Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Interior Painting Questions-

Older circa 1840's colonial style home. Lots of trim, baseboard, etc. No two walls straight, old lathe plaster walls, etc.


1) are you steady enough to cut-in freehand or do you use painters tape?

2) Favorite brand of wall paint? I usually go to HD for Behr, but this time my wife picked out a Benjamin Moore color. A bit pricier, but it does seem to cover well.

3) surface prep is king. That said, under the window sill there is some caulk covering / filling in an old crack where the wall meets the sill. The caulk is silicone and wont take paint. its only a small section, but I'll see it. Since we've already painted I prefer not to cut it out, re sheetrock & spackle for such a small spot . So, if you arent going to undo it and redo it the right way, any tricks on what to use to prime or cover over non-paintable caulk so that it will take paint?

Thanks.

1) freehand
2) Benjamin
3) cut it out or dig out the silicone and replace with painters caulk

Freehand
valspar (way better then benjamen moore local to us here to) get it with the primer in it, 1 coat covergage on most everything, my walls are knock down trowel plaster and it covers in 1 coat
have the wife dig it out and ill caulk it :-D

lol, I like that one!

Free hand on the old crooked stuff but use a good Purdy brand brush
Ben Moore Aura,a little tricky but the stuff is like an epoxy coating in two applied coats

If you are not going to dig out the silicone the correct way,try an alcohol base primer sealer like enamelac or Zinzer oil base 1-2-3 (or the like,kilz,etc)

This.

Also, there is no such thing as one coat paint. You want to see that color you pay for, do two coats.

Agreed. Benjamin is head and shoulders above. I painted 8 rooms with 12' ceilings and a few smaller rooms this past year. Benjamin Moore (I used Regal Select) was the best paint I've ever used by a LONG shot. Well worth the price of admission.

Don't be afraid to prime first.

I had to tape in some areas it was really the only option but I HATE taping and hate removing it even more. With a good brush it's easy to freehand it with a little practice.

put a thin layer of non-silicone caulk over the old caulk, let dry then paint over.

I've found these to be nifty SHUR-LINE edger . Mostly just for long straight runs though. Still have to use a brush for some areas.

I used to run a painting business. I always cut in freehand, and only used "painter's tape" to hold plastic drop cloths in place.

I wouldn't disgrace my dog by painting his house with Behr paint. How in the world Home Depot continues to sell that schit I don't know.

Silicon caulk has to be removed.

Are you married?
If you are:
1)hire someone to do it.
2)give yourself a break and find a way to be out of town when
he does it.
3)if you're a really nice guy, give him a break and find a
way for your wife to be out of town as well.

Not a pro, by any means, which is probably why I use painter's tape, sometimes!

I will say that the "Frog" tape does what it says. No problems with edge bleed like I used to have (with "blue" tape) years ago (they say they've improved it, not for sure).

While the Frog tape costs more, it's certainly worth the extra money in time savings.

Dog house, so funny, belly laugh!

Thanks for the input guys.

The real issue at hand was the silicone. Just wont take paint. Its gotta go. Tomorrow.



As for the rest, the walls came out fine (2 coats) and yes, the B Moore paint seems to be nice stuff.

I free handed some of it where things were bumpier. (Considering the age of the house, this trim has so many coats of old pain, it goes back to when Lincoln was in office!)

Along the ceiling and baseboard there were straight runs with pretty decent consistency so we used up the blue tape there. And yes, it still bleeds through, but it'll touch up ok.

+ 10
Sometimes I'll do a split coat, Tinted primer, 50/50 primer and enamel,then finish enamel. All with good Purdy brushes.