Part of the responsibility of being a homeowner is knowing how to properly maintain your home. One thing that you may need to do from time to time is repaint different parts of your house. However, not all paint is the same. Certain varieties of paint are best suited to different jobs. If you don’t know a lot about house paint, below is an overview of how different parts of your home should be painted.

Drywall
One of the most important elements of your home is drywall. This is a material used in home construction to help produce different surfaces in a home, most usually walls and ceilings. Drywall needs to be addressed differently in regards to painting than other parts of your home. For one, it often includes a paper-based outer layer. This layer can soak up a lot of liquids, and that can be a problem when it comes to painting. As such, you should always add a layer of “primer.” Primer refers to a base coat that you should paint before later adding the main coat of paint. Try to use a primer made of acrylic latex. All primer is available with either a flat sheen or a matte sheen. It is designed to be covered up of course.

Ceilings
Something that can be easily overlooked, but is nice to update is the paint on your ceiling. Typically, the paint job in question will be a flat white color. Very few homeowners want to call direct attention to their ceilings. Instead, the color schemes used should play well with the rest of the room. White typically does that job. Lighter colors may be chosen as well depending on the room. Lighter colors, as opposed to darker colors, have the effect of helping make a room seem larger. This can be thought of as the “sky effect.” In many home improvement stores, you can find cans of paint labeled as “ceiling paint.” Otherwise, you should stick to latex paint with a flat or matte sheen. Glossier paints on a ceiling can create a jarring impression you want to avoid.

Brick
Something you have to be careful about painting is brick. This is especially the case if the brick is facing the outside of your home. Brick homes must be painted differently than other kinds of homes. This is due to the fact that brick painted with many kinds of paint can lead to extensive water and moisture damage in your home. If you wish to paint your brick house, that brick should instead be painted with a kind of paint that does not actually seal the brick and instead allows it to breathe. This way, moisture will be released so it does not harm your home. Your best choice is a flat paint designed specifically for masonry. Masonry flat will also last an extremely long time as well. It can last for up to 20 years without flaking or peeling.

Bathrooms
The walls located in your bathrooms have different needs in regards to painting than other rooms in your home. As you may guess, this is due to the fact that those bathroom walls will encounter a lot more moisture and humidity than other rooms in your home will. To account for this, choose paints with a glossier sheen. Moisture will be less likely to penetrate paint with a glossier sheen due to how its molecules are situated. This will not be the case with paints labeled as flat that may more easily and quickly succumb to damage in your bathroom.

Doors, Trim, and Cabinets
Other elements of your home may need to be re-painted from time to time. This certainly includes your doors, trim, and cabinets. Your best choice for these surfaces may be to use oil-based paint. Oil-based paints have a slight downside due to taking longer to dry and emitting more fumes during the drying process. However, after it has dried, you can expect to find an extremely solid and almost glass-like smooth surface perfect for your doors, trim, and cabinets.

Overall, do your research. Different parts of your home have different needs in regards to paint. There are also many different varieties of paint that are best suited for certain uses and applications. If you are more educated on the subject, you will be far less likely to make a mistake when re-painting your home.

What Kind of Paint Do You Need for Your House? by Stephanie Snyder