What's the best way to paint the entire interior of our house?

Shpigford

So my wife and I are currently having a house built and we opted to have the builder just paint all the walls white throughout the house (it was an all or nothing sort of deal on the color choice).

So our first order of business once we close on the house will be to paint the entire interior of the home.

Not sure on actual "wall" square footage but the living space is about 1400 square feet.

We'll be painting a large majority of the house with the same color with the exception of maybe one or two areas (living room and master bedroom).

So, the question here is what is the best way to paint such a large area? Should we just go the roller brush route? Or is there some sort of power sprayer type of thing that would serve us better?

Hamilton

In general terms and because you already have a first coat :

1. Spray all trim (casing, crown, chair rail/wainscot, base, doors, window stools, shelves, cabinets, staircase spindles/newell posts, registers...whatever).

2. Lightly bag off all trim, then spray ceilings quickly followed by thorough back-roll.

3. Removed trim covering except door heads, registers and base. Cut-in, and roll walls.

Every painter is gonna have his/her own proceedure, this is ours.

__________________
People sleep peacefully at night because rough men stand guard to deal with violence on their behalf.

Shpigford

So what's the reasoning behind not spraying the walls? (I'm totally clueless when it comes to this)

Hamilton

You can, but you'll have to bag off everything real tight. Plus, if the ceiling and walls are different color....forget it.

Personally, I like the looks a roller gives a wall, the paint looks thick with a subtle amount of orange peel.

__________________
People sleep peacefully at night because rough men stand guard to deal with violence on their behalf.

slickshift

The best way for a DIYer or occasional painter to do even a large painting project would be quality brushes and rollers
Spraying will not save a newbie any time (or money)
The prep is intense and the chance for disaster is high
And there is a learning curve on spraying...it's not point and shoot

The only thing time I might consider recommending DIY spraying as a possibility, is unoccupied new construction, all one color (including ceiling)
Then it possibly might save some time if a proper spray unit is rented (the little DIY buzz-guns are pretty horrible compared to a good rental and won't save you time)

Hamilton

You're right.

I forget these are DIY questions...maybe I'll keep bow out for awhile.

__________________
People sleep peacefully at night because rough men stand guard to deal with violence on their behalf.

sirwired

I was thinking about this... if you are going to paint every last square inch of the house anyway, any chance of getting the builder to just prime, and then leave the rest to you?

Of course, unless you plan on colored ceilings, you may want to have him paint those with primer and 2 coats of builder flat, just to get that out of the way.

SirWired

Workaholic

i agree. After you close you will have flooring and fixtures in, brush and roller will be the way to go.

__________________
Sean

Big Bob

do you want to be smart or wise?

re-negociate with the builder.

multi- colors should cost you more / many reasons

stay with flat finish on the walls re: touch -up much easier.

Shpigford

No renegotiating. We chose to have them just paint the walls a flat white because we didn't want to have to pick colors at the time or have them paint everything the same color. There was no option to have multiple colors done from the builder.

Clutchcargo

Step 1: Put a 5 gallon bucket of paint in the middle of the room.
Step 2: Light a stick of dynamite.
Step 3: Drop the dynamite in the bucket.
Step 4: Run like hell.

__________________

karenwxyz

Since the interior is empty and if you are not good with rollers and paint, you should be able to get experienced college students for pretty cheap. I couldn't believe what I went through every time I wanted a room painted because "everyone can DIY painting a room" and I discovered that painters were relatively cheap since the idea that we can all DIY keeps the price down. I guess this sounds anti-DIY which I'm not. Good luck.

Workaholic

After 4 years they are probably looking to repaint.

__________________
Sean

m1951mm

I would have the builder do ceilings and walls in the same flat finish. A flat finish that you like for the ceilings in the future. The flat finish will help "dead out" all the joint compound (mud) work, and a flat finish will in the future hold other paint better than other sheens. If your builder will then go in and do semi gloss in the same color for the trim and doors, go for it. After the house sets for a year or two you will find lots of issues that will come up and then you can address the color issue and the repair issues at the same time. I would not ever try to do FINISH colors on a NEW home. It will shift and you would be repainting after the house finds it comfort zone. That is not to say that it wont keep moving on you. This is just my experience over 20 some year of painting.

chrisn

All well and good but you are "talking" to dead air.