Painting my apartment

I want to paint my small apartment (about 18 ping), but have never even tried painting my toenails…
Should I:

  1. pay a skilled person to do it even though it seems that the last skilled person to attempt this task wasn’t too skilled
  2. read all the DIY sites I can find on the internet and paint it myself?

What are the things I should keep in mind in Taiwan’s humid climate? My house is pretty dry, except for one bubbly wall…
Help me before my baby-blue horror drives me over the edge of my balcony! :shock:

Painting is dead easy. I am not a great DIY guy, but I have been able to do it with a decent result.

I painted the most of a 50 ping house over 2 weekends. Wash all the walls and remove all loose paint, bits of concrete etc. Then get some putty and fill out all holes (use a putty knife). Not hard, but be careful, as a slobby job means more work later on. When the puddy has dried, then take some sand paper and grind all the non-flats pieces of putty off. Wash the walls, put some newspaper on the floors and paint. Get a paint roll for the walls and a brush for the corners. Paint from the top down, as you avoid running marks that way. Standard concrete paint should be all you need, unless you have to paint on wood. If the bubbly wall has concrete cancer, you might want to buy a special grounder and paint that on the wall first.

Most DIY stores are able to tell you what to buy - just ally yourself with a local. I sent my wife down to the store. She talked to them and got everything we needed. I was impressed, as has never done any DIY herself.

Painting for me is an exercise in meditation… I do it whenever I have an opportunity. I agree with most of what Mr. He stated, but I deviate as follows:

I never use rollers… I always use a brush… even for big jobs.
I never place any paper or drop cloth on the floor, as I don’t make a mess.

Some additional suggestions:

I like to use a water-based cement paint… on everything, including wood. The water-based paints are easier to work with, IMO, and thus touch ups are easier in the future too. I also like a high gloss paint, rather than the flat paint typically seen in Taiwan. IMO, the high gloss paints are easier to clean (when they get dirty, but I think they resist dirt better than a flat paint). Flat paint seems to me to get dirty as soon as it ries, and then it cannot be cleaned. One drawback to high gloss… it reveals the imperfections in your walls… but I prefer clean to dirty but apparent perfection in smoothness.

Finally, get yourself a CD player and some Grateful Dead CDs and turn the volume up and have a beer, or wine, or whiskey, or whatever else you might enjoy, and allow yourself to get into the rythm of the music as you apply paint on the brush to your walls.

what about graffiti? has anyone bought one of those “doctor” masks with which everyone drives around on scooters to guard against the fumes?

jk, but really, i might want to tag my walls in my room at my new place - any taggers out there?

Impressive. I wish I was able to do the same. I am still removing flecks of paint from my living room floor - 4 months after the paint job.

I used standard water-based cement paint too - but used something oil-based for the wood panels. The oil based stuff is hard to work with. Tigerman, how long does the cement paint last on wood?

That may be because you use a roller. Brushes might drip… but not if you’re careful, not much… and a damp cloth can be used to wipe up drips.

I guess it depends on several factors, such as how much wear and tear it is exposed to. My ceilings and trim are all wood, and I painted them 3 years ago… and no problems so far.

I usually don’t listen to anything any of the store owners/clerks tell me… they’ll often say anything to make a sale… once, I wanted to buy tape for a big trim job… I asked the store owner whether the tape was very sticky… of course he thought I wanted sticky tape so he said that it was very sticky. When I told him I didn’t want stcky tape, he immediately said it wasn’t very sticky. Often, I find that the store owners know nothing about the jobs the tools they sell are used for.

OK. First an admission. The only time I ever painted a room, I thought I did a decent job. But my landlord accused me of vandalism. So, you have an inkling as to how high my standards are.

Given free reign, I always fancied the idea of painting the walls pure white, letting it dry, and then inviting friends over one-by-one to choose a sponge soaked in brightly coloured paint and chuck it as hard as they can at a clear bit of wall. Let it dry and then get the next stooge over.

This has to be a joke. You don’t know how to paint a wall?
OK, I’ll bite.

1) Buy paint
2) Buy brush/roller
3) Paint walls

There. Problem solved.

No, I’m sure I can not paint. And I can’t ride a bicycle either. And actually I’ve never heard a single Grateful Dead song (though I did have a plastic tape cover with their name on when I was a child).
Thanks to everybody for the advice…I think I’ll have to make the big brush vs. roller decision. And then spend another few months debating the colour scheme. And then make sure my guinea pigs don’t pass out from the fumes.
Is B&Q a good place for paints and stuff? I’ve never been there…my local paint shop down the street only has primary colours and various shades of off-white.

Forget rollers. They are spray machines. Use one of those rectangular fabric mat things. Clean, easy to use, good results.

twonavels: don’t forget masking tape for the floors, around doors, and any trim you don’t want to paint over. And don’t forget to cover furniture and wear a ratty old tshirt.

Buy only imported paint. The stuff that’s made in Taiwan isn’t half as nice, even though it’s cheaper. You get what you pay for.

Your local store has every shade you can imagine. Problem is, you have to mix it yourself. What most of the local stores carry in emulsion (apart from premixed off-whites) is mostly pure white, so you buy some white paint and also some little plastic bottles of concentrated pigment that you then mix with the white to get your desired shade. Just make sure you mix enough of your desired colour to finish the entire job, though – its almost impossible to achieve a colour match if you run out of paint and have to mix up a new batch. Even a couple of droplets of pigment too much or too little can totally change the final shade.

Mixing paint myself??? This sounds complicated. Hyperventilating! Hyperventilating!
So, can you just take a lovely photo of a room painted in the colour you want, taken from the pages of “Home and Garden” and go: “Hey, give me the little bottles I can mix to make my room look like this picture under bright fluorescent neon lighting?”.
Yep, sounds like I’ll be able to handle this one! :smiley:

My favorite brand of paint (and funny name), in spite of its local manufacture, is “Great Wall Paint.”

Sandman is correct :shock:

But I’d go further… don’t mix paint. Even if you have enough to finish the job, you’ll never beable to match the shade if you need to do touch-up work later.

Dulux has some nice shades (and they are fragranced too). I think you are better off sticking with one of the base shades they offer.

For the record, I have also used a brand called 301, which is made in taiwan and I liked it very much. But I can only find it in Hsinchuang.

There is a big paint store on Hoping E Rd (going west) on the left a bit after you pass Jin Shan.

Mixing paint yourself isnt that hard. You buy the color, put it into a BIG bucket of paint, and stir it till done. I prefer pre-mixed, though. Dulux paints are said to be good - I use the local stuff.

I think sandman’s pads sound like a good idea. Where did you get them?

I have a hard one: I tried to paint the ceilings in my new house. I had to give up as the old paint started to come off when wet. How do I get all the old paint off before painting, and is it necessary? I only got the paint screwed up in a remote corner of the place, so it doesn’t bother me, but I have to something about it sooner or later, as the ceilings in the living room need a bit of paint.

That’s the one I used. You can get it at Homax. (They have a big DIY store in Pingzhen). Fairly cheap too.

I always just get them from the paint store. They’re dead common, been around for years. They work best with that “jellied” non-drip paint.

Apart from rolls, which is easy to work with, then what is best with standard cement paint?