“Probably 85% of any painting project is the preparation. Filling holes, sanding, caulking gaps, and other prep work takes time, but it’s essential to a good paint job. If you start with a well-prepared surface, with some practice, you can master the other 15%” — Mauro Henrique, This Old House painter
- Remove hardware: Take off window locks and lifts, doorknobs and strikes, electrical cover plates, and light fixtures. Tape the screws to each piece of hardware and label its location. Store the items together in a bucket—this makes reinstalling them easier later on.
- Clear out obstacles: Whenever possible, relocate furniture to another room so that you can easily navigate the space where you’ll paint. Cover whatever can’t be removed with plastic sheeting, and clear a pathway that’s at least 3 feet wide.
- Protect floors: Pros generally avoid using painter’s tape—it’s time-consuming to apply. One place Henrique always tapes, though, is along the bottom of baseboards. He then tapes a wide border of rosin paper to this strip of tape and covers the rest of the floor with plastic-lined canvas drop cloths. These prevent any spilled paint from seeping through.
- Fill holes, gaps, and cracks: Closely inspect walls and trim for imperfections.
- Patch holes, dents, and dings by using ready-mix spackle on walls or wood filler on trim. On plaster walls, Henrique uses joint compound and mesh tape on wide cracks and flexible patching compound on smaller ones. Fill gaps around the trim by cutting a caulk tube close to the tip and running a small bead, pressing down and pulling the caulk gun toward you as you work. Then, run a wet finger on it to smooth it out.
- Sand and remove dust: To create a smooth, even surface for painting, scuff-sand moldings, doors, and windows with 220-grit paper. Use a pole sander with 120-grit paper to smooth walls. If you’re working on paint that could be more than 45 years old, test for lead first. Thoroughly remove sanding dust with a vacuum equipped with a HEPA filter, followed by a damp rag or tack cloth.
Pro tip: Don’t over-caulk gaps. Cutting the tip of the tube too big results in messy joints. Measure the gap, and use a caulk tube that’s marked with lines indicating where to cut depending on the size of the gap. Or, start small near the end of the tip and adjust as needed.