The best painting tools for the job will make your work A LOT easier.
The best painting tools for the job will make your work A LOT easier.
Best Paint Sprayer: Airless & Electric in 2024
My review of the best paint sprayer for walls in each price range: these are worth your hard-earned money. Based on my experience and after extensive research on airless paint sprayers. These are the only quality interior paint sprayer we trust for the money in my opinion.
Drywall Sander Types: Top 4 Tools, Not Just for the Pros
Here is the list of drywall sander tools and extras that all the pros use…different styles for different budgets.
Commercial Paint Sprayer: Features Compared by Pros + Best Deals
The number of commercial paint sprayers is mind-boggling. I did your homework for you: based on my 30 years as a pro painter, I searched and searched, took hundreds of notes, and contacted many painters and paint stores to discuss what professional paint sprayer works for them…and condensed it all here.
How to Paint a Wall? Big Tip: Skip the Tape, You Will Thank Me!
How to Paint a Wall? Let me count the ways. Ok, here is the short version: you will see all over the internet all these people telling you how to use tape, and how to clean the walls, brush first, etc etc. Well, they clearly read the manual written by someone who read a manual, but in practice, you just jump in. It’s just not brain surgery.
Low VOC Paint: What are VOCs and Will They Kill Me? Yes, Yes They Will.
All you really need to know: Cheap paint will kill you! Volatile Organic Compounds, VOCs have already been removed by paint makers on the cutting edge of paint technology. Many VOCs are carcinogens. Be aware of the danger, and learn about low VOC paint.
Paint Walls or Trim First? 3 Amazing Tips
You paint the trim first, but not using a brush! Here are 3 steps and 1 awesome secret (some pros don’t even know) on how to make this quick and easy (video included).
The Best Way to Clean Paint Brush
Lazy? Soak baby. The best way to clean a paint brush start simply by soaking it. We find a bath tub if there is no utility sink and we routinely put off cleaning for the night and let the brush soak in the bucket. The next day it is so easy to clean as over night the floating brush and roller lets the paint falls to the bottom of the bucket.
Best Paint Brushes: Cut Better Lines and Go Faster!
There is only one name for professional painters when it comes to paint brushes: Purdy. It’s LATEX. See why it is important to use the best painting brushes.
Best Ceiling Paint in 2024 + Timesaving Tips
Use the best ceiling paint, it will make your work A LOT easier. We took a fresh look at all the ceiling paint and here is our review for 2020. Save time and money: only do one coat. This requires an excellent quality ceiling paint. Working and looking up is the hardest thing a painter does on a daily basis. Here’s how to just do one coat.
Room Painting Tips by a Professional: Faster, Better, Cheaper
We are not your normal painting company: we are giving away our secrets. I’m near retirement age, and I like blogging more than painting, so here are some room painting tips that your painter won’t tell you.
Preparing Walls for Painting Efficiently
For re-painting walls, below you’ll find all the steps you need for preparing walls for painting, from before you start up to the finished product. We will review all the potential problems you might encounter.
Paint and Primer in One: The Best and When to Use It
We list here the good paint and primer in one and when you can use them. Be very careful and consider the results you will get if you use a paint and primer in one step. I have seen a lot of ads pushing this idea of one-coat painting, but that just plays to people’s idea that painting is a drag and one coat would be quick and easy. It is not messy and it is not hard to clean up.
Painting Drywall in 6 Proven Steps (Will Look As Good As Any Pro Job)
We’ll list the steps you will need to know how to prepare for painting drywall.
We’ll explain each step from the start of a brand new wall up to the finished product.
We will start by how to prep drywall for paint.
Painting Plaster Walls in 5 Easy Steps
Painting plaster walls is not at all difficult. If your house is old, it will have plaster, sometimes called ‘horsehair plaster’ on the walls. The old workers used the tail hair from horses to mix in with the plaster to give it strength.
