first time painter

kyleGR

hello all,
I am just moving into my new house, my first, and am about to start making it my own. The walls are plaster, about 50 years old. I am getting the wall paper off without much difficulty, but am unsure as to what my next step is. Do I remove all the glue residue? ...if so, what is the best method. Also, what is a good brand of paint to use? I am sure there are many ...there is a Sherwin Williams near my house, would love to use them -- what are the reccomended types of paint they offer & what should I offer in price?
Sorry for all the questions, but I would really like to do this right the first time.

thanks

Scott_K

I had some wallpaper on some plaster walls along the top portions. It came off with the Zinser DIF (I think that's the name) stripper. After that, it was just cleaned with an all purpose house hold cleaner and the surface seemed to match the rest of the wall that didn't have wallpaper. It felt the same and looks the same now that it's all painted.

All of the friends and family recommended Benj. Moore paints, so we went with that. It costs the most, but it seems to go on really easy. It was really easy on plaster, as it just seemed to roll on with little effort. We do have brand new sheetrock on the 2nd floor which was primed with Zinser primer and then 2 coats of paint. The sheetrock didn't roll on as easy, it kind of had a "sponge" effect, especially with the primer, but that was expected.

Carefully calculate the number of gallons you'll need. We practically painted the entire 1st and 2nd floor. We were so focused on how much paint we needed in each room (different colors), that we didn't consider how much paint we would use for the ceilings. Looking back at it, we should've bought a 5 gallon drum of flat white ceiling paint. We would've saved a few bucks.

From what I've been told, the nap of the roller has an effect on the final appearance of the paint. I used 3/8" nap rollers for the paint and it seemed to leave it smooth on the plaster and brand new sheetrock walls.

Unfortunatly for us, we found that the 3M blue painters tape with the inner orange markings is the tape that comes off extremely easy. We used the regular 3M blue tape for the majority of the 2nd floor which pulled off some paint with it depending on the different humidity levels, drying time, etc.

I am far from a professional painter, and now definitly understand the need for a pro. It is very time consuming work and there is a technique that is learned with experience. I got better towards the end of the work (still have a little left). There is definitly a difference between the first room we tackled and the last. :p

Hope this helps
Good Luck!

kyleGR

Scott K -- thanks for the response, and sorry for my belated one. I have been working hard to get the wall paper off, wound up using vinegar & warm water. That really worked well (to my surprise!).

I am going to get all the tape up tonight, then start painting tomorrow morning, hope all goes well.

Scott_K

You're welcome....and please no apologies. Just another DIYer here trying to help someone out.

Removing wallpaper is no picnic.....

Good Luck with your weekend adventure !

kyleGR

The room I am painting is painted white, and I will be putting in a burnt orange color (towards orange/brown) -- should I be using a primer for this? I have heard that going from light to dark it is not necessary.

thanks

Scott_K

All of the plaster walls that we did were already white. We painted with different colors. I did one wall with primer and then painted. Did the rest of the rooms by just painting over it (no primer). I don't see any difference. I don't know what the long term effects are.
If you're going to the shermin williams store, ask them. Hopefully they'll be honest and not try to sell you primer if you don't need it.
I think it'll be ok without the primer, but please don't take my word as a professional opinion.

kyleGR

OK, got a pretty good salesman at SW -- he didn't advise a primer, so I went without. Actually, didn't try to oversell at all, even talked me into not buying as much paint as I was looking to buy.

Scott_K

Good to hear. I had the same experience with my Benj. Moore store. They also told me I was looking for too much paint in certain rooms.
How'd the weekend go ?