Preparing Interior Surfaces

• Take down all the pictures and wall hangings.
  
  
• Leave the tools in place so you can re-hang everything when you are finished.
  
  
• If the room is very large, stack the furniture in two areas with space between them. For smaller rooms, pile everything in the center.
  
  
• Cover the floor with canvas drop cloths and use plastic drop cloths under your paint supply and mixing area. Be sure to remove area rugs first.
  
  
• Remove Electrical switch plates to prevent having to paint around them. You can place masking over the switches to protect them.
  
  
• When painting doors it's a good idea to remove the hardware. You won't waste time cleaning up any unsightly goofs later.
  
  
• Always paint in good light. If need be use an extension cord to bring power to the room so you can have adequate light.

1. Scrape out any loose materials by dragging a screwdriver along the crack and blow out or vacuum the dust and mist the crack with water. Misting helps stop the dry plaster form taking all the moisture out of the patching compound.
   
   
2. Mix the dry joint compound with the correct amount of water in a plastic bucket.
   
   
3. Use a knife to apply a bed of compound along the crack.
   
   
4. Embed perforated paper reinforcing tape into the wet compound and scrape the knife along the tape to level out the material and squeeze out the excess.
   
   
5. When the first application is dry, scrape off any loose bits then apply another smoothing coat over the tape.
   
   
6. After the second coat dries, scrape off any loose bits and sand lightly.