Painters Pants: the Best Choice With and Without Knee Pads
My favorite painter pants have pockets for knee pads: just slip them out before washing. But I’m a freak. I buy good tools that work and I buy work pants, painters pants with knee pad pockets: this works. They last.
Painting Tools List (with 5 BIG TIMESAVING Paint Tools)
The right painting tools for the job will make your work A LOT easier. Let’s see which painters tools are the best, we will start with BIG TIMESAVING Paint Tools. Get quality tools and keep them for life.
Best Interior Paint and One Awesome Timesaving Tip
The best interior will make your work A LOT easier, because the color holds longer, applies more evenly, each coat is much thicker, and it cleans up easier. We will show you a secret painting tip to go very fast. First let’s see which paint is the best. Please don’t believe TV commercials.
How to Clean Paint Rollers: the Quick, the Neat, and the Lazy Way
The first tip on How to Clean Paint Rollers– it’s actually not a big mess and there is a reason you should clean them: Don’t buy cheap rollers so you can throw away! Cheap ones shed lint!
The Best Ladder Will Make Your Work Quicker & Safer
Today’s best ladders are safe, well-built, slip-resistant, and many are multi-use. The best value is a ladder that is versatile. We keep small step stools in the kitchen and under the clotheslines and a step ladders of various sizes for our storage nooks.
Best Basement Floor Paint & Painting Floor in 5 Steps
Let’s knock this puppy O-U-T. The short list of what you need: First, choices for the best basement floor paints around, then how to paint a basement floor made easy.
How to Paint Behind a Toilet in 5 min (and the Bathroom in 3 Hours)
Yes, we know how to paint behind a toilet! Here the professional painters’ secret.
Best Floor Paint: Only 1 Coat!
You are in luck. Applying floor paint is the easiest thing we painters do. When you use the best floor paint you will only need one coat in most cases. We only use high-quality floor paint. And painting floors is easy. Don’t thank me, thank gravity.
Best Drywall Primer & 4 Simple Steps for Priming
Here is my research and a few tips from my experience with newly constructed walls. The best drywall primer is not necessarily the most expensive primer. For new walls (with no stains or imperfections etc) you do not need a stain-blocker or a hole-filler. Here is my recommendation for the best primers for new drywall, and my steps of application.
Can You Paint Over Stain? “It’s not THAT Complicated”
Can you paint over stain? Any stain? Yes! These days all the realtors you work for ask you if you can paint over stain: cabinets, floors, trim. It’s like a mantra. We all love wood, but sometimes you do what you gotta do: paint. Luckily, you don’t need to strip the varnish or polyurethane off!
Mold Resistant Paint (with 6 Easy Steps to Paint Over Mold)
Mold resistant paint does not kill mold! But you can relax, the process of stopping mold is very do-able. A little elbow grease, a little mold killing primer (the good stuff) and you are ready to paint. Whew. I’m glad I stopped you from just painting over that mold!
21 Tool Gifts That Are Totally Cool
We picked only the tool brands we know and trust and only the best tool gifts with high customer ratings.
Best Paint Roller & Roller Painting Tips
We picked the best paint roller for 2 budgets: 1) Low-budget, 2) Best. Tips on how to paint with a roller are at the bottom of the post. Surprise: homeowners can easily afford professional painting rollers and get the same results! It’s not brain surgery.
Best Paint Roller Cover Simplified (+ Secret Clean-up Shortcuts)
Make your next project faster, easier, and better looking: we’ll help you decide on the best paint roller cover.
How to Stain a Deck Quickly, the Right Way
Here is how to stain a deck (with a list of staining tools you’ll need at the bottom, even if you decide to spray).
How to Paint a Deck With One Big Timesaving Tip
Here is how to paint a deck with a list of tools you’ll need for deck painting: it’s really straightforward. I use these very tools and they are not expensive and really last.
Paint or Stain Deck? (Plus a Warning: Some Deck Restore Product Nightmares)
First, let’s decide which direction to go: decide here whether you will paint or stain deck material. Then we hook you up to how to get it done.
