What Are The Most Common DIY Painting Mistakes?

A suc­cess­ful paint job requires much more than just primer and paint. When start­ing a paint­ing project, a DIY­er has a lot to plan for: every­thing from tem­per­a­ture mon­i­tor­ing to tap­ing tech­nique. Here are some of the dos, don’ts, and con­sid­er­a­tions when start­ing a paint­ing project:

Inad­e­quate Sur­face Preparation

Sur­face prepa­ra­tion is key to any suc­cess­ful paint­ing project. DIY­ers often go awry by skip­ping one of the fol­low­ing gen­er­al steps in sur­face preparation: 

Assess the sur­face for imper­fec­tions, par­tic­u­lar­ly dam­aged or peel­ing paint. Paint­ing over imper­fec­tions doesn’t make them go away — it can actu­al­ly make them stand out more!

Clean the sur­face to remove dust, dirt, grease, etc. Most sur­faces will require water and a mild clean­ing agent.

Scrape off any loose paint using a paint scraper or wire brush. For larg­er sur­faces like home exte­ri­ors, a pow­er wash­er can be ideal. 

Sand to cre­ate a slight­ly rough tex­ture to which the paint will bet­ter adhere. Make sure to remove all dust cre­at­ed by the sand­ing process before continuing. 

Repair any dents, cracks, or holes.

Choos­ing the Wrong Paint

Choos­ing the right paint goes much fur­ther than col­or and sheen. Mis­match­ing paint type to paint sur­face and choos­ing price over qual­i­ty are the top two ways DIY­ers go wrong in paint selec­tion. Below is an overview of the main types of paint:

Latex Paint (Water-Based Paint)

Char­ac­ter­is­tics: Fast-dry­ing, low odor, easy to clean with soap and water.

Appli­ca­tions: Ide­al for inte­ri­or walls and ceil­ings, suit­able for exte­ri­or sur­faces as well.

Advan­tages: Flex­i­ble, resists crack­ing, envi­ron­men­tal­ly friend­ly, avail­able in var­i­ous sheens.

Oil-Based Paint (Alkyd Paint)

Char­ac­ter­is­tics: Durable, smooth fin­ish, longer dry­ing time, small odor.

Appli­ca­tions: Good for trim, doors, cab­i­nets, and high-traf­fic areas.

Advan­tages: Supe­ri­or adhe­sion, smooth lev­el­ing, excel­lent dura­bil­i­ty, resis­tant to wear and tear. How­ev­er, keep in mind that whites will yel­low over time. 

Acrylic Paint

Char­ac­ter­is­tics: Water-based, quick-dry­ing, resis­tant to fad­ing and damage.

Appli­ca­tions: Used for both artis­tic pur­pos­es and home improve­ment, suit­able for exte­ri­or and inte­ri­or surfaces.

Advan­tages: Flex­i­ble, durable, resists crack­ing, retains col­or well.

Enam­el Paint

Char­ac­ter­is­tics: Hard, glossy sheen, avail­able in both oil-based and water-based formulas.

Appli­ca­tions: Ide­al for sur­faces that need a durable, glossy fin­ish, such as fur­ni­ture, cab­i­netry, and trim.

Advan­tages: High dura­bil­i­ty, wash­able, resists mois­ture and stains.

Skip­ping Primer

Skip­ping primer is anoth­er fre­quent over­sight for DIY­ers. What may seem like an option­al step is ben­e­fi­cial for the fol­low­ing reasons:

Seals sur­face: Primer helps seal porous sur­faces, pre­vent­ing them from absorb­ing an unnec­es­sary amount of paint.

Improved adhe­sion: Primer pro­vides a uni­form lay­er for paint to attach. With­out primer, the paint may have a hard time adher­ing to the surface. 

Hides stains and dis­col­oration: Primer can mask stains and discoloration

Enhances dura­bil­i­ty: Prim­ing can extend the life of a paint job by pro­vid­ing addi­tion­al pro­tec­tion against humid­i­ty, tem­per­a­ture changes, and UV rays.

Poor Tap­ing Technique

While it may seem easy, prop­er­ly tap­ing may be sig­nif­i­cant­ly more com­pli­cat­ed than at first glance. The fol­low­ing are some com­mon mis­takes DIY­ers make when apply­ing tape:

Not clean­ing the sur­face: Dirt, dust, and grease can pre­vent tape from stick­ing prop­er­ly, which can lead to paint bleed­ing underneath. 

Apply­ing tape to damp sur­faces: Tape won’t ade­quate­ly adhere to wet sur­faces, which pre­vents the tape from work­ing properly. 

Using the wrong kind of tape: Dif­fer­ent tapes are designed for dif­fer­ent sur­faces and dura­tions. Using the wrong tape can result in residue buildup, paint bleed­ing, and paint cracking

Leav­ing the tape on too long: If you leave tape adhered to the paint­ing sur­face for too long, it can bond to the sur­face and pull off paint when removed. Ide­al­ly, remove tape with­in 24 hours. 

