Painting interior walls

Come share your ideas for sprucing up your property.

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1987Commodore
Posts: 383
Joined: Mon Oct 25, 2010 9:53 pm
Location: Steuben County, NY

I have been lurking here, finally joined. There have been many posts regarding successfully painting walls. I have the standard plastic/paper faced wood board walls. The first room I did, I painted over the plastic surface, and the paint job just didn't turn out as well as I had hoped. When I did my kitchen, I peeled off the thin plastic layer, which left just the paper covering the wood. Most of the pattern peeled right off with the plastic, leaving basically a white paper surface to cover. I used eggshell paint to cover any texture left on the walls. The kitchen turned out nicely, with only 2 coats vs. the 3-4 needed to cover the plastic surface. The only difficulty I had with peeling the plastic off was on the one wall behind my stove, which was real drywall. There, it also peeled the top layer of paper off the drywall, but using the eggshell paint covered that issue.
Trudi
Posts: 174
Joined: Fri Feb 08, 2008 9:28 pm
Location: N.C. Foothills

Doesn't it feel great to find solutions that work out well? Do you have before and after pics? I'm not sure what the thin plastic layer is though. Sounds like I need to know, since I'm re-doing some walls too. Thanks for joining and sharing your experience.
1987Commodore
Posts: 383
Joined: Mon Oct 25, 2010 9:53 pm
Location: Steuben County, NY

Sorry, no pics. Will try to put some up when I have time to study how to do it.
In my home, built in 1987, the walls look like wallpaper. If you examine them closely, there is a very thin plastic coating on the paper. That is why there are issues getting paint to stick properly. I really became aware of it when it started to peel a little where it was exposed to moisture in the bathrooms. I just pulled a piece loose from there and learned. There's usually a loose edge around a staple or corner to get started. You don't want to pull the paper off, if you do, the underlying wood will be exposed. ** NOTE** This is the type of wall covering I have seen in all the mobiles of that era, anyhow. Maybe newer ones have improved in the interior quality. check yours thoroughly before ripping the place apart. !!Not responsible for disaster!!
I installed a chair rail in the kitchen, and baseboards. Above the rail is painted a light peony pink (really indistinguishable from white, unless something white is directly against it.) Below the rail is a raspberry cream. Rail and baseboards are white. New curtains are off white. My wife likes the combo. The raspberry matches the small flowers in the new sheet vinyl floor.
I left the seam strips in place on the walls because I didn't want to deal with cracking from movement. One thing I will do differently next time is to run a thin bead of caulk along the seam strips so you don't see any gaps between them and the wall.
I also installed trim moldings around all the windows, and put in a new stainless range hood and back splash.
beachpeach
Posts: 11
Joined: Sat Feb 06, 2010 7:14 pm
Location: Florida Panhandle

Can you tell us about the trim molding around the windows? I have done some of this too, but I'm not sure it was such a good idea. How did you do yours? Should this be a new topic?

Thanks, BP
1987Commodore
Posts: 383
Joined: Mon Oct 25, 2010 9:53 pm
Location: Steuben County, NY

I have the type of windows that have the metal frame screwed to the interior wall surface. I removed the screws and replaced with drywall screws to have a more flush surface to work with. After cutting the molding to fit, I ran two beads of caulk around the window, one on the metal flange, and one on the wall just off the edge of the flange, to block air from flowing under the edge of the flange into the room. The molding was then placed over the caulk beads, and finish nailed in place.
beachpeach
Posts: 11
Joined: Sat Feb 06, 2010 7:14 pm
Location: Florida Panhandle

I think I have the same kind of windows and did a similar thing, minus the caulk. I was concerned about replacing a broken window pane after covering the metal, since my upper windows are fixed (cannot be moved). Would you need to remove the molding to do that?
1987Commodore
Posts: 383
Joined: Mon Oct 25, 2010 9:53 pm
Location: Steuben County, NY

Not on mine. They have a couple clips on the center bar that pop off and release the top pane.
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