Best Deck Paint: If You Must Paint It, Go All Out (Thank Me Later)
It can be very confusing to determine what is the best deck paint. I’ve used them all and here I will recommend what I use and trust.
Spray Wood Stain: Zero-Maintenance Deck Stain Treatment
I’m personally happy to share this a once-in-a-lifetime deck treatment that I put on my own deck. As a professional painter, I’ve learned to avoid taking deck jobs: it’s hard work. With this eco-green-chemical change to your wood, you’ll have time for more important things!
Best Deck Stain and Sealer: It is Easy!
Here I review 7 types of deck treatments and the best deck stain and sealer in each category. From my years in the biz, some things you need to know, then we get dirty.
The Best Screw Gun (and Cool Accessories)
Gifting? Don’t know if he/she already has a screw gun? It doesn’t matter! Everyone is very happy to have more than one! Here are all the best screw gun with accessories you did not know about.
New Tools for the Handy-Person Who Has Everything, or Not Enough of Anything
These new tools and new tool gift ideas are my pet collection: everytime a see a cool new tool, I put it here. These are our favorite top tools for the handy-person who has everything, or not enough of anything.
Power Paint Roller Simplified (You Had Me At Hello)
Really no need for a lot of words on these great tools: paint power rollers do not need much getting used to. Easy to set up and start rolling. Here’s what you should look for.
Best Respirator Mask Explained – Use Only What You Need
Finding the best respirator mask gets very complicated very quickly: what filter on what mask? Read the short guide below to find the right mask for the job.
How to Use a Caulk Gun: 5 Key Points (Many Years of Caulking Talking!)
Whether you are using kitchen/bath silicone caulk, painter’s caulk (the same as ‘decorator’s caulk’), glue or anything that you shoot out of a tube, you need to know the basics of how to use a caulk gun… it’s not rocket science.
How to Touch Up Paint in 4 Steps
Learning how to touch up paint takes experience. But don’t worry, we’ll hold your hand through these steps. In decades of painting, we’ve done it a few times.
Best Caulking Gun: The Real Top Guns!
Here you will find the best caulking gun for the money. We argue that a quality dripless caulk gun is worth the few dollars extra: it will last for generations. Oddly, the best caulk guns have been made in England for at least 3 decades. Go figure.
Best Caulk (All Types of Caulk)
So many types of caulk, but what is the best caulk?
Let’s simplify it starting with caulk for painting, then for shower, tub, sink and for masonry, metal, etc.
Painting Plywood: Supplies, and How-To in 5 Steps
Whether you’re painting plywood walls, shelves, a shed, etc, you do have some good choices when it comes to plywood paint. Prep is key.
Best Pin Nailer You Will Leave to Your Grandchildren (Electric and Pneumatic)
Here are the best quality and best deals: the best pin nailers, in both electric and pneumatic. There are some combos and some accessories we all need after our list.
Best Brad Nailer (+Trivia Question You Will Not Get Right)
Ah. No more smashed fingers or need for 3 arms (or split ends). But which brad nailer to buy? Ask Brad the Painter! My parents did not name me “Trim” or “Framing”!
Best Framing Nailer (+Nailers for Flooring, Concrete, Roofing…)
You have to ask yourself one question: Do I feel lucky? Well, you found our picks for the very best framing nailer on the market…we chose the best quality…for the money.
Best Finish Nailer for Value and Durability + Cool Options
Either you are just getting your first nailgun (you’re in the right place) or you are switching from electric or pneumatic – We picked through the current market to offer you choices on the very best trim nailer.
Nail Set and Nailer Accessories (+Filling & Staining Hole Filler)
There will be times that you need a nail set, even if you have the best nail gun with depth adjustment. We also have a tip for hole filling, plus a beginners guide for how to set a nail, and more.
Brad Nailer vs. Finish Nailer: You’ll Know in 1 Minute
It can be a tough choice, but you only need to answer one question, Clint.
