It’s one of the most common-asked questions professional painters hear every day. How often should I paint my walls? How long does a coat of paint last?
The answer…well, how long is a piece of string?
The truth is, it’s an impossible question to answer as it comes down to a whole bunch of things. As you’re no doubt aware, there will always be those exteriors that still look great even a decade after being painted. Just as there are those that look as if they haven’t been touched-up in decades, when in reality they were painted just a few months ago. As such, it’s hard to put a specific, concrete figure to how long a coat of paint lasts.
Quite simply, it depends.
The only realistic way of working out how often you should be painting your walls is to combine your intuition with knowledge of how, when, by whom and with what the last paint job was carried out.
Keeping up so far?
A Question of Quality
In theory, there’s no reason why a coat of quality paint applied properly can’t go on looking good for 10 years or more. In reality, it’s rare for a coat of paint to look great for this long. The best way of ensuring things last as long as possible is to either hire the pros, or do the job exactly as the pros would do it. The best quality paints on the market, the finest tools money can be, plenty of patience, flawless preparation and so on. The more you put in, the more you get out. Here at Homm CPS, we guarantee all of our paint jobs for a minimum of two years. But this doesn’t mean that two years later you’ll be in dire need of a re-do. Whenever you come across a paint job that looks old before its time, you can bet your bottom dollar it’s down to a combination of substandard products and poor workmanship.
Fading Vs Damage
Typically, interior paint fades (in terms of color and intensity) so slowly that nobody notices. It’s not as if you just get up one morning and your whole home is suddenly a totally different color. Instead, it happens on a daily basis right before your eyes and is largely undetectable. That is, until you move that mirror or frame that’s been hanging there for years, only to see the real color of the paint you chose behind it. Which is where the debate as to repainting kicks off again. For some, fading is no big deal as the walls can still technically look pristine. To others, it’s totally unacceptable. When there’s damage like peeling, flaking or cracking, most accept the time has come to paint the walls again. With fading however, it’s purely a judgement call. After all, that faded hue might actually be quite pretty!
And the Answer Is?
Disconcertingly vague as it may be, there isn’t one…it’s all up to you! Some painters will tell you that as a rule of thumb, your interior walls should be painted every two to three years. But what if the interior in question has barely been used? Or has been exposed to pretty nothing that could damage it whatsoever? It still looks great and has life left in it, so do you really need to paint it after two years?
Only if you want to – there’s no hard and fast rule!
Paint quality and vibrancy can make a huge difference to the exteriors of any home. As such, it’s simply a case of deciding when you’re not happy and fancy a change. If you’re quite prepared to wait until the paint is literally falling off the walls before painting them again, go for it. If you can’t stand the thought of there being the tiniest faded patch even though it’s hidden behind the couch, book yourself a paint job.
In short, don’t let anyone tell you that X amount of time is the ideal time after which you should be repainting your walls. Chances are, they’re only doing it to sell you more paint…or perhaps painting services!
For more information on anything to do with interior painting, get in touch with the Homm CPS team today.