How Often Should You Paint Your Home’s Interior?

How Often Should You Paint Your Home’s Interior?

The answer to this question depends on many factors and many times, these factors are décor based. If the colors look dated, or if you are a new resident and the colors are not your favorite, the home will get painted sooner or later. Assuming normal wear and tear, today’s wall paints applied well with proper prep-work can last 5 or even 10 years. But let’s look at that in more detail. Hallways get painted more often because of wear and tear and wall repairs, as shown here.

Halls

The walls here see a lot of wear and tear. These areas get used “and abused” thousands of times. They will have scuff marks, finger marks, and possibly dents and cracks below the surface. If the paint that was used was a high-quality washable paint, these walls can be washed occasionally. In this case, a more expensive paint will save money on a paint job. If the dents and cracks are at the corners of the walls, they can be patched and then touched up with the same paint. Most of the time these small repairs and touch-ups are not that visible. If they are in the middle of a wall or they are visible, it may be necessary to repaint the affected sections of the walls. In our experience, hallways get painted more often than most other areas of a home. Some customers will even paint them every 2-3 years.

Bedrooms

The paint job of an adult bedroom will usually last a long time. Bedrooms as a rule do not see as much activity and do not require frequent painting. The obvious exception is children’s bedrooms. These double as playrooms most of the time and they suffer quite a bit of abuse. It is a good idea here to use top-quality paint with a higher sheen. Eggshell or even a pearl/satin sheen is recommended. These paints quite often can be scrubbed clean and make the paint last longer. Another good idea is to paint a section of a wall with chalkboard paint. This will encourage children to express their creativity on a predefined wall surface and hopefully leave the other walls alone. The reality is, where kids spend a lot of time, wall paint will not last very long. Kid’s rooms get painted more often than other bedrooms, maybe every 2-3 years.

Kitchen, Bathrooms, Laundry Room

These are very busy rooms. The most durable of paints have to go here. In a kitchen where there is a lot of cooking and food preparation, you should have paint that can be washed frequently. Despite any decorating advice that suggests a lower sheen paint, the kitchen should always have a pearl or satin finish. We have painted a lot of kitchens over the years, kitchens always require a lot of prep work before painting and quite often washing and priming. The main culprit in bathrooms and somewhat in laundry rooms is humidity and moisture. Today’s recommended paints for humid areas are all water-based and are actually longer lasting. In fact, the gloss of the paint is not as big a factor in choosing paint as it used to be. One of the better paints we had a great experience with is Benjamin Moore’s Aura Bath & Spa. The paint job in these rooms does not last as long and needs to be done every 3-4 years.

There are structural reasons that would necessitate painting of course. For example, as a new house settles, joints will crack or drywall screws “pop”. This is not a paint issue but should be taken care of before the next paint job.

Call Korth & Shannahan Painting and Carpentry Today

At Korth & Shannahan, we’ve been the painting and carpentry experts in Westchester County since 1979. Voted BEST GENERAL CONTRACTOR by Westchester Magazine. We truly are the best interior painters Scarsdale NY.

Call us at 914-238-5388 or email today and let the experts makeover your interior.