Painting Trim (Wood Trim, MDF, etc.) with a Trick
Thinking of painting your trim with a brush? Sit down, my friend. Let me show you the way of the Force. We FLY when we’re painting wood trim, or when we’re painting trim of any kind.
Stain Blocking Primer (Cover Any Stained Wood, Walls, etc)
In this photo of a coat hanger, the painter did not use a stain blocking primer. Below we explain what product to use for different kinds of stains, including stained wood trim, and why.
Best Paint for Trim and Cabinets: Two Great Paints We Love
In 35+ years, I have painted many miles of trim, with many to go. The two types of the best trim paint we use…and why…is explained here. It’s a no brainer. Save money.
Painting Stained Trim: Modern Look Sells Homes Quicker
Painting stained trim and painting varnished wood trim is very do-able, but the sequence is a bit time-consuming. The one “must” is deglossing, and using a quality primer. Doing it yourself will likely save you many hundreds of clams.
Water Based Concrete Stain vs. Acid Stain
A quick compare and contrast of the two types of concrete stains. What is the difference between concrete stain and acid stain?
Concrete Stain – Top Recommended Stains (+How To Stain Concrete)
Old painters like me want zero maintenance in our homes. Staining concrete is relatively easy and lasts forever. Ok, not forever. I’ve listed here what I have found to be the best concrete stains and the complete “how-to” stain concrete. This is a way to transform an ugly or just plain concrete floor into something you will take pride in.
How to Prepare Concrete for Painting or Staining
Here’s how to prep concrete for paint or for any type of coating. If your concrete slab has been sealed or not, it’s here. We looked around the ‘net and saw some “expert” DIY sites focussing on acid etching. Wow, sexy. But you need to think outside the sexy.
Concrete Paint – Top Picks and 5 Key Planning Points
What concrete paint to put on your floor depends on your comfort with the look and lifespan. Some customers of ours are very picky and want a perfect high-gloss epoxy and others just want a budget facelift. We also link you to every topic you need to consider: from cleaning to cleanup.
Driveway Paint: The Best One & How To Apply It
Here is all my knowledge and research, what to know about driveway paint. It’s not just for curbs and lines. Here is “how-to” paint driveways and most importantly, my shortlist of driveway paints you can trust. Both are types of epoxy but don’t worry, it’s easy.
All Garage Floor Coating Alternatives: Beyond Paint and Stain
Here you will find a list of all the garage flooring ideas that work for many folks. We still feel interlocking tiles are the best, but here are the best of the rest.
Painting Concrete Floor? The Complete Guide
The biggest cause of painting concrete failure (not bonding, delamination, bubbling, etc.), is poor prep. We will explained how to paint concrete floors step by step. With links to the all-important concrete prep (testing, to etch or now, cleaning, rinsing, etc).
Interlocking Garage Floor Tiles Are The Best Garage Floor Alternative to Paint or Stain
Here is the shortlist of several quality garage floor tiles for different budgets: these will all last a generation or more.
Garage Floor Paint (+What Other Websites Get Wrong)
If you have been searching for garage floor paint, you now see the bewildering array of styles or types of floor coatings (not all of them are truly called paints). We picked the best of each category.
Shopping you will see off-brand coatings showing beautiful photos with what they call the best garage floor paint. Really? Show me the floor in 10 years.
Garage Door Paint & How To Make It Last
After it has been prepped and primed well, the house paint you are already using is perfectly proper to use as a garage door paint. But you can also add longer-lasting protection with some very good top brand paints. Garage doors get beat up, so we tell customers to use the best.
Backpack Sprayer for Spraying Stain: Big Warning
This is no doubt the best way to get the stain onto the surface, but many stains will ruin a garden sprayer not built to take the chemical heat. As a pro, I use the same sprayers reviewed here (mine is very old!) The work goes quickly and comes out great. But it’s not just ‘spray and walk away’: there are some tricks.