Remov­ing tape at the wrong angle: Remov­ing tape at a 90-degree angle can dam­age the paint. Pulling the tape at a 45-degree angle min­i­mizes this risk.

Not wait­ing for paint to dry: Remov­ing tape before the paint is thor­ough­ly dried can cause drip­ping, smudg­ing, and bleeding. 

Incor­rect Paint Application

Like tap­ing, paint­ing can seem like an easy, low-risk process. How­ev­er, there are a num­ber of pit­falls DIY­ers can miss when painting:

Poor paint cov­er­age: Using a brush too big or too small can cre­ate streaks and uneven cov­er­age. Fur­ther, using a wrong roller nap for the sur­face you’re paint­ing can result in an uneven tex­ture. DIY­ers should aim to have an even coat of paint, nei­ther too thin nor too heavy. 

Brush marks and roller strokes: Brush­es with stiff or uneven bris­tles can leave behind vis­i­ble brush marks. Mis­match­ing paint rollers to the sur­face and using cheap paint rollers can leave roller marks as well. 

Drips and splat­ters: Using too much paint, often as a result of low-qual­i­ty tools, is like­ly to result in unsight­ly drips and splatters.

Paint­ing in Poor Lighting

Uti­liz­ing abun­dant, ide­al­ly nat­ur­al, light is cru­cial when paint­ing. The ben­e­fits of prop­er light­ing when paint­ing can include:

Accu­rate assess­ment of col­or: Good light­ing helps you accu­rate­ly see the true col­or of the paint you’re uti­liz­ing. Sub­op­ti­mal light­ing can result in a dis­tor­tion of the col­or you’ve applied. 

Note imper­fec­tions: Prop­er light­ing helps you see imper­fec­tions that you might oth­er­wise miss in sub­op­ti­mal lighting. 

Even cov­er­age: Uneven paint cov­er­age can be easy to miss in poor light­ing. Qual­i­ty light­ing helps pre­vent missed, light, or dark­ened spots on the surface. 

Rush­ing the Process

Everyone’s time is valu­able, but rush­ing the paint­ing process can result in a myr­i­ad of issues for DIY painters. This can take the form of rush­ing the time between coats of paint or even some­thing pre­sum­ably minor like remov­ing painters tape before the sur­face is com­plete­ly dry. 

If you don’t leave ade­quate time for the paint­ing sur­face to dry, you may expe­ri­ence some of the following:

Smudg­ing and Smear­ing: If you apply a sec­ond coat over wet paint, it can smudge or smear, ruin­ing the smooth fin­ish and clean lines.

Weak Bond: Paint lay­ers need time to cure and bond prop­er­ly. Apply­ing a sec­ond coat too soon can lead to poor adhe­sion between lay­ers, caus­ing them to peel or chip off more easily.

Thick Lay­ers: Adding more paint on top of wet paint can lead to excess buildup, result­ing in drips or sags that cre­ate an uneven appearance.

Col­or Vari­a­tions: Incom­plete dry­ing can affect the col­or and fin­ish of the paint, lead­ing to patchy or incon­sis­tent areas that don’t match

Neglect­ing Weath­er Conditions

Tem­per­a­ture and humid­i­ty are impor­tant to con­sid­er when begin­ning any paint­ing project. The ide­al tem­per­a­ture range for paint­ing is between 50°F and 85°F. Too hot a cli­mate will result in quick dry­ing and adhe­sion issues. Con­verse­ly, too cold an envi­ron­ment will slow drying.

When begin­ning a DIY paint­ing project, you should aim for between 40% and 70% humid­i­ty. High humid­i­ty will slow the dry­ing process and can lead to issues like mold. Humid­i­ty below 40% can cause paint to dry too quick­ly, result­ing in an uneven finish.

San Diego-Spe­cif­ic Considerations

San Diego’s cli­mate con­tributes to the wear of all kinds of paint. This can take the form of:

Sun Expo­sure: As a result of San Diego’s abun­dance of sun­shine, UV radi­a­tion can cause paint to fade, chalk, and degrade quicker. 

Heat: San Diego’s sea­son­al heat can cause paint to blis­ter and peel if not prop­er­ly applied.

Tem­per­a­ture Fluc­tu­a­tions: Tem­per­a­ture changes over days and sea­sons can cause paint to expand and con­tract caus­ing paint to crack and peel.

Salty Air: San Diego’s close prox­im­i­ty to the ocean means salty air. High lev­els of salt can be cor­ro­sive, espe­cial­ly to met­al doors, caus­ing rust and paint wear. 

Con­clu­sion

If you’ve made it this far, it should be clear that DIY paint­ing is an endeav­or with many poten­tial mis­steps. How­ev­er, pro­fes­sion­al paint­ing con­trac­tors like Chism Broth­ers Paint­ing spe­cial­ize in paint­ing in the San Diego cli­mate on almost any sur­face. We know the steps to per­form, the mis­takes to avoid, and have the skill and expe­ri­ence to deliv­er a top-of-the-line product.