How to Prepare Your Walls Before you Start to Paint

Want to paint, but need help on preparing your walls? This article will give you easy instructions on how to do that!

Difficulty: Moderate

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Spackle
• Putty knife
• Sanding Block
• Vacuum Cleaner

1. First, look for any holes or imperfections on the surface of your walls. Any nails holes or cracks should be filled. If you need to remove wall paper, check out my article,"How to Remove Wallpaper Effectively".

2. Next, Apply a small amount of spackle to the hole or crack with the putty knife and spread it, making sure you fill the hole. Make sure you spread it thin and make it look as even with the wall as possible. If the crack or hole is too deep, just wait for the first coat to dry and put a second one on after. The key here is to make it look good and spread it on thin. Spackle usually dries in 30 minutes to an hour depending on the type you buy.

3. Lastly, once the spackle dries and you are content with your filling job, lightly sand out the imperfections and make it smooth with the wall. You do not want to see any dips or ridges. Be sure to vacuum up the dust from sanding. Now, You are ready to paint!