New to painting and decorating

pamsdish

Since the death of my husband I find myself at 62 having to think about "Painting and Decorating", so I live in a bungalow which is just 5 years old,when we moved in it had been emulsioned? throughout,waited the requisite time for settling ? .During that time my husband developed a terminal lung condition and decorating was out ,fumes.

So I have to caulk? round ceiling cracks ,HOW. Then I would like to paper some walls emulsion others and add a few tiles to some kitchen areas.

Do I have to prepare walls in any way ? how do i calculate how much paint, paper needed, any advice welcomed i am reasonably fit so could do work as long as I could take my time.

My first husband and I did a lot of decorating in our time,but I was just the labourer ,so I am aware of how to paper, apply paste (I was allowed to do that bit)
The paint is a concern .I have those white plastic coated interior doors is it best not to paint those ?

Gra76

Preparing the walls - depends on how bad they are, any cracks bigger then hairline cracks you can rake out and fill, then sand. Any hairline cracks will probably fill with a bit of caulk or if they're barely noticable the emulsion will probably fill them.

Buy a tube of decorators caulk from pretty much any place that sells decorating supplies. B&Q will have plenty of it. Also get a tube 'gun' to dispense the caulk with. Cut the top of the caulk tube off and gently dispense the caulk in a steady motion over the cracks. Work the caulk into the cracks (I've always just used my finger) and you're done. When it's dry sand down any rough adges and it should be ready to decorate.

If you're doing around coving and architraves then do the same by running a bead of caulk where you want to apply it. At a 45 degree angle run your finger down the joint you've just caulked. That should leave a nice tidy finish. Don't apply it too thickly. A bead of caulk is all you need. You'll soon gauge when you've put too much on or too little.

For the wallpaper, measure the distance all the way around the perimeter of the room, divide that figure by 0.53 (the average roll of wallpaper is this width but if the wallpaper rolls are wider then change 0.53 to however wide the roll is in meters) and then divide that figure by 3 (most rolls of wallpaper will give you 3 full drops on an average room of around 2.3-2.5m). Now you know the maximum number of rolls of wallpaper you need. If there are large windows etc in the room you'll find you need less but I always make sure I have plenty of wallpaper to save going back for more. It'd be worth checking if the place you buy the wallpaper from will accept un-used rolls back. Also, make sure you get the same batch number for the wallpaper.

e.g - Assuming a fairly average pattern match and a room height of around 2.45m (around 8ft)... You have a room measuring 4m wide by 3m long. The perimeter is therefor 14m total. Divide the perimeter(14m) by the roll width (0.53m) and then divide again by the number of drops per roll (on average 3) leaves you with a figure of 8.80. You would therefore need 9 rolls of wallpaper.

Emulsion is easy enough. Take the perimeter measurement of your room. Multiply it by the height of the room to get the square meterage area of the walls. Deduct things like doors and windows from the measurement. Different types and brands of emulsion will have different coverages so you'll need to know what the coverage is before you'll know how much you need. In the example above you'd have a room measurement of 4m wide by 3m long by 2.45m high. The perimeter of the room is 14m. Multiply this by 2.45m and this gives a wall area of 34.3m2 before deducting doors and windows. Just grabbing the closest paint can I have to hand I can tell you that Dulux trade vinyl matt covers approx 17m2 per litre. Once you'd deducted doors etc from your total wall area it's fair to say you'd need to buy the 2.5 litre version of the paint and that should be enough.

If the doors are plastic I wouldn't bother painting them.

Hope that makes sense!

pamsdish

It does thank you I shall print that off and use it for my calculations,
re the tiling I watched 1st O.H. do the bathroom, as I want to do a section say 3ft wide x 5ft high to meet other tiles, would it be best to start top or bottom ,as I obviously hope to get it level at top ?

McKneff

Pamsdish, I am sorry you have lost your OH.

Good for you for getting on with yur decorating.

Could I just make one suggestion re the tiles. Dont just trust to luck and hope it's level at the top.

It is a small amount of space to cover, would you be able to pay a tiler to do this, it shouldnt cost a lot.

If you dont want to do that, then go onto utube or google tiling and you will pick up some brilliant tutorials.

Good luck.

Leif

What McKNeff said. Also, on Amazon you will be able to find good DIY books, that will give you the basics. I'm no saying you buy there, but there are reviews that help you choose.

For cracks, personally I'd either just emulsion them if they are fine, or rake out and fill then sand using Easi-fill. It is as easy to mix as pancakes. Mix it thick, then apply with a flat bladed scraper. Try to fill flush or just a bit more than flush, to minimise sanding, and dust.

If you are painting the walls, I think you need to wash first with sugar soap, to get rid of grease. If you are painting after stripping wall paper, you must get rid of the old paste first.

For tiling, I'd buy a diamond cutter, Homebase do one for £45, and Toolstation of Screwfix do the same one for less. You'll get a better cut than with a scriber one. Mind you it is a bit of an expense.

pamsdish

Thanks for your advice, I might try and find a local handyman to do the tiles ,I have counted how many I need and its approx 36,

I wanted to do the decorating myself so I can take my time as I find I can only work 3-4 hours then the old bones play up,and if I had a man to do it ,I would still have to do a lot of the preparation ,emptying wall unit, wardrobes ,taking down curtains, then I would have to put it all back.

chemsatain

For what it's worth, avoid caulk. It cracks quite quickly. Usually after six months or so. Nothing dramatic but enough to put a kink in all your hard work. Instead get flexible, over-paintable decorators' filler. It's used in exactly the same way as caulk but just has the little bit more flexibility to it. Available in all the diy sheds.

Good luck.