Paint Edger: A Pro’s Review of Accubrush and Shur-Line (and more)
The salespeople in TV commercials make paint edgers look great, but are they worth the money? I’ve been at this well over 30 years: here is the good and bad of the two top paint edgers, (with a look at how they stack up against a quality paintbrush).
Full Face Respirator: N95, P95 and P100 (HEPA)
A full face respirator mask is the best you can buy without an oxygen tank: it protects your eyes, nose, and mouth. Here is a recent list of available virus-proof paint respirators and chemical masks.
Best Hand Tools Today: Made In USA Quality
Some quality hand tools you may not even know existed. I try to only buy from US makers and I only buy tools from the top brands. Also included here are some top-selling hand tools that make appreciated gifts
Benjamin Moore Ceiling Paint and Kilz Ceiling Paint: The Top 2
Depending on your budget and willingness to paint over your head (the hardest thing we professionals do), you can spend a little more and get a one-coat ceiling paint or pay a little less and apply two coats (in many cases). You’ll never need 3.
Electric Nail Gun: The Best of Every Variety
Here are the top electric nailers in every category of nail gun: only the best of the best are here. I’ve learned that the best way to save money is to keep quality tools for life.
Types of Paint Sprayers
Because the prices have come down a lot over the years, it has become affordable to own different types of paint sprayers. Below, the different types of spray guns for each kind of job: you’re gonna fly like an eagle.
Airless Paint Sprayer: Buy or Rent?
Time is money and for the homeowner, time not painting is time doing useful things.
Do You Use More Paint with a Sprayer? Way More. Unless You’re Careful.
Here is the logic of my cut-off point: when I leave the rollers in the truck and break out the sprayer.
Best Handheld Paint Sprayer: Only the Top Guns
Quick to set up and clean up, and no training to use. Here you’ll find the best handheld paint sprayer worth your investment. My main advice: get the best you can afford and keep it for life.
Best HVLP Spray Gun Today and Tips on Use
Using a HVLP Spray gun much easier than other websites are making it sound. No training needed. Fill, point, shoot, clean up. I cover some beginner tips too. I will also discuss what is the Best HVLP Spray gun.
Accessories for Airless Sprayers
Accessories for all kinds of spraying, not just airless. These are things we painters use everyday.
Sprayer Tips Guide: Airless and HVLP
Sprayer Tips: all the info you need to understand the complex world is simplified here.
Asphalt Driveway Sealer and How To Apply It
Asphalt driveway sealer fills the small holes that naturally occur in the driveway surface, and this filler prevents water from freezing and degrading the surface. Somewhat. It’s a small advantage, but it’s a lot of work and expense.
How to Avoid Brush Marks
If you eliminate or minimize brush strokes or brush marks and roller marks for that matter, your paint job will look much better. It almost looks like you know what you’re doing.
Why Professional Painters Do Not Brush in Corners
This is a key time-saving painting tip. Painters don’t waste time. Always let the paint roller do as much of the work as it can. Only use the brush when you have to.
Extend the Life of Old Paint
A reader says he has a method of making paint live longer on the shelf. Hmm.
Smoke Damage Painting: Get the Primer We Use (#2 of 3)
How to paint and what to paint over smoke (fire or cigarette) damaged walls.
Movie Screen Paint for Projectors: White? Gray? With Tips from a 30 Year Pro
I’ve read some other websites about how to apply this and they leave out what I put in step 3 below. Here I offer just a few tips that will save you from having to paint your screen twice.
Testing Old Paint: Is It Oil or Latex?
If you paint over old oil-based paint, your new paint will flake off with just a fingernail. Here is the test and what to do if you have old oil.
How to Apply Movie Projector Screen Paint
Some important tips, then the list of things to plan for and to shop for, then the complete how-to steps for painting a movie projector screen on any wall. I read other sites on applying this paint. Rookies.
How to Master the 5-Minute Paint Touch Up
How to avoid washing walls. The quick way to touch up.
