Spray-like finish trim painting
This tutorial is going to walk you through the process of getting a smooth spray-like finish that can be applied to wooden doors, frames, railings, hand railings and window frames. We use this process in our homes where spraying is not a practical option.
The tools for the job will consist of a Whizz (or small foam roller) and an angled synthetic bristle brish. I use a 3 inch Purdy Ultra Glide for all my brush work, they run at $25, contractor price, per brush. If you plan on re-using your brush, stay away from copper hilted brushes as they tent to rust easily. Other materials you will need with be masking tape. White or blue are the best choices as green painters tape bleeds easily. A damp cloth for any drips, drop clothes or plastic to protect the flooring, a small blade putty knife, a fine-medium sanding sponge, Glazing compound or DryDex spackling, rubber gloves, DAP Alex caulking, a utility knife and of course paint. Here are those items again in point form:
- Whizz (or small foam roller)
- angled synthetic bristle brish
- White or blue masking tape
- Damp cloth
- Drop clothes or plastic
- Small blade Putty knife
- Fine-medium sanding sponge
- Glazing compound or DryDex spackling
- Rubber gloves
- DAP Alex caulking
- Utility knife
Selecting your paint
When it comes to any trim, doors, railings, hand rails or frames, Paint Calgary recommends either Sherwin-Williams Pro Classic, enamel finish acrylic latex in semi-gloss or General Paint’s HP 2000 in semi gloss. My preference is Pro Classic as it is a self priming and self leveling coating that will give you amazing spray look quality, however General Paint’s HP 2000 is about $10 a gallon less and equally as good. Pro Classic is a little more difficult to work with for homeowners, but both will get the job done right as long as you do not over work the coating. Application with your brush and roller is long, even strokes and do not apply to thickly. Multiple coats is the key to quality and prevents drips.
Both products are latex based and wash up with water. One note of both paints, they are sticky in consistancy, therefore it’s important to wash your brush out every hour and not let it dry out. Cover your Whizz roller tray with plastic when not using.
The process
Before we paint we need to prepareour wooden areas, this will give us a good foundation for a good finished product. This step will include light sanding and patching if required. For this tutorial we care going to assume you already have white woodwork that just needs to be freshened up.
Step 1: Lightly sand all the wood areas with the sanding sponge. This will scuff up the area for good adhesion and it will remove any uneven debris that may be on the woodwork
Step 2: Any nail holes or small nicks need to be patched. Normally, we use a glazing compound, which is a putty like substance. Wearning a glove, rub the glazing into any small holes and remove access with your finger. You can also use spackling in the same way if you wish to use it. Again, with spackling, rub into the hole and remove access with your finger.
Step 3: Run your hand over the dry patched areas. If needed run the sanding sponge over very lightly. We do this lightly so we do not indent where the patch is.
Step 4: Tape hinges, strike plates, side of frames or any areas that butt against a painted surface window pane or flooring. When taping use longer strips if you can and run the putty knife along the edge to make sure it’s in place. For hinges, use strips of tape slightly larger than the hinge itself, then using the utility knife, carefully follow the metal edge of the hinge and peel back the access tape.
Step 5: Caulking. this process may be skipped if you are not confident with a caulking gun, caulking is used in between frames and woodwork where gaps may occur. If you wish to try this step, clean cut a SMALL piece off the tip of the caulking tube, maybe 1 cm from the top, then armed with a damp cloth, squeeze a small even amount into the trouble areas, next use the wet cloth to wipe the excess caulk away. It’s ok if you try multiple times to get it right as long as the caulk does not dry (take an hour or so). Wash your cloth after every pass as to not reapply caulking to the area. You can also use Windex and paper towel if you wish, I just find a cloth is better for blending and not leaving paper lines.
Painting
The first step in painting is called cutting, this is where we use our blush and paint in the corners and areas were our Whizz roller cannot reach. The key here is not to apply too much paint and long even strokes. Cutting, for home owners with these types of paints can be the hardest part as they tend to be over worked, just remember, less paint is better (we can always cut again) and long even strokes.
Next, a the final step we are going to use our Whizz roller where applicable. With the Whizz roller, we don’t want the roller dripping with paint, but we want enough so it applies an even coat. The key for rolling is again, long even coats and not using too much paint. We can always do additional coats when the paint is dry.
Clean up
All the products we have used here today are water based so they wash up with warm water as long as they have not dried. After we have cleaned up and the paint coats have dried, we can carefully remove all tape.
Finished!