You’re thinking about selling your home, but you need to spruce up some rooms. You’ve never painted before but you want to try redoing your kitchen on your own with a fresh new colour. Whether you’re painting to boost your property value to sell, or just looking to make some aesthetic changes, painting can seem like a daunting and time-consuming task. However, cutting corners and rushing a paint job can have the opposite effect of what you want. It's normal to make painting mistakes but just as easy to prevent them. Here are six common painting mistakes you might be making - and how to avoid them!

1. Painting over mould

Mould can grow anywhere in your home and can be a pest to get rid of. Australia has been experiencing unseasonably wet weather thanks to ‘La Niña’. This constant influx of rain has resulted in lots of Australians rushing to get rid of festering mould before the next period of rainfall. Especially moist areas like the bathroom or kitchen. So, how do you get rid of mould quickly before it grows more?

Well, don’t paint over it!

Once mould appears, painting over it, even with mould preventative paint won’t get rid of your problem. While it may for a short amount of time hide the appearance, mould will ultimately grow right through your fresh coat and reappear.

Don’t waste your money on buying paint until you’ve killed your mould properly.

So how do you get rid of mould permanently?

Mould is a type of fungi that grows in moist areas inside and outside your home, particularly if they lack ventilation. Mould is produced from small spores that aren’t visible until they collect together and form a larger cluster that you can see. Sometimes if you catch it early you’ll just have surface mould that can be easy to clean, however it's more likely the mould has been growing for some time and needs to be killed by more than just general purpose cleaning products.

To fix your mould problem, purchase some mould killer or use cleaning vinegar (1 part water, 3 parts vinegar to kill the spores). After the mould has been banished, you can apply your fresh coat, or even better a mould preventative paint to cover all your bases.

2. Don’t Cut Corners by Not Filling or Washing Walls

We get it. Painting is a pain, and it takes some time to do correctly but to get the ultimate result you want to prep correctly too.

Cracks in your walls? Fill them! Old nail holes in your walls? Fill them! Dirt, grime and years old hand marks? Wash them off!

These are simple fixes that help your paint job look even better than you’d expect. Old holes and cracks in your walls don’t disappear with a fresh coat and neither will old marks on the wall. All marks and holes can eventually make their way back to the surface even if you are using the best quality paint.

So, prep correctly!

3. Not Using Undercoat

Not only is painting time consuming, it can also be expensive! Many people try to cut costs by skipping the undercoat and lay on more of the topcoat. This could go badly for a few reasons. Undercoat is recommended as the first coat for a reason - even your old pale yellow that’s been on your wall for 20 years can bleed through your new white paint! Almost all undercoats have properties in the paint that help stop bright or dark colours from bleeding through your new paint.

The undercoat is also known as a primer. Primer is what helps your topcoat stick to the wall properly. If you want your paint to look its best, and don’t plan on repainting anytime soon, an undercoat will also ensure your new coat won’t peel or fade quickly.

4. Not Using Ceiling Paint Correctly

Similar to undercoat, people often try to undercut costs by using extra wall paint on their ceiling, or even ceiling paint on their wall.

Although they have similar properties, wall and ceiling paint have completely different purposes. Ceiling paint is thinner and will not withstand the sort of contact a wall gets on a day-to-day basis. If you’ve used ceiling paint on your wall, it won’t be long before it starts to fade and before you know it, you’ll be repainting again.

Wall paint is much thicker, so you might assume it would be fine on your ceiling, maybe even better! However, applying wall paint to your ceiling is no easy feat as its thicker consistency would also mean it will be much harder to apply to a ceiling.

Wall paint can also potentially drop off the ceiling more often, quickly creating quite a mess. Additionally, wall paint often comes with a low sheen that when used on your ceiling can enhance imperfections.

Save yourself more time and money in the long run by using the correct paints for your DIY projects.

5. Not Cleaning or Changing Your Rollers

Water-based paints have made everyone’s life that much easier! Rather than washing your rollers tediously with turpentine, water-based paints mean all you have to do is run your roller under the tap to clean. Not washing your rollers out after a day’s work or never switching them out for a new one when completing a large project can have big consequences. Lint from the roller might start to come off, and you might even start to have bumpy marks and patterns come out on your wall.

It’s important to wash out your rollers after a day or two of use and more importantly, after a few more days of washing them out, you may just want to swap for a new one so that you continue to get a fresh smooth look on your painted wall.

6. Cheap Paint

Wanting to quickly spruce up your place with a quick paint before selling? A lot of people may just pick up the cheapest paint at their local hardware store and slap on one coat. Buyer beware! You can almost guarantee that any 4L tin of paint under $40 is likely made up of mostly water. It’ll be harder and more time consuming to apply, as well as give you little to no coverage.

It’s always worth investing in a mid-range paint that will give you the fresh thick coat you need.

Cheaper paints are often thinner in coverage and it's more likely that old marks will bleed through even after a day or two of being on the wall.

Although painting prep may take a little longer than you’d like it to, a good job will mean you hopefully won’t have to repaint for years!

If you’re thinking about selling anytime soon, consult with one of our real estate agents at Upside to understand what else you can be doing to prepare your house for the current market. Hit the button below to book in a time with your local Upside agent today.

More on this topic:

• 10 clever ways to improve property value before you sell
• How much should you be spending on home renovations?
• 10 ways to modernise your interior

Looking to sell your home in 2022? Contact us to book in a free, no-obligation appraisal with our expert local agents, and find out how we can help you achieve a successful sale for your property in 2022.