Kitchen and Bathrooms

These two areas of your home are very similar and need to be painted differently than the rest of the house. For starters these areas often have much higher humidity levels, far more exposure to water and require stronger chemicals to clean.

Kitchens are the center of the house and bathrooms, with today’s new jet baths and fancy showers, are a place to relax and find comfort after a long day. This alone should make you want to ensure that these two areas are painted correctly and have that fine finish that only comes with using a fine oil base paint.

When painting these rooms you absolutely have to start with cleaning all the grease, dirt, soap, and God knows what from the walls. Using the right product is very important here so an industrial TSP will work great. TSP will also etch your paint, which is why you don’t use this kind of product without painting afterward.

Masking in these areas can also be extensive, especially in bathrooms. Tile grout cannot just be touched up and if you don’t take the time to mask off the grout perfectly then you will have paint over your grout. Because most bathrooms must be masked off completely, this alone can take half a day.

Then comes your prep work, consisting of sanding, caulking, puttying of holes and anything else that needs to be done prior to painting. Using the right size sandpaper here is important if you don’t want scratches under your top coat to show.

What really makes all the difference in these two areas is using the correct top coat. Water base materials are just not good enough when it comes to kitchens and bathrooms. Bathrooms are the most critical considering all the water (ans steam) used in the taking of showers, shaving and baths. We have all been in someone’s house and, while using their bathroom, looked up and see black spots on the ceiling. That is mold and it only occurs when the painter has used a water base paint. Water base paint cannot hold out moisture and once moisture has entered your sheetrock it will mold and crack, the tape line will come apart and so on. Water base paint in these rooms is often a waste of your money and if a painter tells you that new water base materials work fine, he is just plain wrong, if for no other reason than he is not good enough to apply oil properly.

Oil base paint will hold out water, will hold up to cleaning, and just give your walls or cabinets a much more vibrant look, one that will last for years and years. We at Fine Line Painting think using oil base materials on kitchens, bathrooms and all interior trim is the only way to go.