In older Boston homes we routinely encounter a variety of textures that must be removed or changed prior to adding a new coat of paint. Some textures are more difficult to remove than others, and occasionally preparation will require more time than the painting itself. Yet this additional time is crucial to a good finish. With proper preparation, our painters are able to deliver unparalleled precision in our painting, which is the kind of quality our customers have come to expect from the Optimus Painting crew.
If you look closely at the ‘before’ photographs below, you can see that the walls are covered with heavy paint drips and an unsightly rough texture. The previous painters made several serious mistakes:
- They “removed” wallpaper but failed to wash the glue off the walls before painting.
- They “removed” wallpaper, but not all of it! There were many bits of the wallpaper’s backing still stuck to the walls and trim.
- When they painted they decided to tape the trim and presumably felt that this gave them license to smear the paint on heavily, and unevenly, producing sags and drips all over the walls.
All of these mistakes combined make for a horrible wall finish.
In cases like this it is necessary to skim-coat the walls in order to restore them to their former pleasant evenness.
Skim-coating involves scraping major high spots and loose plaster off of the walls, applying several, successively thinner, layers of dura-bond, before sanding the walls smooth and painting. Furthermore, we remove as much of the old paint from the trim as we can, by carefully scraping it away, and mixing stain on-site to touch up any bare wood. It’s a lot of work, but the end result is a beautifully restored wall that will require minimal prep the next time the homeowner would like a color change.
Before | Rough Texture & Old Paint Drips
After | Smooth Texture Premium Light Blue