What Gloss or Sheen Should You Pick?
A guide to choosing sheen…but a warning…not all paints have equal grades of sheen.
Best Mask for COVID-19 – Comfortable and Leak-Proof
This is the N95 mask I use with complete confidence. Thirty years of wearing respirators, I have no patience for bad, leaky masks.
Quick Primer on Primers for All Situations
This is the shortest possible post you’ll find explaining any primer for every situation.
Key point: don’t buy budget primer (or paint). I like Ben Moore and Sherwin Williams, but BM is better in my opinion.
For all cases, put on your topcoat of paint within a day of priming, or as the window on your primer specifies.
Paint-and-Primer In-One: Sometimes Yes
Paint chemistry has improved and the paint and primer in one has come of age.
How to Really Save Time with a Paint Sprayer
Time is money to a professional painter. We clean well when we must, but often we don’t need to go all the way. Homeowners get frustrated by cleaning. Here’s a tip.
Be Careful Which Driveway Paint or Stain You Buy
Don’t use just any concrete stain on your driveway or garage floor. Here is a very short post about one person’s nightmare.
To Spray or Roll: That is the Question
Spraying paint or rolling paint? That is an easy question for a pro painter of over 30 years.
Painting Vinyl Siding: A Review, Sort Of
Painting Vinyl Siding is easy and very doable. Here is a quick post on the best new paint for the job with a link to the how-to post on Painting Vinyl Siding.
How To Paint Vinyl Siding
Painting Vinyl Siding is easy and very doable. Here is a quick post on how-to paint vinyl siding. Easy man.
Filters for the IQAir Health Pro Series
Here are filters (including some 3rd party budget filters) for the IQAir Pro Plus and Compact.
Smoke Damage Cleaning Before Painting (#1 of 3)
Cleaning smoke damage is not fun, but it is do-able. Just psych up for the work and the nightmare will be over soon.
Getting Rid of Smoke Smell: Time to Paint (#3 of 3)
Finally, time to paint over the smoke smell. This is the last of 3 posts.
First Aid for Paint: What to Do After Inhaling Paint Fumes
Stay calm. Paint is not a terrible poison, but action is required.
Are Latex Paint Fumes Toxic? Oil Paint?
As the US Gov’t tells us, “plan is to treat all paint as hazardous”. Read that dot-gov post. For first aid involving paint, read this very short post on First Aid for Inhaling Paint Fumes Latex: The old paints were,
Disposing of Old Paint
Don’t obey the laws because you might get caught: obey them because it’s wrong to poison your own body.
How to Wash Paint Out of Your Hair and Off Your Skin: It’s NOT Complicated
Latex Paints: SKIN: Don’t use soap! (not yet) Soak in water for a long time (a bath might be best) and gently keep rubbing. Let the goo absorb water and it will get very soft. Too much rubbing and you’ll
A Few Paintings of Francoise Guyaux
Photos of my beautiful wife are here.
My Beautiful Wife
A selection of Francoise’s paintings is here.
Lead Poisoning in the News: Beethoven’s Deafness
Lead was the reason for the maestro’s deafness and other problems. This news from the New York Times.
Paint Recycling is A Thing, Finally
Recycle old paint: just pick up the phone and find out where to drop it off.
Should You Hire a Professional Painter…by a 30-Year Pro
In this third of three articles, I discuss whether or not you should hire a painter at all. In the first of three articles, I tell you how to be wise if you hire a painter. In the second article,
How to Hire a Professional Painter…by a 30-Year Pro
I’m an old pro. Here is what you should talk to your prospective painters about during an estimate, and how to size them up.
What Your Painter Is Really Thinking…tips from an Old Pro
Here is the inside story of a painter’s brain from me, a 30+ year veteran painter.
The Most Efficient Way to Paint a Room
Just a few tips on what to do in what sequence. It’s going to make your life easier.
New Rules from the EPA on Lead Paint Dust
New rules from the EPA on lead paint. Finally.