How to paint around switches?

owenhlewis

  

Hey team!

Absolutely newbie here but keen to have a crack at a few things around the new family home.

i have had an electrician mate update all the switches in our house however some of the ones in the door frames are smaller than the old ones which means I have timber showing unfinished.

Any tips on how to go about painting these?

I’m assuming I’ll need to get a close match paint from Bunnings, looks a white high gloss type. Also assuming I need to sand the area before to smooth it off so paint will take but I would appreciate any tips and advice so I’m set up for success!

also need to purchase a paint brush so assuming it’ll be a small detailed one.

Thanks guys!!

JacobZ

Hi @owenhlewis,

Thank you for your question.

Ensuring you wear gloves to reduce the risk of lacerations, you can use a utility knife to cut out a paint chip roughly the size of a 50c piece, which can be taken in store and colour matched. Due to the high gloss nature of the paint, it may need to be sanded down to remove the glossiness before scanning, but the in-store Paint Expert should be able to assist with this. 

The first thing you should do is pop the cover plate off, as it is the finished face of the switch, so keeping paint off of it is the most important thing.

Once the cover plate is off, you can use painter's tape to mask off around the switch.

Once the switches are masked off, use some 180 Grit Painted Surface Sandpaper to smooth the sharp edges where the existing paint ends and to lightly scuff the surface.

You can then use a Monarch 25mm Rat Tail Trim Paint Brush to apply primer to the exposed timber and the scuffed areas, allow it to dry, then paint over it.

While the paint is still wet, pull the tape off, then allow it to fully dry before reattaching the cover plates.

Let me know what you think and if you have further questions, please don't hesitate to ask.

Jacob