Real Estate Investor · Cabot, AR · Member since 2014 · 70 posts · 38 votes
I spent many years as an industrial/architectural paint sales rep. I feel like I could answer and have probably dealt with most issues you encounter so please feel free to shoot me a message if I can ever help you out!
Real Estate Investor · Cabot, AR · Member since 2014 · 70 posts · 38 votes
9y
@Andrew StephensI totally understand my friend! Just buy an okay brush, a good roller, and plan on throwing them both away when you are done! You can wrap them in plastic if you need to take a break over night but it will be so worth it in the long run when those walls look amazing.
Real Estate Investor · atlanta, GA · Member since 2013 · 456 posts · 237 votes
9y
A decent quality paint that we use on the bulk of our flips and renovations is Olympic One interior flat available at Lowes. You can color match and tint to just about anything and it has very good coverage, plus touches up well. Kilz is a great oil-based primer for sealing new wood and covering up smoke damage or smokers long term inside. For spot work and new wood, we prefer Zinser Coverstain. It's a little more money but has better coverage. Most times Kilz will require 2-coats on new wood.
If you are not an experienced painter, buying or using a sprayer is waste of time and money. Best thing you can do is an old fashioned brush & roller...don't ever buy cheap brushes except for oil based priming. For finish coats, always use Purdy or comparable Wooster brushes. Clean them well and you'll have them for years. When painting, keep a few grocery type plastic bags on hand. As soon as you put a roller or brush down, wrap it up. If you are quitting for a few hours or overnight, double the bag and wrap it up & lay flat. My crews and I do this and use the same brush and roller for a week without cleaning. Lowes has some new "pre-wet" rollers that we used this week with good results.
@Michaela G. - welcome to landlording. What color is the rest of the house? You will probably be best to sand as much of it off as possible. Depending on the color of the rest of the house, you might want to use a Zinser 1-2-3 latex primer tinted to match the color of the house. It will take several coats but you can mix small batches at a time in a $4 painters cup. For you other brick paint work, see if you can find an adhesion primer. Sherwin Williams used to have the best product but I don't think they make it anymore. They do have a special paint for stucco which will work well on brick. Most of our exteriors are done with SW Duration or Emerald products. Even our flip houses. It costs us more but the results are great long term.
Real Estate Investor · atlanta, GA · Member since 2013 · 456 posts · 237 votes
9y
@Michaela G. - sorry I missed that it was originally unpainted brick. If that's the case, just sand it all off and leave unpainted OR if you are planning to paint the brick anyway, tint the primer with the color you plan to use until the pink is thoroughly concealed. Congrats on being a landlord for so many years - what you are dealing with is typical of being a landlord especially in Atlanta so you should be used to it by now. I've been a contractor, investor and landlord for decades. I don't hold many properties anymore - just too many headaches & hassles. I now partner with other investors to turn fixers into full retail sales with minimal risks and quick payouts at closing. We don't deal with maintenance, evictions and the like anymore. Landlording is still great for hands-on people like yourself but not the best idea for those just starting out. Hope that helps!
Investor · Queens, NY · Member since 2016 · 64 posts · 22 votes
9y
@Dan Ward can I paint a subfloor? I am going to install floating vinyl plank and the former owners had pets but the stench left when we threw out the carpet. However I have noticed a lot of people prime their floors with Kilz or shellac paint. Have you ever done this and do you thin kit is necessary?
Real Estate Investor · Cabot, AR · Member since 2014 · 70 posts · 38 votes
9y
@Karoline Kaon I have seen this done many many times now but I myself have never had to do it. I would just advise to check the moisture levels in the sub flooring just to make sure they are not crazy high. If it's just past pets that caused the odor issues you should be good to throw a few coats of kiltz or shellac to seal and mask out odors. It wouldn't hurt to throw some enzyme destroying cleaner on the flooring before hand (before kiltz) just to make sure you take care of the odors.
Investor · Queens, NY · Member since 2016 · 64 posts · 22 votes
9y
@Dan Ward Thank you so much! I am going to head over there today and check the moisture levels. To be honest, I can't tell if there are any specific areas that smelled strongly. But I might be in for a surprise when I go back todya.
I did have another question regarding stripping paint. I plan to re-paint the cabinets that the former home owner tried to do on his own. It was the strangest thing, he painted half of the cabinet doors and sanded half of them but never finished painting. I was going to leave the paint on but I noticed that the doors were not cleaned. It looked dirty and rough. So cleaned the painted cabinets with TSP I decided to strip the paint with citistrip. I left it overnight but a lot of the paint did not easily peel off. I tried again with a thicker coat of citistrip and it took most of the paint off. Do you think I can sand it and then prime and I should be ok? Do I need to strip every single drop off paint off in order for the cabinets to look good? I purchased sherwin williams pro classic paint because other people on the forums said it doesn't show brush strokes.
Real Estate Investor · Cabot, AR · Member since 2014 · 70 posts · 38 votes
9y
@Karoline Kaon sounds like you are doing a great job so far! I would encourage you to sand, scrap, and anything else you can to get all of the paint off of the cabinets. At minimum on the visible front side of the cabinets for sure. I've done many cabinets in my day and it just seems like if I tried to cut a corner like that, by putting a high build primer or something to that effect either hardly worked or left a minor flaw that drove me insane! What are you planning to finish coat the cabinets with? Once you get the cabinets prepped and ready for paint, I would encourage you to call a professional painter that has sprayed oil or shellac to see what they would charge to spray them. For guys that do tons of cabinets, they are generally always ready to spray and could knock that job out in no time. It may save you tons of time and grey hairs haha!
Investor · Queens, NY · Member since 2016 · 64 posts · 22 votes
9y
@Dan WardThank you and I credit it to reading the forum like a mad women trying to figure this out. You and so many other kind people on here are a wealth of information! I appreciate it so much!
My husband and I are both far from handy (we are both from NYC and young millennials) but boy has this been a huge learning curve! My husband joined the Air Force, so living in Florida has opened up a lot of opportunity in real estate investing.
Anyway back to paint! To be honest I thought the pro classic was a finished color of paint? I purchased ProClassic Waterborn Interior Acrylic Enamel from sherwin williams. So I need to buy a primer for the cabinets? I read zinner or kilz is good, is one preferable for cabinets?
Realtor · Schaumburg, IL · Member since 2011 · 289 posts · 118 votes
9y
Dan Ward what's your opinion on a ceramic flat paint? We started using it and I like what I see, as it's better than reg flat, but haven't seen it after turnover yet. Mostly concerned with bathrooms as moisture cracked the flat paint pretty gnarly, hoping this one will not do it (at least less noticeably).