Painting Your Rentals Part III

OK, you've determined that you're going with a quality latex white paint, same brand same shade every time, and a flat and/or satin texture. Now it's time for preparations. Prep can be very time consuming and time is money, so how can we cut down on that?

First, come prepared. You'll need: sandpaper (medium to fine), duster with an extension, a cleaning rag and a degreasing cleaning agent (something that will break down oils, like Formula 409) medium sized screwdrivers (a flat head and a phillips, just to be sure), Kilz spray primer, and drywall mud (also called drywall compound or joint compound), and a small to medium mud knife for putting on the drywall mud. Those things are pretty common sense, but you should also have a stock of standard outlet covers, switch covers, door stops and light bulbs. You might as well bring these with you every time.

First, go through the rental unit and determine if you are going to be able to get away with touch-up painting, or are you going to have to paint entire walls. While you're at it, replace burnt out light bulbs (it's fascinating how often tenants will simply refuse to replace light bulbs), and set out new outlet covers and switch plates next to where any are missing, damaged or dingy. We simply use white plates and buy them in bulk. A dingy cover plate is an eyesore that is cheap and easy to take care of. Damaged or missing plates can also be a safety hazard (which agencies like Section 8 Housing will require you to replace anyway). Replace any missing or damaged door stops (unless you just like patching drywall where the doorknob gets pushed through the wall). We also buy these in bulk. Most units that I see have doorstops put in them that are in essence a spring with a rubber tip on the end. Avoid these; they go bad easily (and look bad when they do) and the spring is already compressed so they don't really provide any cushioning for the door. We use cheap solid doorstops with the tips, that again we buy in bulk.

Next go through and use your duster to knock down the inevitable cob webs that will be along the ceilings. As you do, examine the dirty spots and smudges on the wall. Are they just dirt, or something sinister like permanent marker, or oil or wax based stuff (crayons, vasoline, greasy food thrown on the wall, etc.).

Time saver: it's my experience that "regular" dirt, like a shoe print, or dirt smudges from furniture rubbing against the wall, don't really need to be cleaned or heavily sanded. You can just paint over it.

For items that look oil or waxed based, it's going to require some work, since paint won't adhere to those well. First try cleaning with a degreaser, then sanding. You don't have to get it all off, you just have to create a surface that paint can adhere to. After sanding some, take your finger across and see if the texture of that area feels comparable to the texture of the other areas of the wall. If so, then go ahead and spray the area with primer (otherwise keep at the sanding a little more first). In most cases that will suffice.

Then go through and use the drywall mud to patch small holes like nail holes. This will work for small to medium holes and dents, but there reaches a point on larger holes (say more than an inch across) where the mud has nothing to rest on and you will have to provide a fill of some kind (but that's another lesson).

While the drywall mud is drying, you can remove the outlet and switch cover plates from walls that have to be painted. To do it right, phone outlets and cable TV outlets should be unscrewed as well (they will still have wires attached and can just hang loose).

Some folks find that painters tape (the blue stuff made by 3m) is helpful in preping areas where you want to protect from over painting, like on the carpet when painting the floor molding. I've found that with experience you don't have to do as much taping as you might think, but if you've got those areas, now is the time to put down the tape.

After the drywall mud dries (they even make some that goes on pink and then dries white so you'll know when it's ready), it needs to be sanded. For nail holes, a few hard strokes with a medium sanding surface (we like the ones that are foam blocks with sandpaper on the exterior) should do it. For larger holes you need to sand it until it's as smooth as the surrounding wall. For good measure, you might want to make a few broad strokes with a sanding surface over the entire wall, especially if there has been heavy smoking or cooking (grease and tar film needs a little sanding to create a good surface).

Next, save time on cutting in and trim work.