Is there anything "special" that interior painters here would do? Anything to look out for which might make me wish Id contracted it out? How common is it for interiors to be sprayed?
Any thoughts would be appreciated.
Thanks.
Im trying to decide if I want to paint house interior. Furniture and flooring will be out so not a painting concern. No high ladder work needed. Ive painted a fair amount over the years with good results (indoor, outdoor, automotive) but am not up on the latest and greatest paint and coatings technologies.
No go ahead.
Same rules as anywhere though - better quality paints give better results and make sure you use the the right sort of roller for those textured walls (these are of course more expensive).
It's normally much easier here as most more modern places don't have radiators!
Painting is probably the least skilled trades job and one where you can easily do a better job than the "professionals".
White
There are many different flavours of white so it may be worth checking which one was used in your place if you need to match it anywhere.
I missed the bit about doors. Those really smooth flat ones, and the metal door surrounds are sprayed (before the walls are painted) but you can get perfect results (and with a lot less mess) by using those small foam rollers and a satin paint.
lol, at least better than UK 'magnolia'
I thought it was to get someone to cross the border and do it cheap.
... always better at the quality and price, east Europeans are the best when is come to that...
Are you renting or the owner?
If renting you should perhaps first check with the landlord or rental agents that they'll accept you doing any decorating...... otherwise they might insist on redecorating when you hand in your notice.
I'm not sure if this will be of any help, but I do know that one of the very common wall colors used in apartments here in Switzerland is RAL9010, which you can buy pre-mixed at stores like OBI. It's a very neutral shade of off-white that is easy on the eyes (I often find normal white paint to be too bright, especially for living rooms and dining rooms).
But I suppose you can go with any shades you like, especially if you own rather than rent. We do rent, but I've painted our dining room and small bathroom and a wall in our kitchen, various colors.
Be creative.
That sounds sensible. My former neighbour in UK always said to use an off white rather than brilliant white
Many thanks for the thoughts. With the cost savings of doing it myself there's is a budget for quality paint and supplies. I have a fair amount of the tools already and am looking at possibly needed equipment.
Has anyone had good experience with particular paint brands or types of paints and supplies? From past experience, OBI seemed to have the largest selection of paints and solvents but don't know which are the "quality" brands or if certain things are available only to professionals through the trade channels.
Its most likely all paint will be a white variant of some kind. Ill have to take a closer look at the options.
The door surrounds are metal and look as if they were sprayed. Im curious about trying that too, but masking and covering everything for overspray seems to be a lot of work.
I've tried lots of emulsion available at DIY sheds here and most of it was rubbish, some notable so (Landi).
The most expensive Hornbach one was great though and I'd use it again.
If you go for it, buy it in the biggest containers they sell it in. It's triple the price in small tins.
I suspect you can buy good quality trade but I haven't tried that here.
The foam rollers I mentioned in the earlier post are specifically designed for this. They really give a perfect smooth finish.
Here is a set of tests in Germany of wall paint, probably most are available here, anyway all availble from amazon.de.
The tests are in German language but it is easy to see the important results. The best were rated @ 1.4
Edit: fixed the number
I believe you have misunderstood the grading. The higher the number, the worst the paint.
If you sort the 117 tests in descending performance, the least good one get a 5!
The lower the number, the better!