Painting walls red is perhaps the most difficult range of color to get nice solid coverage. Here are a few painting tips on how to get the best solid coverage when painting shades of red.
First, the quality of paint has little to do with coverage when it comes to painting red. The term “quality” and “professional” are two loosely used words in this industry. It would be foolish of me to tell you to go out and buy a quality paint because what defines quality?
Do you think you are going to pick up two gallons of paint at the paint store and compare labels and make a decision? No, you most likely won’t and good luck having the store representative tell you why a particular paint is better than another.
Second, we want to take a look at the paint chip and determine if your particular color requires a tinted primer to be applied to the walls first. Often a shade of gray primer is required under many shades of red.
On a Sherwin Williams paint deck or color pallet, the color chip will have a P printed above the color number. The P indicates optimum color results are achieved using the designated Color-Prime system.
On an ICI Paints Color Pallet its not as easy to quickly determine if a gray primer is required. The ICI Color Pallet has each color broken down into 3 parts. The first portion is the HUE, for example looking at the color Crimson Red #31YR 10/591, the HUE is 31YR, the Light Reflective Value (LRV) is 10 and the last portion is Chroma, 591.
Hue: The Color Family
LRV: The lightness or darkness of the color. The higher the number the lighter the color.
Chroma: The intensity of a color. The higher the number, the more intense the color.
Here is a fair rule-of-thumb. A gray primer is likely recommended for any Chroma value over 450. A paint Store representative can assist you with the shade of gray to use.
This Is What You Need
You want to use a quality white woven roller cover, not any yellow or green colored covers – generally speaking. Do not be afraid to spend $5 for a single cover. This is not an area to skimp on. White woven roller covers are white in color and are more tightly woven providing a smoother more solid finish. White woven covers generally shed the least if any at all so you should avoid getting fuzzies in the paint.
Use a 3/8″ roller cover for smooth walls and a 1/2″ cover for slightly textured surfaces.
DO NOT use lambs wool roller covers for intense wall colors.
This is how I recommend painting red colors.
When you are ready to paint, do not cut or trim anything in first. Simply pull out a roller pan, fill it with red paint and start rolling as tightly as you can to everything. If you use masking tape, then you should roll very close to everything. You may even want to roll horizontally near the ceiling to get closer. Allow the first rolled coat to dry before you cut or trim it in.
Now that your first coat of red is dry, you can start cutting-in the areas you were not able to get with a roller. Allow to dry.
For your second coat, you want to cut-in first and allow it to dry before you roll the second coat.
If your red requires a third coat (likely) then again, wait until the walls are dry, and start painting the edges first and then roll.
Some paints will allow you to backroll and others will not. Back rolling is best described by rolling an area and before you get too far down the wall, you go back to where you started and lightly re-roll that area without adding more paint to the wall. The trick is to allow the paint to set-up a bit and then lightly pass the roller cover over it again.
To determine if your paint will allow you to do this, simply roll a small area behind a door and wait a few minutes and then lightly re-roll it. If the area looks worst than before you backrolled, then your paint is best left rolled and left to dry. Meaning, don’t go back over it until its dry.
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Article Provided By Jack Pauhl. Visit Jack Pauhl’s blog. Jack has a wide assortment of great house painting tips. Truly a must see site!!
