I’m a 23yr old Painting Contractor and I usually come across a lot of residential projects. I’ve been a painter for a total of 5 years and just recently a business owner of 1.5 years.
I’ve honestly fallen out of love with what I do and it’s to the point I’m not thinking ahead anymore and I dread the next time I lose an estimate to a handyman.
I’ve worked hard to be to the point I am even with the debts I had to collect but now I’ve lost all interest to continue doing what I do.
Anyone have advice for me on other career opportunities or just general advice?
I feel like I’m at a loss.

I paid a painter to paint my bedroom(including ceiling) and everything looks perfect except for this wall where roller marks are visible under the fire alarm speaker. However, this is only noticeable during the day when light coming through a window on the opposite side directly hits this area. The Paint is Farrow Ball Hague Blue (Navy) in Dead Flat.

Hi everyone, I would appreciate a recommendation for a good kitchen ceiling paint. I read great things about Benjamin Moore Waterborne Ceiling Paint ultra flat, however my kitchen ceiling tends to get greasy above the oven, so I am wondering if there is a different paint you can recommend that hides imperfections as well (doesn't have a high sheen), but is also durable enough to scrub off grease stains occassionally?

I plan to use zinsser bin shellac primer on the ceiling in the vicinity of the oven to seal in any residual grease (although I seem to have scrubbed the majority out), and than plan on using a different less toxic primer over the entire ceiling (kilz 3 or kilz kitchen and bath or kilz mold and mildew???)

Special shout out to those that suggested applying a thin layer of base color before painting over to get super crisp lines! I’m super pleased with the results. I can’t believe I had written off painters tape this whole time because of some bad past experiences with bleeding.

Hi

I am painting some steel rim wheel as a decoration for my home.

I first used a Vaper knotted wire cup brushe to remove the old paint, rust and all the stuff. I really did the work with the brush.

After that I used a spray can of Rust-oleum painter's touch 2 in 1 (black) to coat the whole wheel.

The paint came out great, even on everything, good finish and all that. But as I work to put more color on the rim, I notice that the black paint can be scratched really easily even after 3 weeks of curing.

There is no flake coming off, but if i rub my hand on the rim a lot, I can see black pigment on it. I can use my nails to draw lines on the rim.

When trying to remove a spot where I used a primer with red acrylic paint, I was able to use a wooden clothespin to grind to the bare metal.

I tried another type of paint: Armor Coat Rust paint (alkyd).

Unfortunately, it is only slightly more sturdy after a full day of curing. I can scratch it , with some more effort, with my nails. The pigments seem to be holding more to the metal, but with some intense rubbing, I still get some pigment on my hand.

1) Do I really need to use paint specifically made for rim wheels, or is pretty much any metal paint scratchable?

1.5) Is the fact that my paint can be scratched a proof that it isn't bonded well?

2) Would applying a clear coat hold/protect my work enough?

2.5) If I use a clear coat, I need one that work with both alkyd and acrylic paint, any suggestion?

Do you have tips, company, products that you would recommend to work with metal.

I am gonna do a sword next.

Can't decide if I should brush/roll or spray the siding. I bought a sprayer to do the roof last year but the only thing I had to mask was the chimney. It's aluminum siding and I'll be using SW Duration.

The homeowner tried to paint them beforehand but it was orange peeling. We sanded them and put on a coat, it’s still wet, but it looks like it still may orange peel. Any advice?

I had a leak in my kitchen and of course with bad timing we needed to patch the hole up. We did plastic the area pretty well, it was all sealed up from ceiling to floor with 4.5 m plastic. We do have a smell in the house but I’m not even sure if it’s drywall or paint. I did not know we were using max voc but do you all think it’s fine around my 2 week old?

The plastic is still up and I had the area that was painted ventilated by having an exterior door open. I want to take the plastic down should we all be ok? I have an open floor space and we been in the living room most of the day whiles the kitchen was getting worked on. Baby shows no signs of any issues and me and my toddler are also fine.

I also have 2 air purifiers (commercial grade) running plus my mini split which also sucks air out. I just hope I didn’t hurt my newborn.

I recently moved into a new house and re-painted the peeling white stairwell, including painting the newly-installed MDF risers. I used a Valdspar Reserve Interior paint (Ultra White) for everything, but I’ve noticed that the risers get scuffed very easily—I originally painted them the wrong color (using a Glidden Diamond paint) and in the 2 weeks between that and repainting them with the Valdspar they acquired gray/black marks. I’m concerned the railings may discolor/turn gray easily from being high-touch as well.

I’ve gathered from various places that the ideal would have been to use a urethane trim enamel paint to begin with, but at this point it’s too late for that and I assume SW would not be able to color match a bright white paint when the brightest white shade of Emerald Urethane Trim Enamel is a lot darker (presumably they can’t miraculously make what they have brighter to match the Valdspar).

So: is there something I can use to seal the risers and railings, or would that make things worse? I’ve seen clear water-based polyurethane mentioned; would that make sense in this situation? Looking for options that aren’t “repaint the entire stairwell” given the absolutely massive amount of work this already took + the need to be finished with this ASAP so that I can finish unpacking and moving in. Sealing or repainting just the railings and risers is feasible but redoing all the spindles is not.

