Below is a list of basic tools and equipment required for painting and wallpapering in your home. Tools are becoming cheaper for the DIY decorator and there is a huge choice available in most DIY stores. There are lots of other decorating tools around, such as paint rollers for behind radiators etc, but these can be purchased when necessary.
- Paintbrushes - 1/2″ (12mm) - 3″ (75mm). Cheap brushes are fine, but if your budget will allow it purchase a good quality set that will give a good finish and when cleaned properly, last for years
- Paint roller and tray
- White spirit or brush cleaner
- Dustsheet
- Masking tape
- Sugar soap
- Sandpaper
- Stepladders
- Tape measure
- Pencil
- Plumb line, (a weight attached to a thin piece of string or cord that will give you a vertical level)
- Spirit level
- Stanley knife
- Filler knife
- Wallpaper scraper
- Wallpaper steam stripper
- Wallpaper pasting table
- Wallpaper paste brush
- Two buckets or trays, one for paste, the other for an easily accesible supply of clean water
- Sponge
- Wallpaper brush, (to ‘push out’ trapped air bubbles from behind the wallpaper)
- Small medium - soft roller, (to press down on edges of wallpaper)
- 10″ (250mm) Wallpaper scissors
- 4″ - 5″ (100mm - 125mm) Scissors for the more intricate cuts, (around light switches etc)
