Painting 101: How to Get a Smooth Coat of Paint
When painting your surfaces, you don’t just want full coverage — you want even coverage, too. Achieving a perfectly smooth coat of paint requires patience, preparation, and proper technique. Anyone with the willpower can get it done, but interior and exterior painting services have the experience and resources to do it efficiently every time. Whether you’re planning on painting your surfaces on your own or hiring contractors, here’s how to get a smooth coat of paint.
It Starts with the Surface
You can’t expect your paint job to go smoothly if the surface itself is rough. Regardless of whether you’re painting an interior or exterior surface, be sure to thoroughly clean and sand it so it’s smooth to the touch. This step is especially important for wooden surfaces. Start with medium-grit sandpaper and work your way to finer grit paper as you go.
Time to Prime
Always start with a coat of primer before you or your interior painting services start painting. This will help keep the new paint job around for a longer time. Don’t apply an excessive amount of primer, either. Once the primer has been applied, let it dry for a full day, or per the manufacturer's cure time. If there are any dried drips, lightly sand the surface down one more time until smooth and remove any dust.
Go with High-Quality Paint
Commercial and residential painting services will tell you that a truly smooth paint job in large part depends on the paint’s quality. Cheap products may be too thin, poorly mixed, dry too quickly or too slowly, and provide uneven coverage in general. It’s true that over the years paint products have improved across the board. Still, it’s still best to go with reliable brands and products if you’re looking for the best, smoothest results. At Nash Painting, we use Sherwin-Williams primers, paints, and finishes for our projects.
Apply Paint with Proper Technique
When it’s finally time to paint the surface in question, you can apply it in a few different ways: via brushing, rolling, or spraying. Spraying is useful for large exterior surfaces, commercial spaces, and industrial equipment. Brushing is great for more precise painting, such as coating trim, feathering edges, and touching up smaller areas. And rolling is often used by interior painting contractors to efficiently cover large sections of walls.
All three methods can provide smooth results, but only if applied with the proper technique. For instance, a paint sprayer should not be held in one spot for too long or too close to the surface, as this will coat that portion with an excess of paint. Likewise, when using a paint roller, it’s important to maintain a wet edge and to not go over spots that have already partially or fully dried, as this can result in lap marks. Whether rolling or brushing, make sure to not soak the applicator with too much paint. Drenching your brush or roller will likely lead to dripping. If not smoothed over, these droplets will dry and create a rough surface that needs to be sanded down and painted once again.
Get Struck by Smooth Visuals
If you’re unsure of your ability to follow the above steps, hire a Nashville painting company that always delivers smooth results. Nash Painting aims to make your home or businesses as beautiful as it can be by using the highest-quality paints, tools, and techniques. To find out more about us, our services, and our values, call us at (615) 829-6858 today!