When you are getting ready to paint the walls in your home, the last thing you want to do is spend several hours cleaning them, right? While this is true, you may be skipping an important step in ensuring the paint job you get is a good one. This important step to painting the interior walls of your home is the most often ignored step made by homeowners because of the tedious nature of it. L.W. Winslow Painting, Inc is here to share some tips to help you get your walls ready for painters.

Do Professional Painters Clean the Walls First?

For professional painters, the last thing they want to spend their time doing, is washing your walls. They will definitely do it, but there is usually a charge for the service. This is because it cuts into their painting time. If you want the walls of your home cleaned extremely well, you may want to give them some cleaning prior to the painter’s arrival.

Is it Always Necessary to Wash Walls Before Painting?

There are a few different circumstances that allow you to skip the wall washing step when you are painting the walls yourself. Following are some of those conditions:

• No pets in the house
• No cooking takes place in that room
• Walls have little to no contact with hands
• No grease found on the walls
• No excessive dirt or dust on the walls
• Only vertical surfaces, baseboards and other flat surfaces should always be washed

What is the Easiest Way to Wash Painted Walls?

If you notice that there is visible dirt, dust, grime or handprints on your walls, you should be washing them before painting starts. A good starting point is:

• Knocking down any cobwebs or dust bunnies from the high spots using a broom.
• Using the brush attachment on your vacuum to remove any dirt and dust from the baseboards.
• Using a moist washcloth to simply wipe the walls and baseboards clean.
• You may need to use a mild detergent with your water to get rid of grime on the walls.

Do you have to Wash Walls with TSP?

There are some places in your home that will require the use of TSP (trisodium phosphate) which is an organic powder that is an alkaline cleaning solution when you mix it with water. It is great at removing grease and oil from the walls. Areas that you should use it in are places like the kitchen where greasy food may be prepared, bathrooms where hairsprays and other products build up on the walls and even around door knobs and other areas that are frequently touched by oily hands.

Interior & Exterior Painting & More in Amagansett, Bridgehampton, East Hampton, Hampton Bays, Montauk, North Haven, North Sea, Noyack, Quogue, Shelter Island, Sag Harbor, Sagaponack, Shinnecock Hills, Southampton, Springs, Wainscott, Water Mill, Westhampton, Westhampton Beach, New York

If you are interested in painting the interior walls of your home, you can turn to L.W. Winslow Painting, Inc to help you get the beautiful results you are looking for. We will handle the job from start to finish. Call us today!