When it comes to painting or decorating your walls, preparation is key. Proper preparation ensures that your finished product is smooth, even, and long-lasting. Here we’ll provide you with some important tips and tricks for preparing your walls before painting or decorating.

Clean your walls thoroughly. Use a damp cloth or sponge to wipe down the walls, removing any dirt, dust, or grease. Make sure to pay extra attention to areas around light switches and door handles. If the walls are extra dirty (you’ll know if they are), use some sugar soap mixed in with water. Then rinse it off with clean water.

Repair any damages. Fill any holes or cracks with filler and sand them down once dry. You can guy ready mixed filler like Polyfilla or the powdered version and mix it yourself. If there are any loose or peeling paint, scrape it off and sand the area down to create a smooth surface. If there are really huge cracks, you might want to get them checked by a builder to ensure you don’t have any structural issues.

If you’re planning to paint over wallpaper, it’s important to remove it first. Use a wallpaper steamer or a stripping solution to make the process easier. It can help to score the paper when applying a solution so that it can seep through the paper.

Sand your walls. Sanding your walls ensures that the surface is smooth and even. Use a sanding block or a pole sander to sand the walls, starting with a coarse grit and moving to a finer grit for a smoother finish. Wipe the wall down after to remove the loose dust otherwise it will mix into the paint.

Mask off areas you don’t want to paint. You can use tape for this. They come in various widths so choose what’s comfortable for you.

Protect your floors and furniture. You can use dust sheets or old bed sheets. Lay them down on the floor under where you’re painting. Cover the furniture as well, paint can splatter all over the place and tricky to get out of certain surfaces.

By following these tips and tricks, you can ensure that your walls are properly prepared for painting or decorating. Proper preparation may take some extra time and effort, but it’s well worth it in the end to achieve a beautiful and long-lasting finish.