How to Prepare Your Home for Interior Spray Painting

Homeowners do not need to do much before a ColourHaus interior spray painting job, but doing the right things makes the day run more smoothly for everyone. This guide covers exactly what to do, what the team handles, and how to manage the first 24 to 48 hours after the work is complete.

What Homeowners Need to Do Before the Team Arrives

The preparation required from homeowners is minimal but specific. The team carries equipment, doors and materials through the property and needs clear access to work efficiently. A few simple steps beforehand make the job run smoothly and protect your belongings.

Clear Access Routes

The team will carry equipment cases, door trolleys and material containers through your property from the entrance to the work area. This means hallways, doorways and any corridor between the front door and the kitchen (or bedroom, or wherever the work is taking place) need to be clear of obstacles. Move bicycles, pushchairs, coat racks, floor-standing furniture and anything else that narrows the access route. This is probably the single most useful thing you can do before the team arrives.

If the work involves an upstairs bedroom or bathroom, the staircase needs to be clear. Items stored on stairs or landings, or large items of furniture positioned in narrow corridors, can turn a simple job into a difficult one and slow the team down significantly.

Clear the Work Area Surfaces

For kitchen work, clear your worktops of items you use regularly: kettle, toaster, small appliances, knife blocks, spice racks and anything else that normally sits on the worktop surface. The team will mask the worktops during the job, but it is easier and faster to mask clear surfaces. Items left on worktops also risk being caught in the general movement of the team through the space.

For wardrobe or bedroom work, clear the immediate area around the wardrobes of furniture, chairs, laundry baskets and anything else that would need to be moved for access to the wardrobe doors.

Remove Fragile Items from the Vicinity

Ornaments, framed photographs, glass items and any fragile or sentimental objects near the work area should be moved to a different room before the team starts. The work itself is not rough, but a busy work environment with equipment, doors and materials being moved has a risk of accidental contact with nearby objects. Removing them in advance removes the risk entirely.

For kitchen work, this means anything on or near the kitchen windowsill, the tops of upper cabinets and any shelving adjacent to the work area. For staircase work, any ornaments on the hallway shelf or near the foot of the stairs are worth moving.

Arrange Meals in Advance

If the kitchen is being sprayed, plan for the kitchen to be out of full cooking use for 1 to 2 days. The team will advise the specific timing when they confirm the booking, but as a general rule: the first day involves door removal and preparation, and by the evening of the second day the kitchen is usually back in use. Having food that does not require cooking preparation in the kitchen (sandwiches, salads, takeaway, meals prepped in advance and stored elsewhere) is the most practical approach. A microwave or kettle in another room is a simple fallback that most households can arrange.

Keep Pets Away from the Work Area

Degreasing products used in the preparation stage have a strong, distinct odour. The odour dissipates relatively quickly in a well-ventilated space, but for the period when preparation is taking place, the work area is not comfortable for animals. Dogs should be kept in a different part of the house or taken out for the morning. Cats should be kept away from the work area. If you have birds or other animals particularly sensitive to airborne substances, discuss this with the team when booking so that appropriate precautions and ventilation can be arranged.

On the day of the actual spraying, the doors have been removed and the spraying takes place off-site at the ColourHaus workshop, so the in-home work on that day is lower impact than the preparation day.

What the Team Handles

Homeowners sometimes worry that they need to do substantial preparation themselves before the team arrives. This is not the case. The following elements are entirely the team's responsibility:

All masking. Every surface in the work area that must not receive overspray (walls, ceilings, floors, worktops, appliances, window glass) is masked by the team. This is one of the most time-consuming parts of the job and it is done professionally and thoroughly. You do not need to buy masking tape or protective sheeting. You do not need to attempt any masking yourself.

All surface preparation. Degreasing, sanding, filling and priming are all carried out by the team. The homeowner does not need to clean or sand the surfaces before the team arrives. In fact, cleaning with the wrong products before a spray job can sometimes create more preparation work if residue from the cleaning product interferes with the degreaser.

All door removal and refitting. Cabinet doors and wardrobe doors are removed by the team at the start of the job and refitted after spraying. Hardware (hinges, handles, soft-close mechanisms) is removed and replaced by the team. You do not need to remove any doors or hardware in advance.

All cleanup after the job. Masking is removed, the work area is cleaned, any minor overspray marks are addressed and the space is left in a better condition than when the team arrived. This is standard practice, not an extra service.

Managing Dust in Older Properties and New Builds

Dust is the enemy of a good spray finish. The team controls dust in the work environment during the job, but the ambient dust level in the property is a factor that varies between homes.

Older Yorkshire properties, particularly Victorian and Edwardian terraces, stone-built houses and older solid-wall construction, can have higher levels of settled dust in loft spaces, wall cavities and floor voids. Vibration from nearby traffic or works can disturb this dust. If you know your property has elevated dust levels or has recently had building work that generated significant dust, mention this when booking the job. The team can adapt the approach (additional dust control measures, extended masking) to manage it.

New builds can also have elevated construction dust that remains active in the property for 6 to 12 months after handover. This is not visible on surfaces but is present in the air. Again, if you know your property is relatively new or has recently been through a renovation, mention it at the booking stage.

Post-Work Care in the First 24 to 48 Hours

The finish cures gradually after application. The surface is touch-dry before the team leaves, but it takes 24 to 48 hours to reach its working hardness under typical Yorkshire domestic conditions. During this period, handle the newly sprayed surfaces with care.

For kitchen cabinets: avoid slamming doors and drawers, do not wipe the surfaces aggressively with a damp cloth during the first 24 hours and avoid placing heavy or sharp objects against the door edges. After 48 hours the finish is at working hardness and can be used normally.

For staircase work: light use (one person at a time, carefully, holding the handrail) is usually possible after 24 hours. Normal everyday traffic resumes after 48 hours.

For radiators: do not switch the heating on for at least 24 hours after the job to allow the heat-resistant coating to cure without the sudden stress of heat before it has settled.

Do not use any cleaning products on newly sprayed surfaces during the first 48 hours. After the full cure period, the correct cleaning method is a damp microfibre cloth with mild washing-up liquid. Avoid abrasive cloths, multi-surface sprays with harsh chemistry and anything containing bleach, acetone or alcohol.

What to Expect on the Day

The ColourHaus team will arrive at the agreed time, usually between 8 and 9 in the morning. The team will confirm the scope of the job and the colour before starting. The first stage is masking and preparation, which is the longest part of the on-site work for a kitchen job. This takes most of the morning for a typical kitchen.

For kitchen and wardrobe jobs, doors are removed after preparation and loaded onto the team's vehicle for transport to the ColourHaus workshop in Sheepscar, Leeds. The spraying takes place off-site in a dust-free environment. Depending on the size of the job, doors may be returned the same day or the following day. The team will confirm the return timing at the start of the job.

For in-situ work (staircases, radiators, fixed units), the spraying takes place on-site after preparation and masking. The team will advise when the work area can be entered.

On completion, a walkthrough inspection is carried out with the homeowner present. Any questions about the finish, the care instructions or the guarantee are addressed before the team leaves. The 5-year written guarantee document is handed over at this point.

More detail on what happens at each stage of a kitchen respray is in the guide to what preparation is needed before respraying kitchen cabinets.