Small room, slow job
A bathroom has less wall than most rooms and takes longer per square foot to paint. The walls are broken up by a tub or shower, a vanity, a toilet, mirrors, towel bars, tile edges and a fan or light. Almost every foot is cut in by brush. The painter also works around fixtures that can't be moved, in a room you may need every day.
Morgantown's Census figures
Census QuickFacts counts Morgantown's households, 2020-2024, at 11,946, with 2.08 persons per household, and gives its land area in square miles, 2020, as 10.19. Quoted as published, those figures describe the city; nothing about any particular bathroom follows from them.
Why bathroom paint fails
Most bathroom paint problems trace back to moisture:
- peeling on the ceiling above the shower usually means steam condensing and soaking into the paint;
- black spots in corners and along the ceiling line are typically mildew;
- blistering beside the tub can mean water getting behind the paint at a tile edge or caulk joint;
- sticky tan drips on fresh latex show up when a shower is run before the paint has cured.
Prep that sets the price
- Mildew is killed and cleaned, not painted over.
- Peeling paint is scraped back to a sound edge and the edges sanded.
- Drywall damaged by moisture is repaired, and soft spots may need replacing.
- Glossy old paint is scuffed so the new coat grips.
- Repairs get primer, and a stain-blocking primer goes over remaining marks.
- Failed caulk at the tub, sink and trim is cut out and redone.
Each of those is time in a small space. See drywall repair and surface preparation.
Paint for steam
Bathrooms usually get a satin or semi-gloss paint, which sheds water and wipes clean better than flat. Many makers sell a bathroom line with mildewcide. The ceiling over a shower may get the same product rather than a flat ceiling paint. Ask what the painter plans, and see paint sheens and finishes.
The fan comes first
No paint holds up long in a bathroom that doesn't clear its steam. If the ceiling has peeled before, ask whether the exhaust fan works and vents outdoors. Fixing ventilation is usually a job for another trade, but it's worth sorting before repainting, or the new paint will go the way of the old.
Vanity, trim and door
A painted vanity is a small set of cabinets: degreasing, scuffing, a bonding primer and an enamel. The door, its casing and the baseboards get trim paint. These are separate line items on many proposals. Our cabinet painting and refinishing page covers vanity work.
Cure time
Fresh paint needs time before a hot shower. Ask the painter how long to wait, and plan around it if the house has only one bathroom.
Older paint
Scraping peeling paint in a small room concentrates the dust. Under EPA's Renovation, Repair and Painting Rule, anyone paid to do work that disturbs paint in homes, childcare facilities and preschools built before 1978 must hold RRP certification, firms included, even sole proprietorships, and their workers must be trained in lead-safe work practices. If your home was built before 1978, ask the painter whether the firm holds RRP certification and how they'll contain dust in such a tight space.
Comparing bathroom bids
- Ceiling, walls, trim, door and vanity: which are included?
- Mildew treatment and peeling repair?
- Primer type and paint line?
- Caulk replacement?
- Cure time before showers?
See the pricing guide and interior painting.