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kartikoli

kartikoli

Skilled
I am planning to paint my house but can't decide how to go about it so would like to know members opinion/experience how you guys manage paining and would appreciate any tips or suggestions. (Color combinations would be much appreciated as I am bad in this field)

Contacted a contractor who quoted 45k labor charge for 1800sqft single story house for single cort putty + double cort paint. He also mentioned that material cost will be somewhere around 30k for starting range Asian paints.

Should I opt for daily wages or full contract? also which paint is better (don't want to spend 1L of paining alone)
 
If it is your house then I'd go with 'premium emulsion' of Asian Paints as that is washable and stains can be removed with light rubbing with a sponge as its an acrylic paint. The higher grade is Royale which you don't need and the lower is tractor emulsion which is used for rentals. I use an off-white and it's called 'cotton white' and looks decent. A matte emulsion for doors in a brown shade, can't remember the name.

The price you quoted seems quite high. I usually get the job done in a 1,500 sq ft apt in five days at just over 40k in Bangalore. Shouldn't Lucknow be cheaper?

Materials plus labour a couple of years back. It's important to get competent people as there will be those that underprice and use thinner coats. The result is paint starts peeling a year later and they put the blame on something else. There is a max area per litre I think is 100sq ft. Read the instructions for Asian paints carefully to get an idea of the square feet of the walls that will tell you how much paint to get.

You don't mention what the state of your walls is. Whether primer is also required. The prices I quoted are for repainting jobs, not a new house.

Key tip: NEVER let the painter get the materials. You only ask him how much of each he needs and tell him to make a list, then you go check with paint shops, find one you like, place the order and then tell the painter to pick up the supplies from your chosen shop. If they refuse this then find another painter.
 
Its my own house around 20yrs old but I've done some repair work so couple of rooms are totally new. From couple of youtube videos it looks like Asian Paint Apcolite is a good choice and is completely washable when I asked the contractor he said there isn't much of a difference between tractor emulsion and Apcolite and was suggesting to go with tractor. (Anyways I'll opt for labor contract only and will buy material of my choice, Probably a medium range product).

5 days for 1500 sqft is quick, I am counting a month for the job and to add I have a WFH job with these disturbance every 10 min (bhayya chai chahiye).
It seems the prices have gone up, last year my brother payed 550rs per day as labor charges where as now they are asking 700 per day. Don't know its because of the season or just the rates have gone up
 
Tractor isn't washable and is the low end product. Go with premium emulsion if it is your own house. That is midrange. Stick with Asian paints for internal work. I've been with them now for almost twenty years. In the right hands, they are a good product.

Why not, with maybe 3-4 guys, it's doable. Start on Mon, done by the end of Fri. And two coats.

700 a day sounds reasonable.

If I remember materials came up to around 20k, needed some enamel paint for some places and labour around the same or a little more. Just over 40k. My work is quite straightforward, off white everywhere, with no accent walls or fancy designs. Doors with enamel. Some grills and a small staircase

The guys should clean up as they go along and not stick some cleaning charge on you at the end. Unfortunately, this is something you only discover after the fact. In my apartments, I just asked around and people put me in touch with the guy who painted the building. He's pricey but cleans up and I can trust his work. The paint will not peel later.
 
kartikoli said:
5 days for 1500 sqft is quick, I am counting a month for the job
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While 5 days seem quick, 1 month seems like a lot.

If you're living in the same flat, then you'll probably have to go room by room as you can't shut down everything. If you can live somewhere else, then you can have multiple people working together and get it done faster.

Both daily wage and contact have pros and cons. On daily wage, workers will slack off trying to increase the time. On contract, they will try to rush, since money is assured.

So either way, get an estimate first for the time as well. A little deviation is fine, too much is not.

For colours, it is recommended to choose lighter colours. If you want some contrast, you can get 1 wall painted dark. Dark shades absorb a lot of light and the room will perpetually appear dark unless you put multiple lights in the room.
 
gourav said:
While 5 days seem quick, 1 month seems like a lot.

If you're living in the same flat, then you'll probably have to go room by room as you can't shut down everything. If you can live somewhere else, then you can have multiple people working together and get it done faster.
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Yeah, I'm not in the flat when they do the painting. Maybe that is why it goes faster. Also, there is no furniture as the flat only gets painted between tenants.
 
