Buying Paint? Questions To Ask Yourself First in Rolling Hills, CA
It can get easily confusing and overwhelming to buy paint, especially if you did not prepare ahead of time.
There are so many variations of paint out there – different paint for different surfaces, thousands of colors and shades available – so no one’s really blaming you if you’re out there scratching your head at the local paint store.
It is important that before going to the local paint store, you already have an idea of which kind of paint to buy and what color to pick – this just saves you so much hassle and time.
So, to help you narrow down which kind of paint you’ll need to buy for your painting project, here’s Buying Paint? Questions To Ask Yourself First in Rolling Hills, CA.
1. How Much Paint Do I Need?
Before going to your local paint store to buy a certain number of paint cans, it’s good to consult an expert to estimate how much paint you’ll need to finish your painting project.
This will save you not only so much money but also the inconvenience of going back and forth to the paint store to get additional paint when you run out in the middle of a painting job.
This step may appear merely fussy and just outright complicated, but it is better to be this sure and prepared early in the painting process than face a mess of problems later on.
2. Do I Need To Buy Primer?
While priming is mostly a necessary and unavoidable part of any painting project, there are a few circumstances where you can essentially skip the primer.
If you’re painting on an extremely clean, well-kept surface that is not porous enough to soak up your coat of paint, you can essentially skip the usage of primer.
The same thing can be said if you’re using a color similar to the one already on the surface or with the exact same paint color.
However, a paint expert should still be contacted amidst these circumstances since skipping primer might result in disastrous painting work, so just to be sure, talk to your local paint professional about the necessity for a primer in your painting project.
3. What Color Will Look Good On The Surface I’ll Be Painting?
When buying paint, you’ll want to be certain first of which paint color you’ll need to buy, so you’ll want to ask yourself which color will look good on the surface you’ll be painting.
Asking yourself this question is important because so many factors affect how your paint will appear when painted on the surface, and one of the major factors here is lighting.
Depending on the lighting available, the same can of paint can either look darker or lighter than you initially saw on paint samples, so you have to keep this in mind when buying paint.
To be extra sure, you can opt to buy small cans of the paint colors you’ve narrowed down and do a test paint on the surface you’ll be painting it on – this way, you can actually see how it will look when painted, and how the lighting affects the way it appears.
4. Do I Need A Water-Based Or Oil-Based Paint?
While there are many other types of paint, two of the most prevalent are water and oil-based paints, each of which has its own specialization and usage in painting.
Water-based and oil-based paints offer their own benefits, so it’s best to speak with a local paint specialist to figure out which is best for your specific painting project.
5. Does This Paint Have High Levels of VOCs?
Most commercially available paints now emit low levels of hazardous emissions known as volatile organic compounds, or VOCs, which can harm one’s health.
It’s a good thing that more companies are now producing paint with low-to-zero amounts of VOCs, which is considerably more suitable for painting and loads better for your overall health.
Before you go out and buy paint, talk to a local paint specialist about which sort of paint would be best for your project’s quality and your general health.
Cooley Brothers Painting is a locally owned, owner-operated, family business in Torrance, California.
Call the office at 310-378-4575 or email us: info@cooleybrothers.com.
You can also use our contact page to reach us.
Related: 9 Questions to Ask Each Painting Contractor at the Estimate in Rolling Hills, CA Part 1