order of preperation/redecrating

[morganog]

I consider myself to be a fairly experienced DIYer and am currently redocarating my my house which is 3 years old.
I am now on my fourth room which is my daughters bedroom, I am a perfectionist when it comes to decorating which annoys my mrs no end, so i am looking for some advise on how to speed up the process a little.
At the moment it takes me around two weeks to prep and paint to my high standard and was thinking that maybe i am doing things wrong in terms of the order in which i work.

1. Rake out old caulk from skirting boards and architraves, which have now shrunk due to moisture content when fitted, Around 5-6 hours work.

2. Rub down all wood work and remove paint from knotts. Around 3 hours work.

3. Zinsser BIN all knotts and bare wood, 2 coates. Around 2 hours work.

4. Re caulk all joints in skirting/architraves. Around 1 hour.

5. 1 coat of undercoat on all woodwork. Around 4 hours work.

6. 2 coates of teflon imulsion on walls. Around 6 hours work.

7. light rubdown with wet sandpaper (400 grade) all woodwork to a glass smooth finnish. Around 2 hours work.

8. Mask off around carpets, vacuum woodwork and wipe down with tack cloth. Around 1 hour.

9. 1 coat of satin wood all woodwork. Around 5 hours work.


when dry remove dust sheets, vacuum room and replace furniture.

As you can see from above its a long process. Am i being a bit too fussy?

Any suggestions to speed the process up?

 

[joe-90]

Do you iron your underpants?

 

[billyo]

dont think any decorating company could afford to have you on its books, mind you if you were a surgeon the patient would die waiting for you to scrub up

 

[noseall]

did you know the word 'anagram' is an anagram for the word marganog.

 

[spice]

I think its nice that he takes pride on his work.

Mind you, the hoovering side of things I can relate too, I'm just as bad.

BTW, why would want to remove the old paint from the knotts?

 

[FastNA2]

...try this for size: This assumes you're painting the ceiling with brilliant white matt emulsion and want a white gloss finish on the woodwork.

Day 1 - Prep work - as you have it listed apart from:

You can buy a carpet stretcher from Argos for about £30 or thereabouts - well worth the money, they're a cinch to use and you'll spend a lot less time on both prep and decorating if you lift the edges of the carpet all the way around the room - particularly under doorways.

A three year old house won't require heavy prep - accept that wooden architraves, skirting, window frames and doors should have a slightly visible grain. If you don't like any grained effect - fit plastic. Don't use caulk for skirting, use an acrylic frame sealant - it's a little more expensive but doesn't shrink as much or as quickly as decorators caulk or flexible filler. This won't save you time this time around, but oh boy will it next time! It typically skins over in 20mins and is overpaintable in 2 hours or so provided you're careful. Obviously don't choose an exterior frame sealant or one which doesn't state 'overpaintable' for interior work. Don't bother removing paint from knots unless it's badly discoloured or you have a problem with resin bleeding through. Where you have a resin problem, remove the paint, blitz it with a heat gun and coat with a shellac or knotting solution - flat this back with flour paper or fine emery before priming.

Prime exposed areas of woodwork first with a fast drying acrylic primer (usually called primer and undercoat) typically touch dry between 20 and 40 minutes after painting and overpaintable in 2 hours. While that dries paint ceilings and coving - cut the ceiling into the top of the wall by 1 to 2 inches - matt white covers very easily, especially with a teflon emulsion. While the ceiling is drying undercoat woodwork with, either, oil based undercoat for badly faded or discoloured surfaces or the same stuff you primed with if the colour is in good shape - you can afford to do this fast as, cutting it into the wall above the skirting by an inch or so, bearing in mind it's white and has a matt finish, it will cover well with the emulsion.

Take a well earned break.

The next day first coat of emulsion on the walls, take particular care over the cutting in for the first coat - this will pay dividends when it comes to the second cut as you can avoid the top few mm's close to the ceiling and the bottom few mm's close to the undercoat. Cut the walls in first and then roller, you'll get a better overall finish. Always allow the first coat to dry thoroughly before starting the second coat - at least the manufacturers recommended drying time - preferably double it. Having two rooms on the go at one time means once the first coat is done on the first room you can first coat the 2nd room while that dries. Always remove emulsion drips from the skirting and architraves immediately, I carry a Jayes cloth in my back pocket for this - saves a lot of sanding later! Roller spray you can more or less ignore unless you're using particularly dark or bright colours of emulsion on the walls - in which case remove spray once each wall is

Day 3 - 2nd coat of emulsion on the walls, see above

Morning of Day 4 - lightly sand undercoat, brush down and wipe all sanded surfaces with a lightly dampened cloth - either rub down with a dry cloth or leave to dry for between 30 mins and 2 hours dependent on ambient temperature. Meanwhile remove dust and bits of carpet fluff from around the skirting with a vacuum cleaner with a brush attachment. Top coat with liquid gloss rather than that non-drip rubbish - the quality of the finish is far superior in my experience

Hope that helps,

Adam.