Painting over or covering an old colour is always going to be different to painting over a new wall, in fact it can often be a challenge if you don’t know how to execute it or who to trust. At Bartolomé we do a lot of work as painters in Jávea, and being an area with a lot of villa renovations, we often have to paint over already painted walls.
You may be looking for more information on how to paint a wall that has already been painted because you have been in the situation of trying to whitewash an already painted wall and not being able to cover the old part of the existing paint. It is normal that if you are not a professional painter, you may have doubts and problems when it comes to repainting and hiding the old paint.
Why an already painted wall doesn’t paint well
We can say that the main cause of the problem is inexperience in doing this job and it is obviously not your fault. To do it correctly and to have a perfect finish we always recommend hiring experts, but let’s see a little more about how to paint over painted.
When you finish whitewashing such a wall and the paint is still very fresh it is difficult to see the imperfections immediately. In fact that sheen can sometimes be very misleading and give the idea that it is a very dull colour when in fact it is not. We will have to wait until the drying process to see all the imperfections as they will draw attention to them.
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Why there are imperfections when painting over a painted wall
Sometimes, for those who are not experts but enjoy doing work themselves, they tend to immediately cover surfaces with colour without worrying if the colour itself is absorbed by the wall. This is an important point to bear in mind. One should not rush into these things or be anxious to see the finished work immediately.
If you decide to paint a wall immediately without preparing the surfaces properly, you run the risk of coating imperfections appearing immediately at the end of the work, such as signs of brushstrokes all over the walls in different shapes, cracks that have not been properly covered or poor sanding that leaves flaws in the paint. The worst thing that can also happen is that the previous colour is not covered with the chosen colour or way of painting.
What to do in these cases?
If you have already decided to paint the house yourself and have noticed that the old colour is still visible on the wall, we recommend that you have the work professionally redone and rely on an expert.
Steps to follow when repainting a painted wall
Before you make a mistake and waste material, money and time, you should know that there are certain things to consider when painting an already painted wall. First we have to carefully assess the condition of the walls, analyse the type of colour and paint that has been applied to the pred.
Once you have identified the type of paint applied, you should also look for any problems or risks of imperfections, cracks, mildew stains or even unevenness in the wall. Once these details have been checked, we can then assess whether the existing colour can be resolved with the new colour or whether it will be necessary to apply a few coats of opaque white paint to conceal the contrast before applying the new colour.
Make sure you choose the right type of paint as they are not all the same. There will be some paints that no matter how many coats you apply you will notice that the old colour will not want to fade.
You can request information or a quote from our team of house painters without any obligation.