Decorating in January.....

pinkteapot

Our lounge and dining room are the only two rooms I haven't redecorated since we bought our house. They sorely need doing. It's looking like I'll have a break in work in January, which would give me a window of a few weeks to blitz them.

Question for the experts - is decorating during cold months OK? I usually have the radiators taken off the wall during decoration, to be able to properly paint behind him. Also find it easier to paint the radiators while they're lying flat. We have a gas fire in the lounge which would still be in place and could be used to keep the temperature up a bit, but the rooms are likely to be pretty cold.

Will emulsion on the walls and gloss on the woodwork dry properly and with a decent finish when it's cold?

Also still deciding between carpet and wooden floors and concerned about having wood laid in a freezing cold room, if it then expands in the spring/summer...?

Leif

I painted in cool conditions and emulsion is okay. However, I do not recommend using oil based wood paint in the cold. I had huge trouble with Sikkens Satura. At lower temperatures it becomes too viscous. I guess it is not unlike olive oil that becomes solid when cooled.

Regarding the radiators, I found painting doors while hung was MUCH easier, and you get less dust specks, for obvious reasons. Radiators will surely be similar. And why do you need to paint the radiators? Unless the paint is obviously damaged, a good clean with meths, or other suitable solvent, might do the job.

pinkteapot

Thanks for the tips. I do use oil-based gloss so I'll have a rethink on that point!

Re the radiators, I've given them a fresh coat with radiator paint as I've decorated each room. The old paint was just a little old/yellowed. I just brightened them up with one coat.

I can't paint behind radiators properly, even with those small long-armed rollers. In our lounge, I'll be covering up an awful dark terracotta colour with a light cream (cheap white first, I know!), so any scraps of it left behind the radiators will really show if anyone looks...

The dining room is going from cream to a slightly different cream, so I could get away with not painting behind that radiator properly.

Leif

Take off radiators, paint ceilings if needed and then the walls. Paint a radiator, and put on, or put on and paint. Then do the woodwork. By the way, my radiators must be 20 years old and they are still pure white! Perhaps modern paints are poor.

keystone

Anything less that 5 degrees C and you are asking for trouble. For spirit based gloss in temps approaching that stick the tin in a bucket of hot water for 20 mins before using (no, not over the rim just about 2/3 of the way up the can). Heats it up so thins it down and it will flow nicely.

Cheers