My Painter is backed up 3 weeks . So I picked up the brush

My Painter is backed up 3 weeks . So I picked up the brush

Severna Park, MD · Member since 2013 · 7k+ posts · 7k+ votes

I just picked up a new rental about 2 weeks ago A nice 2/1 with a unfinished basement . Been going over everything , called my painter last week and he tells me he is swamped and cant get there for 3 weeks .  Damn . I have a tenant moving in 3 weeks from now . 

Well painting isnt as easy as it looks .  1 day fixing nail pops , caulking cracks , and assorted drywall repairs .  Another day and a half cutting in the wood trim (2 coats), doors  ( 3 coats due to bleed through )  and 2 closets , and a pantry  and the entire ceiling , all semi gloss white . Another 1/2 day sanding walls , the rest of the day cutting in around windows , doors , and the entire perimeter of the ceiling .  Then finally the easy part , rolling the walls 1 day  for 2 coats.  Four days total , 10 hour days . Three gallons of mud , and 12 gallons of paint .  

Next is the basement , right now its ugly , 4 block walls painted green in some areas , light blue in others , and 1/2 the floor was painted.  This is where I spray . I am doing the unfinished ceiling ( bare 1954 dry wood . This will suck up the paint .  I buy mis tinted paints in light colors and use them as primer , mix them together and use them to seal the wood and get the walls an even color . then finish with semi gloss white .  

The fun part is power washing the walls and floor .  

This is another 3 day project to be done next week . 

I see why painters charge what they do . Its not hard , but its tedious .  

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Specialist · Baltimore, MD · Member since 2016 · 384 posts · 318 votes
8y

Ahhh...the joys of painting. I need to repaint the house I bought in August...but I keep putting it off for all the reasons you mentioned, @Matthew Paul. Then again, I don't want to shell out how much it will cost for a painter to do it. The good news is, my girlfriend lives with me now....she had no idea she was going to learn a new trade! Haha

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  • Saint Cloud, MN · Member since 2017 · 90 posts · 70 votes
    8y

    Painting usually always takes longer than I think it will.

  • Real Estate Agent · Princeton, NJ · Member since 2016 · 1k+ posts · 1k+ votes
    8y
    Matthew Paul - you can always post on craigslist $100 cash per day for painting if you want a buddy... I hire a guy from MD for my jobs in fairfax county va
  • Del Rio, TX · Member since 2017 · 25 posts · 11 votes
    8y

    Behr Marquee. one coat and done. Goes on smooth and even. It may seem more expensive however  you will spend more using more coats of cheaper paint.

    A light pink covered a blue and purple polkadot wall in one coat.

  • Severna Park, MD · Member since 2013 · 7k+ posts · 7k+ votes
    8y

    @Natalie Schanne  I am a contractor , I wont do craigslist . I am a full legal business . If I hire a laborer for a day or two they have to go on payroll . Workmans comp , everything .  I would waste more time looking for someone , its faster for me to jump right in . 

    My guys are on my jobs right now . We are real busy . My subs are busy . And my competition is busy . So I took the only man I could spare , myself . 

    I did get 2 day laborers  for 1/2 day  to carry out debris . but all they did was whine and complain and fight with each other . The only good thing was they worked for 10 bucks a day plus lunch . And they could keep some junk that came from the basement . 

    I got them from the preteen labor force . My 2 boys . Nine years old and 12 years old .  A 2 hour job took 4 hours .

  • Specialist · Baltimore, MD · Member since 2016 · 384 posts · 318 votes
    8y

    Ahhh...the joys of painting. I need to repaint the house I bought in August...but I keep putting it off for all the reasons you mentioned, @Matthew Paul. Then again, I don't want to shell out how much it will cost for a painter to do it. The good news is, my girlfriend lives with me now....she had no idea she was going to learn a new trade! Haha

