishaps by filling and repainting holes, chips, or peeling paint, you can extend the life of your paint job and keep your walls looking newly painted for many years to come.

A high-quality paint job in your home should provide a fresh, clean appearance that lasts a long time. Carefully preparing your walls, applying high-quality primer and paint with the proper tools, and keeping up on spills and damage will help you achieve that result. If you are ready to change the look of your home but don’t have the time to tackle the project yourself, consult with the team at Arizona Painting Company. We offer color consultation, paint touch-up, full home repaint—and everything in between.

Read our reviews to find out why we are the preferred painting company in Arizona and contact us to schedule a painting quote.