painting to increase value

Fullout,

Many people prefer to buy quality paint as it makes the work so much easier. Cheap paint is horrible to use.

You can buy Dulux 101 at Kmart for about $125 for ten litres. We recently used 26 litres to paint a 5 bedroom home on the inside. That included semi gloss for the wet areas.

I think painters get the paint cheaper than you and I can. It is the labour component that you will save the money on! If you do it yourself then you will probably need to spend less than $100 on equipment and allow a few days to get the job done.

Cheers,

Simon Macks
Mortgage Broker
[email protected]
0425 228 985

Comments may not be relevant to individual circumstances. If you intend making any investment, financial or taxation decision you should consult a professional adviser.

Hi Fullout.

The issue of “how much paint” is not a straight forward as xx per meter.
It depends on the state of the walls, the paint quality, tradesman ship and even the roller quality.

I used once 4 litres of cheap paint for three walls in a small room of new plasterboard.

If your walls are new or of a colour that differs a lot from the new colour, you must give one coat of undercoat. Remember that before the undercoat you also must go over all the bumps, holes, nails dents and bad finish from before with pre mixed Top Coat, ($16×4 kg at Mitre Ten) apply with plastic spatula.

I hired a “painter” last year for a property I have in Campbelltown because I needed a quick fix between tenants and he assured me I did not need undercoat.

Now the walls were of a deep yellow like the smilies on this BB, the problem is that every room was of a different tone of yellow. Result, now all rooms have a nice smooth cream colour but each room is still different from the other because the cheap paint used (Trader from Taubmans) does not cover properly with two coats.

Ergo:
Buy good paint, ‘Living proof’ from Taubmans, or any other top of the range from Dulux and even Bristols.

Rule of thumb, ask which one are the two higher priced in the same line brand. Say one is $120 x 10 litres and the other is $110 x 10 litres chances are that they are the same only the more expensive has to pay for some advertising campaign. Never buy the cheapest of all.

As far as litres is concerned, I find the 26 litres per five bedrooms a fantastic result.

If you are going to paint yourself, you will use much more paint than the professional will. You did not say if you are going to paint the ceiling, but assuming you are, my guesstimate is that you will probably use 30 litres of paint. The doors and windows are another matter and do not forget that kitchen and bathroom are better off with oil based or some more gloss mould resistant stuff.

But rather than buying too much paint, buy 20 litres and you can always buy more if you know the name of the colour. Of course to top up, always buy the same brand and in the same shop if possible.

Good luck, and when you buy your rollers, remembers that cheap rollers are nasty to use. I would buy a 27cm wide medium pile ($30 for the roller) a handle not a cheap one so it does not bend under pressure and a pole to roll without using the ladder. You will also need a good brush. There are some new synthetic one that are tops for doing the cuts and edges ($30)

If you need to do some patches of plaster with Top Coat, buy yourself a sanding pad to screw on top of the pole ($14), it will make your life that much easier. Remember that the patches need undercoat and one extra paint coat or they will show even after the second finishing coat.

Stains of water-based paint can be removed from your floor with Methylated spirit if they are dry, but are very hard to clean from the carpet.

May God bless you
and prosper you.

As everyone has stated here the quality of the paint, brushes and rollers counts..

Painters ‘do’ get the paint cheaper, will do the job better ( usually ) and quicker.. however i enjoy doing the job and like the savings gained..

As was said previously, you can’t be perfect on the estimates of ltrs needed, to many variables and you may be a bit heavy handed, you’ll need leftovers anyway for any touch up work..

Remember- The best way to make sure of a good job is “preperation”.. of the surface etc.. work from the top down [^]

REDWING

“Money is a currency, like electricity and it requires momentum to make it Effective”