  • Real Estate Broker · Apopka, FL · Member since 2017 · 492 posts · 528 votes
    8y
    @Matthew Paul I recently painted the outside of my personal home at the end of last year. Built in 2009, single story stucco on concrete block, the initial paint job was cheap and thin, some hairline settlement cracks were present needing caulking and the finish had faded/stained. Its a hip roof so no wall is taller than 9' other than a small decorative gable over the porch. Simple enough, right? Ha My 10 year old stepdaughter and 11 year old son had been chomping at the bit for paid work, so I decided to pay them $5/hr to "help". My stepdaughter spent a solid 3-4 hours very meticulously painting the trim on the front of the house. Her cut in skills were on point, very impressed. But man did she milk the clock, there wasn't 3 hours worth of trim! My son "much prefers rolling" so I let him help me on the dip and slosh stucco rolling. I thought I'd teach him a bit and then we'd have two rollers knocking the house out quick. Instead, I just carried a brush around to mash some paint into where he missed and supervise him. He'd take one wet roller and continue on down the wall well beyond running out of paint. They both worked hard but not very efficiently. They were as happy as I was to clock out after making $20.... In the meantime we had Hurricane Irma pay a visit and many rainy days making exterior painting impossible. Also, stucco in need of paint is more like a sponge than a wall. I bought Olympic Assure paint at a laborday sale at Lowe's. Bought by the single gallon it was $10off per gallon making each only $11. Being exterior I really wanted two coats regardless, and Assure gets great ratings on UV exposure and flexibility. I'm 100% satisfied with the finished product. But it ended up taking 19 gallons of paint, $40 of paid preteen labor, and about three months of random bursts of effort whenever it was sunny out and I was off work. I likely saved about $4000 over having paid a pro, but I completely understand the cost, I feel I worked for every dollar of that savings.
  • Rental Property Investor · Brooke Park Drive · Member since 2018 · 1k+ posts · 2k+ votes
    8y

    How do you power wash indoors.  Is it totally unfinished with a drain in the basement floor?

  • Severna Park, MD · Member since 2013 · 7k+ posts · 7k+ votes
    8y
    Originally posted by @Account Closed:

    How do you power wash indoors.  Is it totally unfinished with a drain in the basement floor?

    Its 4 block walls and a concrete floor . There is a sump pump in one corner . I just set the powerwasher outside and run the hose in the window . Just keep the gas engine away from the window so I dont die from  the exhaust 

  • Investor · Saskatchewan , Saskatchewan · Member since 2017 · 311 posts · 233 votes
    8y
    Every single time i painted I say “never again”... I didn’t actually know it was possible to be a terrible painter until the first time, problem is now I’m actually decent at it.
  • Specialist · Baltimore, MD · Member since 2016 · 384 posts · 318 votes
    8y

    hah @Account Closed, you are now forever a slave to the paint roller!

  • Investor · Saskatchewan , Saskatchewan · Member since 2017 · 311 posts · 233 votes
    8y
    Russell Gronsky exactly. Slave enough I’m considering two exterior projects this coming summer... I should’ve quit while I was terrible!
  • Flipper/Rehabber · Springdale, AR · Member since 2016 · 79 posts · 41 votes
    8y
    I can never get past how much it cost to hire painting. Sure, it takes me a while, but the cost to someone pay for my quality and precision- I can’t do it. (I’m a tad OCD, but very much when painting) I trim and cut everything in while listening to podcasts, sometimes having a few trusted friend-painters help. Then get some friends to help roll while we chat and eat pizza afterword. I would rather “pay myself “ by doing it. Plus, it’s therapeutic for me and helps me think.
  • Catskill, NY · Member since 2018 · 636 posts · 668 votes
    8y

    I love to paint.  In fact, I've been in my primary home 8 years and have painted the LR, DR, and hallway about 6 different times/colors and each of the 3 bedrooms 2-3 times.  I also paint the trim every year whether I paint the walls or not.  My father was the "handyman" when I did property management so I would always help him do the painting.  I'd always do the trim and he would roll.  I wasn't so fond of it back then, but now I actually look forward to doing it.  I've never gotten an estimate for a paint job, but after reading some of these estimates, it makes me happy that I enjoy doing it and that I'm pretty good at it.

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