How to Paint, Step One: Cleaning the Wall and Fixing Imperfections

The steps on how to paint a wall are very easy to perform. The first step includes the processes of cleaning a wall and fixing all of the imperfections that are present in its surface are. The materials that a person must provide at this stage are tack cloth, a clean rug, joint compound, silicone latex caulk and a damp sponge. To start with the first step on how to paint a wall, get the tack cloth and use it to  remove all of the dust and dirt that are present in the surface of the wall. It’s very important that your walls are clean before you paint.

Tack cloth is one of the most special cleaning materials that painters use in removing all the of debris that are present on wooden surfaces and drywall. Tack cloth is very efficient also when it comes to the process of removing all the tiny particles and messes that can affect the quality of the newly applied paints in a wall.

Now once the wall is free from dust and dirt, the next thing to do while is to wipe its surface with a clean rug to remove all the remaining particles of dust that are still present in it. Make sure you double check the surface of the wall after completing the process of removing all the dust and dirt. Look for the visible imperfections that are present in its surface. Some of the common examples of imperfections that a person can find in the surface of an old wall are the small holes, cracks and gaps that were caused by nails and poor finish.

Prepare a premixed joint compound and use it as a filler solution for the existing holes and cracks that are present in the walls that are meant to be painted. This filler has an ability to restore the smooth surface of an old wall by eliminating all of the imperfections and damages that are present in its surface. After the first coating, sand the areas that were coated by this solution with fine sandpaper. Make sure that the areas that were coated by the joint compound are smooth after the sanding process before applying the second coating of the solution to increase its quality.

After the second coating of joint compound in the imperfections, use fine sandpaper again on the areas that were coated with the solution to restore its smoothness as a part of the preparation for a painting process. After the second sanding process, get a tack cloth and remove all of the dust and dirt that were created by the sanding process and small pieces of dried joint compounds. Look for the gaps that are present in the clean wall and fill it with sufficient amounts of silicone latex caulk. Remove the excess latex caulk on the wall with the use of damp sponge. When all of these procedures were properly executed, a person can proceed to the second step on how to paint a wall.