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As @gourav mentioned lighter colors will make the room appear more spacious while darker will tend to make it claustrophobic. You can have one wall as a focus wall with a contrasting color. The Asian paints site has a number of sample combinations on the site. It has a paint budget calculator (approx), paint selector, color visualizer app also. Do check them out.
One thing to keep in mind is to finalize the shades and get the quantity mixed using the computerized machines in the paint shop. You just have to mention the color ID from the shade card and the machine will mix the required quantity for your from the base white shade. This will give you consistent results and you will not have to rely upon the mix and match shade skills of the painters, which may not give you consistent results. It is a little expensive but worth it. Make this clear in advance before the start of the work I learnt it the hard way when we got the flat painted 4-5 yrs back.
Cleaning post painting is a big chore so ensure that the painters/contractors are ready to do this. Cover all your switch boards, power outlets/window panes with plastic sheets/masking tape before they begin sanding/painting as it is a real hassle getting rid of paint which gets into the nooks and crevices. It takes a little while to do so but it is worth the effort.
Also the bases of the upper lofts/side lofts which are not visible from the floor are many a times left as they are by the painters. Check if they need to be painted.
 
Contractor said 25 days so I am assuming it well take same time with daily wages as well. Since I live in the same house and will have to move from one room to other its a challenge. Me and my brother will have to help out as well because we can't just leave everything on those labors.

gourav said:
For colours, it is recommended to choose lighter colours. If you want some contrast, you can get 1 wall painted dark. Dark shades absorb a lot of light and the room will perpetually appear dark unless you put multiple lights in the room.
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I have a same plan, hoping I don't have to make choices for color and it will be my mother who will be incharge.
 
Ha good thing op started this thread. I had a question about paint and couldn't get an answer searching in the web. All these low quality distemper paints like tractor or berger etc, do they start shedding some tiny paint powder after a year or so? I was looking at the dust in my room and it looks suspiciously like paint particles from the walls and ceiling. I'm guessing the acrylic paints don't adhere to the wall well. In a room where i painted the wall behind the tv dark green, i saw dark green dust particles. Thinking of just wallpapering over the walls and ceiling instead of painting because of this.

Oh yeah, op, it doesn't take 1 month to paint a 3bhk house. It can be done in a week max even with a full house and people living in it. It takes 2 days to complete a big hall from sanding old paint off to 2 coats of new white cement putty and 2 coats of paint. Painters do two rooms at once. Do kitchen last. Do hall and bedrooms first.

Edit: ask the painter to paint with a roller instead of brush. Even the doors. It's faster and gives better finishing.
 
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Got a quote from another person @40k I didn't mention earlier but have a 400 sqft room at first floor (used as storage room) and asked to include that in painting as well, also the front of the house (I have 2 entrances).
6pack said:
Ha good thing op started this thread. I had a question about paint and couldn't get an answer searching in the web. All these low quality distemper paints like tractor or berger etc, do they start shedding some tiny paint powder after a year or so? I was looking at the dust in my room and it looks suspiciously like paint particles from the walls and ceiling. I'm guessing the acrylic paints don't adhere to the wall well. In a room where i painted the wall behind the tv dark green, i saw dark green dust particles. Thinking of just wallpapering over the walls and ceiling instead of painting because of this.
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Only if there is moisture, one of my room is in awesome condition and it was painted more than 7 years back with Berger wallmasta where as other room have same issue as you mentioned (there is moisture in the wall)
abmr2d2 said:
As @gourav mentioned lighter colors will make the room appear more spacious while darker will tend to make it claustrophobic. You can have one wall as a focus wall with a contrasting color. The Asian paints site has a number of sample combinations on the site. It has a paint budget calculator (approx), paint selector, color visualizer app also. Do check them out.
One thing to keep in mind is to finalize the shades and get the quantity mixed using the computerized machines in the paint shop. You just have to mention the color ID from the shade card and the machine will mix the required quantity for your from the base white shade. This will give you consistent results and you will not have to rely upon the mix and match shade skills of the painters, which may not give you consistent results. It is a little expensive but worth it. Make this clear in advance before the start of the work I learnt it the hard way when we got the flat painted 4-5 yrs back.
Cleaning post painting is a big chore so ensure that the painters/contractors are ready to do this. Cover all your switch boards, power outlets/window panes with plastic sheets/masking tape before they begin sanding/painting as it is a real hassle getting rid of paint which gets into the nooks and crevices. It takes a little while to do so but it is worth the effort.
Also the bases of the upper lofts/side lofts which are not visible from the floor are many a times left as they are by the painters. Check if they need to be painted.
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Good point regarding cleaning as it takes lots of time and with busy life schedule we should rather pay 1 day extra wage and get it all cleaned.
 
