Painting Old Drywall

Overtime just about everything ages, and this includes the drywall in your homes. Before you begin painting old drywalls, make sure that you know the proper method. If you don't, then you can end up creating a worse situation than you would have believed. Luckily, it's not all that difficult.

1. Prepare the area. The very first thing that you will need to do is prepare the work area for what you are going to be doing. This means that you should lay down some drop cloths, apply some painters tape, and use anything else that you think may be necessary. You may want to also think about washing any windows and anything else that you may be taping up so that the tape will adhere better than it would otherwise.
2. Dust the drywall. Grab a brush broom, preferably one with soft bristles, and start brushing off the wall. This will help remove any loose bits of drywall, dirt, dust, or other debris that may be stuck on the wall. Furthermore, this can help "clean" the wall so that the paint and primer will adhere to the wall better.
3. Apply some primer. Once you have the drywall finally prepped and cleaned, you can begin applying the primer. Do this by "painting" the primer onto wall using a roller. Rollers can apply the primer evenly, and quickly, without leaving any brush strokes. As you apply the primer, move the roller in a "W" pattern so that it will go on as evenly as possible. Near any edges you will want to use a paint brush, which is called cutting in.
4. Allow the primer to dry. After you have applied the primer, be sure that you allow it to dry completely. After the primer has dried, look over everything to ensure that you haven't missed any spots. If you did, then make sure that you hit those particular areas. Make sure that you also clean off the tools so that you can use them again in the next step.
5. Start painting. With the drywalls now primed, you can begin painting. Use the same method described in step three to apply the paint now. Be sure that you cut in around any edges and windows to avoid painting problems.
6. Dry, and inspect. As you did in step four, make sure that you allow the paint to completely dry and then inspect it. On the average the drying time lasts about two to three hours, though you may want to let it dry overnight. This will allow you more the opportunity to do a complete and thorough inspection of the work.

After you have inspected the now painted old drywall, you have to make a decision. Is the work, and shade of color is to your satisfaction, you are pretty much finished. All that you really have left to do is a bit of cleaning. However, if you are not yet satisfied with the overall work you will need to repeat steps five and six until you are satisfied.