How to Deal with Dents and Damage
Anything can do it. Rearranging your furniture, a weekend of guests, a new pet in the house – imperfections can and will pop up in high-use areas of your interior. However, you don’t have to live with them.
In this blog post, our painting experts walk you through their quick tips for making minor dings disappear and get your home looking good as new again. Don’t sweat the little marks and mishaps, all you need is:
A wash cloth
Warm, soapy water
A drop cloth
Sanding materials
Spackling paste
Paint
Paint brushes or rollers
Of course, you won’t need all of these materials for every mark on your wall. Like each room in your house and each painting project you undertake, each little bit of damage has to be dealt with in its own way. Don’t worry, we’ll break down exactly what type of mark or scuff requires which type of fix so you don’t have to guess.
Before we dive into specifics, though, we should recommend that the first step regardless of the kind of damage you’re dealing with is to make sure your walls are clean. Just a quick soap and water mixture should do the trick.
Now, it’s time to prepare the area you’re working with. This is where the drop cloth comes in. Use a wet wash cloth to wipe down the area of your wall that has damage, and sand over the damage to remove any sharpness or harsh edges.
Filling in the actual dent comes next. Most likely, if you’re DIY-ing this project, you won’t have a huge area to worry about. Fill the gap with your sparkling paste and scrape down the area, but be careful not to overfill – most materials used here don’t shrink too much after application. Finally, use your sander one more time before we get to painting!
The most important part of this step is to make absolutely sure your paint matches the original shade on your walls. The worst outcome here would be fixing an eyesore by adding another. If you don’t remember exactly what you used the first time, or you’re fixing up paint that a previous owner chose, you can use a knife to cut off a small square as a sample to take to your local hardware store.
Then, all that’s left is to apply the right shade of paint with your brush or roller.
Still think you might need help? Even smaller DIY projects can seem overwhelming when you have a packed schedule. Ireland’s Finest Painting can help you with everything from color consultations full-scale painting projects.