Would greatly appreciate any suggestions. Thank you!

Why does the paint look so different on the wall vs the sample/swatch? It’s driving me nuts. If I paint the whole wall this color will it look more like the sample?

All the colors that I used looks sooooo different on the wall, like incredibly different.

We’re planning to finish our attached 2-car garage in a 3-story townhouse. The work will involve drywall compound (Easy Sand 45), sanding/prep, primer, and paint over about 3 days.

We currently have a newborn who stays primarily on the 2nd floor. The garage is on the first floor and connects to the house through a door and one flight of stairs.

My main concern is drywall dust and paint/primer fumes getting into the house, even if we keep the connecting door closed and ventilate the garage.

Has anyone done something similar with a newborn at home? Would you recommend holding off until the baby is older, or is it reasonably safe with proper containment and ventilation? If you would wait, how old would you want the baby to be?

Also interested in what precautions professional painters would recommend.

After fifteen years of the service/tips industry, I'm new to the world of self employment. I've done a couple jobs for friends and family in handyman/carpentry/painting areas. Those have always been flat hourly rates+materials.

This is my first offer by an acquaintance, who met me in my other job and asked if I did some painting. He owns multiple properties and invited me by for a walkthrough.

The easy part is that it's empty, pretty clean, one color for walls, one color for trim, just wants one coat, and he has the paint. The hard part is that it's a whole house. A bungalow with finished basement. Two large living areas, four bedrooms, two bathrooms, kitchen/dining, and a stairwell.

The bedrooms and living areas are all simple boxes, I'm not doing the ceiling. Paint trim, cut lines, roll big areas, stuff I've done before (but feel free to correct my order of operations).

The kitchen cabinets are not being painted, and there's a backsplash, so that area doesn't need much, but what it does need is small and slow.

The stairwell I'm not exactly sure how to do. I'd be bringing a ladder, assuming I can find a safe place to lean it, doing the tight spots, and then putting the ladder away to roll the rest.

I am confident in my ability to do a good job. I'm not confident in my ability to do it as quickly as an experienced painter would do it. I'm not confident in my ability to estimate how much time it should take.

I think I'm going to tell him an hourly rate with a projected ceiling cost, and that I'll tell him if it looks like I'm going to go over that ceiling. It seems safest, but I don't want to tie myself to a beginner rate with what might be a repeat customer.

The other option is to try to price the job. This is clearly more difficult for a beginner like myself. The benefits are that doing the job efficiently leads to a higher rate, and doing the job slow and meticulous can be chalked up to a justifiable beginner rate, the cost of education, I won't feel guilty about taking the time I need to do it well, and I can continue to price for work in the future with added knowledge of my own speed.

I think I go the hourly route, just to be safe, but I also want to be as professional as possible.

Can I paint a plastic outdoor patio chair with this?

Thank you!

We bought an old house that a landlord had owned. He used a paint that was really thin throughout the house and after living here for three months, is already peeling and thinning. How would you handle the peeling paint in the bedroom? The paint that is now showing through has lead in it so I’m unsure how best to prep and paint the wall so we don’t have to repaint it again. We have young children in our home

Hey guys, I just wanted to know what yall think about running ads to get more painting leads?

Some of my clients asked if I could paint their barn. I’ve done lots of small painting projects for them including a couple decks and interior rooms. This would be my biggest project to date and I’m scared of handing them the big estimate. What would you charge for this? Barn is roughly 55x40 and in rough shape with lots of peeling. I have a sprayer I can use and an articulating lift goes for about 1200 a week in my area. Any advice for a young business owner would be greatly appreciated.

I just got a job painting someone’s entire house I have to go over later today to do the quote. This is my second job and I’m fine tuning my methods. I’d like to know a way to stream line the quoting process like how much I charge or not charge for each of the things considered. so I’m not fumbling too much and I’m taking the right notes and pictures. so far I consider the following.

If anyone has anything else to add or tips it would be greatly appreciated.

Is it dry wall or plaster

How much damage I have to prep before the paint goes on

What color the previous walls were and how many coats of primer

Square footage obviously

Are the baseboards, trim, doors, ceilings included in paint job and are they a different color than the walls

Furnished or not furnished? (This job they are just moving in so the furniture will be present)

Time constraints. (She wants this done fairly fast so they can start unpacking more things)

I’ve been asked by my colleagues to paint a mural in the school. The walls are concrete/block. And are painted already. I was wondering What I could use to paint the mural? I’ve done window art before but concrete walls are new to me. Any advice is greatly appreciated

I will go first, I picked a gray that looked perfect in the store and somehow turned blue once it was on my walls. Ever since then I order Samplize sheets and test them on the actual wall before buying anything. Curious what everyone else’s biggest paint color regret has been and what you would do differently next time.

I saw this paint on facebook marketplace and it really caught my eye, but I couldn’t find any thing about the painter ‘weydun 1811’.
I hope someone can help.