ᐅ Have you painted the interior yourselves? Performing painting work as a DIY project
Created on: 18 Jun 2015 20:06
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willWohnen
Hello,
Originally, when we planned the house, we thought we would do the painting ourselves. (Walls with interior plaster, ceilings with paintable fleece)
Now, with all the stress of building the house, even though we are doing fewer tasks ourselves, and with two full-time jobs on the side, we can hardly imagine doing it anymore.
Moreover, we now think it would be better if the painting were done within a short period, while the screed is still drying and before the flooring, interior doors, or staircase are installed. Less masking tape work, less dirt. That’s the idea. (Happy to hear any experiences related to this.)
Besides, we have never painted ceilings before. How to paint a stairwell without the staircase is also a challenge – in the end, we’d probably have to organize scaffolding and all the necessary equipment. Some family members might be able to help (with emphasis on might), but for each person, we would need to get sheepskin rollers, and several might need the ladder at the same time, getting in each other’s way… that’s how I imagine it.
Now I wonder how other people, like you, have handled this. How much effort, time, and cost it involved, whether you think your chosen approach was the right one, and how the result turned out. *grin*
That’s why I’m creating a survey here. I believe you can also add some individual comments after selecting an answer.
Thanks and best regards
willWohnen
Originally, when we planned the house, we thought we would do the painting ourselves. (Walls with interior plaster, ceilings with paintable fleece)
Now, with all the stress of building the house, even though we are doing fewer tasks ourselves, and with two full-time jobs on the side, we can hardly imagine doing it anymore.
Moreover, we now think it would be better if the painting were done within a short period, while the screed is still drying and before the flooring, interior doors, or staircase are installed. Less masking tape work, less dirt. That’s the idea. (Happy to hear any experiences related to this.)
Besides, we have never painted ceilings before. How to paint a stairwell without the staircase is also a challenge – in the end, we’d probably have to organize scaffolding and all the necessary equipment. Some family members might be able to help (with emphasis on might), but for each person, we would need to get sheepskin rollers, and several might need the ladder at the same time, getting in each other’s way… that’s how I imagine it.
Now I wonder how other people, like you, have handled this. How much effort, time, and cost it involved, whether you think your chosen approach was the right one, and how the result turned out. *grin*
That’s why I’m creating a survey here. I believe you can also add some individual comments after selecting an answer.
Thanks and best regards
willWohnen
W
willWohnen3 Jul 2015 09:54@Musketier Yes, you’re right. We have now hired someone. Honestly, we really don’t have the time left to do it ourselves. Our "free time" is already almost completely dedicated to the house.
Just replied with "Yes, and we were all amateurs; we would do it the same way again."
However, I have to clarify that we partially worked with textured plaster indoors (bathrooms above the tiles, stairwell, entrance hall, corridor), and these tasks were carried out by a professional (my brother-in-law) with amateur support (my sister).
At times, there were four of us working on wallpapering and painting, although two people (my mother and my wife) were not always helping (looking after the kids; cooking; tasks they couldn’t do).
My father worked for a total of 5 weeks, I worked 3 weeks (vacation) plus evenings and weekends, my mother worked partially for 3 weeks, and my wife partially for the full 5 weeks. Usually, my father and I were on site from 8:00 AM to 6:00/7:00 PM (afterwards there was no proper light anymore).
After that, we were completely exhausted. My father (almost 75) doesn’t take it easy and looked at the end like he was about to collapse from the chair.
We could get materials cheaper through an employee discount. Overall, we spent between 1,000 and 1,200 plus BG payment.
We would do it again, but:
1. We NEVER expected it to take this long. I had estimated a maximum of 3 weeks.
2. Without the enormous commitment of our family, we would have been completely lost.
3. We made small mistakes that a professional would not have made. For example, when wallpapering the inside frame of our sliding door. Currently, our little kids enjoy playing with it and are peeling off small pieces of wallpaper. That’s one spot that needs rework.
4. Our living room (especially the ceiling) still looks terrible despite applying two coats of the best Alpina paint. That’s the second spot that needs rework.
If you do it yourself, you also get the feeling: WE built something on the house OURSELVES.
If you do it yourself: don’t overestimate yourselves. If you get tight on time towards the end (only very little time until moving in), hire professionals. As mentioned before – we never thought it would drag on this long.
@DerBjoern
Your timing was similar to ours.
However, I have to clarify that we partially worked with textured plaster indoors (bathrooms above the tiles, stairwell, entrance hall, corridor), and these tasks were carried out by a professional (my brother-in-law) with amateur support (my sister).
