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Painting Walls, Ceilings and Trim: Why Each Is Priced Differently, Which Paint and Sheen Goes Where, and the Order a Good Painter Does Them In
Drywall, Taping & Painting
Walls, Ceilings and Trim: Three Jobs, Three Prices, Three Paints, and the Order That Saves a Day
A painting quote that says “$6,500, interior” has combined three different jobs into one number and left you no way to tell which ones are in it. Ceilings are the cheapest surface per square foot, because there is almost nothing to cut around and it is all roller. Walls are the middle. Trim is the dearest per unit, because every foot of baseboard is a brush, a caulking gun and a knee. They also take three different paints, and there is an order that avoids painting anything twice. Here is each surface, priced, specified and sequenced.
The three surfaces
| Ceilings | Walls | Trim and doors | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rate, new | $1.85 per sq ft | $2.50 per sq ft | $2.25 per ft baseboard; $45 an opening; $110 a door |
| Rate, repaint | $2.05 | $2.75 to $3.75 | Similar; more if the old enamel is oil and needs a bonding primer |
| Sheen | Flat. Always. A sheen on a ceiling shows every joint and roller mark under the fixture. | Matte or eggshell. Satin in a bathroom or a kid’s room if the wall is Level 5. Nothing shinier. Sheen. | Semi-gloss or satin trim enamel. A hard, washable, self-levelling finish that wipes clean. |
| Product | Ceiling paint: a flat, high-hiding white made to not spatter and not flash. Not wall paint in white. | The wall paint line: Regal, SuperPaint, Aura, Emerald and their equivalents. | Water-based alkyd or acrylic trim enamel (Advance, ProClassic, Cabinet Coat). Dries hard, levels brush marks. |
| Coats | Primer plus two on new board; two on a repaint, stain blocker on any stain. | Primer plus two new; two on a repaint; three for dark colours. | Primer on bare wood or MDF; two coats enamel. Caulked and filled first. |
| Where the time goes | Rolling. Fast. | Cutting in at the ceiling, the trim and every corner; then rolling. | Filling nail holes, caulking every joint, sanding between coats, brushing. Slow. |
The order
- Ceilings first. Roller spatter falls on the walls, which are not painted yet. Cut the ceiling colour a little down onto the wall; the wall coat will cover it.
- Trim second, before the walls. This is the one most people have backwards. Painting trim first lets the painter be sloppy onto the wall, and then cut the wall colour to a crisp line against the finished trim with one pass. Walls first means cutting trim against the wall and wall against the trim, twice.
- Walls last. Cut in at the ceiling and the trim, roll the field, second coat.
- Doors any time after trim, on sawhorses or sprayed in a spray room if they came off their hinges; in place after the walls if brushed.
- On a new house, trim gets installed after the walls are primed and before they are painted, so the painter is caulking and painting trim on a primed wall and then finishing the wall. The whole sequence.
A spray job changes the order: on an empty new house a painter may spray the ceilings and walls with primer, spray the ceilings, then spray the trim and doors masked, then roll the walls. Faster and a better trim finish. It needs an empty house and a painter who owns the equipment.
What the scope should list
For every room: walls (sq ft, colour, sheen, coats), ceiling (sq ft, product, coats), baseboard (ft), casing (openings), doors (count, both sides, brushed or sprayed), closets (in or out, walls and shelving), and anything special: crown moulding, wainscot, a stair railing, a built-in. Then the house-wide lines: primer product, paint products by surface, caulking, nail holes, floor protection, cleanup, touch-up walk-through. If a quote cannot be laid out that way, the painter has not measured the house. The comparison grid.
Questions people ask
Why are ceilings cheaper to paint than walls?
Almost no cutting in, no furniture against them, one colour, and a roller on a pole does the whole thing. $1.85 a square foot against $2.50 for walls on new drywall.
Should you paint the trim or the walls first?
Trim first. The painter can run the trim enamel onto the wall a little, then cut the wall colour to a sharp line against the finished trim in one pass. Walls first means cutting twice.
What sheen for ceilings, walls and trim?
Flat on ceilings, matte or eggshell on walls, semi-gloss or satin enamel on trim and doors. Shinier walls need Level 5 drywall under them or they show every joint.
Can you use wall paint on the ceiling?
You can, in a flat finish, but ceiling paint is made to spatter less, hide better in one coat and dry dead flat. It costs the same. Use it.
Price each surface
The interior painting calculator lists walls, ceilings, baseboard, casing and doors as separate lines so you can see what each is costing and leave out what you do not need.
Sources and further reading
- Benjamin Moore Canada: product data sheets for the primers and paints named on these pages: coverage per gallon, recoat times and the right primer for new drywall.
- Sherwin-Williams Canada: the other paint line most Ontario painters use; the data sheets say the same things in different words.
