Floors…one of the few things every room of every home has in common. After all, it’s not as if we’d get a great deal done if our floors were suddenly removed from the equation.
But when it comes to interior decorating, the floor often tends to be a key element of the room that goes overlooked. Once the basic flooring has been chosen for any given room, it’s pretty much left to its own devices for the years and decades to follow.
Which is a shame, given the way in which sprucing up the floor can have a dramatic impact on the rest of the room. As for why the floor tends to go overlooked, it of course comes down to the combined costs and disruption involved in installing a brand new floor.
But what about painting? If planning on going ahead with an interior painting project, can you and should you paint your floors? Or is it the kind of thing you’d be better off not risking?
The short answer – there is no short answer! The reason being that it comes exactly down to what kind of floor you currently have. After all, it’s not as if every type of hard flooring is in fact suitable for painting in the first place. As such, the first thing you need to do is determine whether or not the material your floors are currently made of is compatible with paints and protective products.
If the answer is yes, there’s technically no reason why you cannot go ahead and breathe new life into your floors with a coat of paint. From a professional prospective however, this represents the kind of job that’s typically best left to the experts. Painting floors efficiently and effectively isn’t quite as easy as slapping a new coat of paint on the average wall. There’s far more to it and far more you may get wrong along the way.
Still, it’s technically possible to take the DIY route and achieve solid results in the process. So for those with every intention of painting their floors and looking to get the job done properly, here’s a quick rundown of five important things you need to know, before even thinking about getting started:
- Preparation is key. First and foremost, you need to follow the same rule which applies to all aspects of interior painting across the board. That being – preparation is everything! You are going to need to ensure your floors are spectacularly clean, your room is completely cleared of all furniture and that you can happily live without said room for the duration of the process. Which, it has to be said, often turns out to be longer than expected.
- Quality counts. You are going to need to apply multiple thin layers of primer to your floors, before going ahead with your chosen paint. Which must be the very best primer you can lay your hands on. The same also goes for the paint you choose, which along with being suitable for use on the flooring in question should be of the highest possible quality standards. Last but not least, you’re also going to need one or more layers of the very best sealant you can lay your hands on, in order to finish the job.
- Protect your floor. Painted floors will always be more susceptible to damage than their more conventional counterparts. This means that once you’ve finished the whole thing off, you might want to think about using rugs and other protective coverings to keep things looking as pristine as possible in high-traffic areas.
- Take your time. As already mentioned, the entire process from start to finish is largely guaranteed to take longer than expected. The very worst thing you can do is attempt to rush things along, adding new coats before previous coats have dried. This is not the kind of overnight or even weekend project you can tackle in no time at all – it takes as long as it takes, not a moment less!
- Choose colors carefully. Last but not least, your preferred colors for your floors might not necessarily represent the best colors for your floors. The thing to be aware of in this instance is that anything light will show marks and signs of wear long before darker colors. It’s not to say you can’t use your floors to add a pop of color to the room – just be realistic when it comes to hiding those inevitable scuffs and stains!
More information on any of our services or to arrange an obligation-free quotation, get in touch with a member of the Homm CPS team today.