At times, there were four of us working on wallpapering and painting, although two people (my mother and my wife) were not always helping (looking after the kids; cooking; tasks they couldn’t do).
My father worked for a total of 5 weeks, I worked 3 weeks (vacation) plus evenings and weekends, my mother worked partially for 3 weeks, and my wife partially for the full 5 weeks. Usually, my father and I were on site from 8:00 AM to 6:00/7:00 PM (afterwards there was no proper light anymore).
After that, we were completely exhausted. My father (almost 75) doesn’t take it easy and looked at the end like he was about to collapse from the chair.
We could get materials cheaper through an employee discount. Overall, we spent between 1,000 and 1,200 plus BG payment.
We would do it again, but:
1. We NEVER expected it to take this long. I had estimated a maximum of 3 weeks.
2. Without the enormous commitment of our family, we would have been completely lost.
3. We made small mistakes that a professional would not have made. For example, when wallpapering the inside frame of our sliding door. Currently, our little kids enjoy playing with it and are peeling off small pieces of wallpaper. That’s one spot that needs rework.
4. Our living room (especially the ceiling) still looks terrible despite applying two coats of the best Alpina paint. That’s the second spot that needs rework.
If you do it yourself, you also get the feeling: WE built something on the house OURSELVES.
If you do it yourself: don’t overestimate yourselves. If you get tight on time towards the end (only very little time until moving in), hire professionals. As mentioned before – we never thought it would drag on this long.
@DerBjoern
Your timing was similar to ours.
D
DerBjoern3 Jul 2015 11:56willWohnen schrieb:
@DerBjoern Six weeks sounds really exhausting. How many square meters is the house? 156m² (1680 sq ft)
f-pNo schrieb:
@DerBjoern
The timing was pretty similar for you as it was for us. Yeah, and then we still had to lay the flooring. I spent the rest of the year working on the outdoor areas: fencing the plot, paving work, building a carport with a storage room, constructing a wooden terrace, leveling the ground, installing an irrigation system, running electrical wiring in the carport and garden, sowing the lawn, creating flower beds, planting hedges, and so on. It was quite a demanding year...
DerBjoern schrieb:
Yeah, and then the floor coverings were added.
We had a professional friend who handled it for a small favor. We had actually planned to do this ourselves within the originally planned 3 weeks. Lucky we didn’t.
DerBjoern schrieb:
I spent the rest of the year working on the outdoor areas: securing the plot, paving work, building the carport with a storage room, constructing a wooden terrace, leveling the ground, installing an irrigation system, wiring electrical connections in the carport and garden, sowing the lawn, creating flower beds, planting hedges, and so on and so forth. It was a tough year...Hm – we’ll have a company do it. I always think of the old joke when it comes to the 1.50 m (5 feet) L-shaped retaining wall blocks to secure the plot: “And what should I hold in my left hand?” We don’t want to do the paving ourselves – the terrace should look nice after all. Installing the irrigation system – since the workers will already be on site, they can dig the trench for the pipes at the same time. We won’t have a carport this year, but we already had a light and an outdoor socket installed during the house construction. If the plan works out, we want the carport roof to be transparent (allowing light through).
The garden – well, right now we’re struggling through our weed jungle. It should be gone once the outdoor work (retaining wall blocks, terrace) is finished – if they would just get started already. After that, we'll use a rotary tiller on the soil and then sow the lawn (okay – possibly only in September, so the young shoots don’t get scorched immediately). The flower bed is already set up. Then we still need a fence to keep the kids safe from falling and a hedge to hide (camouflage) the fence. But the garden is basically all our responsibility. That’s how it should be with a trained landscape gardener in the house.
f-pNo schrieb:
Afterwards, we were completely exhausted and worn out. My father (almost 75) didn’t take it easy and looked like he was about to collapse from the chair by the end.It would have been the same for us and was an important reason to have the company do it right away.
I wallpapered and painted the walls and ceilings for about 160 sqm (1,722 sq ft) of living space, which took around 4 weeks. HOWEVER, I didn’t take any time off work, so I only worked on weekends and a few evenings after work. My father helped me one day each weekend. I didn’t have to do any filling or sanding. The garden has kept me busy and still does. In recent weeks, I concreted the posts for play towers for the kids, which involved carrying 1400 kg (3,086 lbs) of concrete (digging the holes was also a lot of fun in 36°C (97°F) heat).
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