If You Can’t See It, Should You Paint It?
by Jason ShawMy wife Kelly and I will never agree on this one. In my opinion, when it comes to painting projects, it is OK to cut some corners. In her opinion it must be painted, even if you can’t see it. But, even I will agree that it sometimes it does matter.
When we were painting our kitchen, we learned a bit about each other — I’m sloppy and she’s squeaky (my clean code for another word). There is a strip of wood underneath our sink - way underneath. In fact, not only is it underneath, but it is underneath, up and back. It is a strip of wood that will never see light, and no one will ever see that it isn’t painted. Unless you are Kelly inspecting her husband’s handiwork - or according to her after seeing my omission, “sloppy work”. I’m a practical guy. If it doesn’t need to be painted, then I’m not going to use one moment of my limited time on this earth painting it. But to Kelly it matters - she knows it isn’t painted, and therefore it needs to be painted. Like I said, we won’t agree on this one.
But I will agree that sometimes it does matter. It matters when the surface needs protection. For example, if the wood is exposed to water then it should be painted and the seams should be caulked to keep the wood protected. The exterior of your home gives plenty of examples such as the soffits underneath the gutters. The surfaces outside are much more exposed to the elements and need to be sufficiently protected. In these cases even though you can’t see something, you should paint it, or protect it in some manner. The water will find its way to really hidden spots and cause the wood to rot over time.
So what do we do when it comes to painting in my household? Kelly takes care of the details - she likes it and is good at it. And if I can’t see it and it doesn’t need protection, I won’t paint it.
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September 5th, 2008 at 11:29 am
Behind the cabinet, I would say no. Behind a toilette - YES!
September 15th, 2008 at 9:25 pm
Only what you can see is what I think
October 16th, 2008 at 9:58 pm
I have heard of people who have painted around large bookshelves or armoires — so that the next people who move in have big “ghost” areas of unpainted space in their rooms. Not so terrible - unless the color is dramatically different underneath. Now that’s saving time!
November 7th, 2008 at 7:08 pm
Amy - So lazy! I hate it when people do that. At least paint the rooms one color after the furniture is out. We recently bought a house and I loved the color that was existing in one of the bathrooms, hated the over toilet cabinet (one of those that stands on the ground and you put it together yourself from walmart). Once we moved that we saw a giant “hole” of another hideous color & had to repaint the entire bathroom.