In Pune the painters charge per sq ft. I paid about Rs.32/sq ft for Asian Paints Royal Health Shield about 2 years ago.
Painting itself didn't take time, what did take time was removing the old paint, applying plaster/PoP/putty and the base layer on the walls and evening the under layer.
 
Finally went ahead with my old trusted guy who showed up just in time, though as per his calculations i will still spend around 36k on labor paying him on daily wages (God knows if it will be more, only time will tell).
A month long struggle starts tomorrow.
ch@ts said:
Painting itself didn't take time, what did take time was removing the old paint, applying plaster/PoP/putty and the base layer on the walls and evening the under layer.
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Yes thats a time taking process.

What I've learned in last couple of years is different segments takes different ratio in cost.
Building - Material 60% - 40% Labor
Electric - Material 65% - 35% Labor
Iron - Material 71% - 29% Labor
Plumbing - Material 75% - 25% Labor
Wood - Material 65% - 35% Labor
Paint - Yet to calculate
 
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@kartikoli Which city are you from? When I had my house constructed I hired a Color consultant. I paid 10K for a house of 4,600 sq ft carpet area for consultancy. Even to this day, people complement our wall colors. It is worth the investment.
 
skoka123 said:
@kartikoli Which city are you from? When I had my house constructed I hired a Color consultant. I paid 10K for a house of 4,600 sq ft carpet area for consultancy. Even to this day, people complement our wall colors. It is worth the investment.
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I am from Lucknow and i guess my carpet area is somewhere around 6~7k sq ft (maybe more) but 10k sounds lot cheaper. I had an option to wait 10 days for another known painter who is willing to charge 50rs less but I can't wait that long so went with the current cheapest.
He insisted to buy Birla white putty but I've opted to 3 times costlier waterproof putty for whole house (we don't paint the house daily) Also inquired about the Asian paints rates and the shop owner told that Apex will cost 5.5k where as 7.5k for Apcolite for a bucket of 20L (White)
 
kartikoli said:
What I've learned in last couple of years is different segments takes different ratio in cost.
Building - Material 60% - 40% Labor
Electric - Material 65% - 35% Labor
Iron - Material 71% - 29% Labor
Plumbing - Material 75% - 25% Labor
Wood - Material 65% - 35% Labor
Paint - Yet to calculate
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Material 60-70% and Labour 30-40%

In my case, it was even split because my labour charges more. Because I don't want to manage them on a daily basis. I'm not on site and travelling back and forth each day isn't worth the hassle

Once we work out the deal and they pick up the materials, I show up at the end of the job and it's usually well done.

I did have my house painted some years back and that was a real PITA. Moving things out from each room. In the end, we left a couple of rooms out as it was too difficult. While the job was good and the people cheaper it took daily inspections to find mistakes and ended up being a real headache. Towards the end i was glad to be done with it.
skoka123 said:
@kartikoli Which city are you from? When I had my house constructed I hired a Color consultant. I paid 10K for a house of 4,600 sq ft carpet area for consultancy. Even to this day, people complement our wall colors. It is worth the investment.
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What colours did this consultant recommend? Complimentary colours between walls and say doors or windows isn't hard to figure out.

My house has no walls that can be turned into accent walls so that option was out.
 
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Started the work today and the first thing I had to do is move my home office and leave the room (I am currently on job and use desktop), Its such a tedious task when you realize how much time it will take to move things around.

I saw a video and the guy suggested a method of choosing colors, He said to get a big shade card and select second from above and 3rd from below for combination
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For a fresh paint on undulated walls following is minimum to be followed...
scrapping of old paint followed by 1 coat primer + 2 coat wall Putty + 1 coat primer + minimum 2 coat of paint.

Choice of putty can be Birla white putty/ Acrylic Putty / POP / or a combination of these. The combination depends on the condition of walls. Usually Birla wall putty followed by Acrylic putty works well.

Before application of putty water proofing treatment shall be done if walls have some seepage ( treatment vary as per severity) and all cracks shall be filled using elastrometric crack filler.

The internal wall paints can be broadly classified in three categories....

Distemper (Asian Paints Tractor): very Low washability / No sheen
Plastic Paint ( Asian paints Apcolite Advanced) : Good washability / Soft sheen
High quality emulsion ( Asian Paints Royale or similar) : Excellent Washability / Soft to High Sheen or Matt finish.
 
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