Inside work is most of the work
When people picture house painting, they often picture ladders on siding. For many Houma households, though, the job that comes up most is inside: a bedroom before a new arrival, a living room that has seen too many moves, a hallway full of scuffs. Interior painting has its own logistics, and they decide how smoothly the week goes as much as any brush skill does.
Where Houma sits, by the published record
Terrebonne Parish Consolidated Government's history says the parish was established on March 22, 1822, and that in 1834 the parish founded the city of Houma to serve as a centrally located and more easily accessible parish seat. The U.S. Department of Energy's Building America guide to climate regions by county (Volume 7.3, August 2015) places Terrebonne Parish in the Hot-Humid region and IECC climate zone 2A. NOAA's current climate normals for the Houma station count about 9.5 days a year with a low of 32°F or less. Each of those is set out in a card below.
What that means for a painter indoors is narrow but real: rooms are usually painted with the air conditioning running or windows open, and both affect how paint dries.
Room order
A sensible order keeps the house usable:
1. rooms nobody needs this week, such as a spare bedroom or a dining room; 2. hallways and stairwells, which everyone walks through and which collect dust from the other rooms; 3. bedrooms in use, one at a time, so people can sleep elsewhere for a night; 4. kitchen and bathrooms, timed around meals and showers.
Ask the painter how many rooms they'll have open at once and how you'll get around the house each day.
Furniture and floors
Most painters move furniture to the middle of the room and cover it, but some charge to move heavy pieces, pianos or full bookcases, and some ask you to clear shelves and walls first. Agree in advance who takes down pictures, curtains, switch plates and outlet covers, and who puts them back. Ask how floors will be covered; canvas drop cloths are less slippery than plastic on stairs.
Patches before paint
Nail holes, dents, cracks at corners and loose tape at drywall seams all need repair before color. Each patch needs to dry, be sanded flush and be primed, or it will show as a dull spot through the finish. Our drywall repair and surface preparation guide covers this in detail.
Drying with the air conditioning on
Latex paint dries as water leaves it. Indoors, the air conditioning removes moisture from the air, which can help, but cold air blowing directly on a fresh wall can leave it uneven. Fans that keep air moving without pointing at the wall usually work better. On the rare nights when the Houma station's normals record a freezing low, a room with an open window can get too cold for a fresh coat, so keep the room at a steady temperature until the paint has set.
About Louisiana's statute
The Louisiana card on this page reproduces R.S. 37:2150.1 and the contractors board's wording, including its $7,500 and $50,000 figures for home improvement work on an existing residence. We print it as written and don't link it to any particular interior job.
What to agree before the first drop cloth
- which rooms, and in what order;
- which surfaces in each: walls, ceilings, trim, doors, closets;
- who moves what, and who takes down and rehangs fixtures;
- products and sheens, room by room;
- how long each room will be out of use.
The interior painting page covers ceilings, trim and doors, and the paint sheens and finishes guide helps match sheen to room.