How to touch up flat wall paint

Beautifully painted walls don’t stay that way forever. The need for touch-ups on painted interior walls is something to think about in advance. Not only can you avoid headaches by choosing a type of paint that is easy to work with when small repairs are needed, you should be careful to save some of the original paint for touch-ups later on.

Table of Contents Show

The Kind of Paint You Buy Makes A Difference
Box Your Paint
Match The Texture or Use The Brush Technique
Can you retouch flat paint?
How do you touch up flat paint with a roller?
How can I touch up walls without leaving marks?
Can you touch up a wall without painting whole?

Touch-up Mistakes to Avoid

Same color, wrong shade. White paint comes in literally hundreds of shades, and touching up the finish properly requires choosing the same shade of paint as was originally painted on the wall.

Flashing. Professionals use the term “flashing” to describe the variation in the finish which occurs when retouching paint that is shiny or old. Looking straight at a wall, flashing may not be obvious. But when you view the surface from the side, imperfections are visible where light is reflected. Common occurrences of flashing include when a shiny paint finish is applied on patches of bare wall. Other steps are required for the finish to look right, including using repair spackle and latex primer prior to applying a finish of shiny paint.

Covering stains in a way that produces bleed-through. Not all touch-ups should be handled in the same way. Stains such as cigarette smoke, ink, and water should be sealed before applying fresh paint. Block the stains with a stain-blocking oil primer or a shellac-based sealer.

The amount of trouble you have addressing the need for touch-ups on wall interiors is mostly determined by the type of paint you use on the original paint job. The following is information about the different types of paint, including how well they can be touched up.

Flat / Matte Paint

Matte paint is the most common type of finish used on interior walls. There is no sheen to the finish, and matte paint is ideal for older houses which have imperfections. This type of finish is difficult to clean, which is one reason it requires frequent touching up. The good news is that flat paint is easy to touch up. Matte paint is not recommended for bathrooms and kitchens, but it is ideal for living room walls, ceilings, bedrooms, and walls which have many imperfections.

An Eggshell Finish

An eggshell finish has low sheen and is highly washable. Many homeowners prefer an eggshell finish over satin because it does a better job of hiding imperfections. Living rooms and bedrooms are perfect for an eggshell finish, but it’s not a good choice for hallways and other high-traffic areas. This delicate finish is easily marred, but touch-ups are easy.

A Satin Finish

A satin finish produces a warm, pearl-like, silky sheen. This type of finish works well for children’s rooms, laundry rooms, bathrooms, family rooms, and kitchens. A satin finish can withstand scrubbing; but the problem comes with touch-ups, since slight differences in sheen will stand out.

Finding the exact shade and sheen that you currently have on your wall may take the eye of a professional.

Gloss

Gloss finishes are typically used on trim, moldings, and woodwork; very rarely is it used on walls, since imperfections are glaringly obvious. This finish is the easiest to clean and the most durable. Gloss is not easy to touch up, however, because any differences in sheen will be apparent.

Semi-Gloss

Semi-gloss paint is resistant to humidity and can withstand chipping, stains, and scuffing. This type of finish is often used in kitchens and bathrooms as well as for moldings and trim. Semi-gloss is highly scrubbable but a challenge to touch up because of the sheen.

Contact our paint professionals for all of your painting needs, including help matching the color for touch-ups when you don’t have any of the original paint.

Knowing that these little accidents are just part of the process, the best time to prepare for touch-up painting your walls is when you're planning your project.

The Kind of Paint You Buy Makes A Difference

As we've discussed in other blog posts, all paint is not created equal. Not only does paint come in many different colors but it also comes in many different levels of quality -- and price. Now, I'm not suggesting that you have to spend $80/gallon on your interior wall paint, however, you do tend to get what you pay for.

The best suggestion would be to buy the highest quality paint you can afford to purchase and still stay within the budget of your project. I recommend a minimum of a mid-grade paint as they tend to have better coverage per coat and even touch-up better than their less-expensive counterparts. Yes, that's right...some paints do touch-up better than others, so make sure you check with your contractor or the salesperson at your local paint store and request that you are getting a paint that will do the job well for you.

Box Your Paint

If it's going to take several gallons of the same color to paint an area in your home then it's always a good idea to 'box' your paint. Boxing your paint means to take your individual gallons and mix them together in a larger container -- like a 5 gallon bucket -- so that you eliminate the possibility of there being a variance from batch-to-batch or gallon-to-gallon.

That way, if you save a little leftover paint when the job's done you'll be sure to have some touch-up paint that is not only the same color but out of the exact same batch as the paint that's on any given area of your walls, which is key to getting it to blend in well.

Match The Texture or Use The Brush Technique

There seems to be a couple of different schools of thought among professional painters as to the best way to achieve a good touch-up. Some like to use the exact same type of applicator that was originally used to apply the paint to get a perfect match on the texture, while others claim that using the brush technique for touch-ups is best.

Texture Match

The easiest method is probably matching the texture that's already on the wall. Obviously, a paint brush will leave a different texture on your wall than a roller cover will, but did you know that different types and nap thicknesses of roller covers will also leave different textures on your wall?

It's best to have an extra roller cover handy after the project's over in case you need to break it out for just such an event. Just make sure it's the same exact type and nap thickness as the one(s) that were used on your walls.

One more point to mention about roller covers when you're trying to match texture. The nap on many covers is what you would call 'directional', just the same as the nap you will find on the wall-to-wall carpeting of most homes. If you take your hand along your carpet and brush it in one direction you will notice the fibers standing up, and if you brush it in the opposite direction the fibers will lay down. The same is true with directional roller covers -- and the direction you roll them on the final pass of your wall will affect the texture it leaves.

A technique that you will notice a lot of professional painters using when applying paint to the walls to maintain a consistent texture is called 'tipping-off'. Tipping-off is where they will apply the paint to the wall, roll it out evenly, then come over the area that was just applied and gently give it a final roll in one direction -- from ceiling to floor -- using just the weight of the roller frame without applying any additional pressure.

So when you do your touchup try tipping-off the area in one final direction as I described above. When you're done, wrap your roller cover up tight in a plastic grocery bag so it won't dry out on you. When the touch-up dries, if the texture matches then you're good to go. If not, try flipping the roller frame around so that the elbow is facing in the opposite direction as your last pass, and touch up the area again.

Brush Technique

If you'd like to try the method that a lot of the pro's prefer, you'll need to get yourself a high-quality paint brush and load the tips of the bristles up with paint so there are no dry spots in the middle. Wipe off the excess paint and then apply to the area(s) in question.

In order to reduce the noticability of the brush strokes on the wall you'll need to lightly tip-off the touchup area in multiple directions, working from the center outward in each direction like you're painting rays from the sun.

Other Tips

One important tip in getting touchups to match is to thin-down your paint -- especially when using the brush method -- with 5%-10% water for latex paints, or 5%-10% mineral spirits for oil-based paints.

If your contractor or homebuilder painted your walls with an airless sprayer, make sure to ask them to spray some additional paint into a container that you can seal and save for your touch-ups. It may sound crazy but once paint has been atomized through the tip of an airless sprayer it changes the viscosity of the material, making it impossible to touch up unless you're using more of the same atomized paint to do so.

No matter which method you use, the goal is to keep the touch-up area as small and inconspicuous as possible, so don't get carried away with your brush or roller. However, old touch-up piant that's been in storage will lose moisture over time and may not match. In that case you'll need to have a new batch mixed-up and you will have to paint the entire wall from corner to corner.

If you're in the Greater Pittsburgh, Western Pennsylvania or Tampa area and you're looking for a painting contractor please give us a call or click on the button below to schedule your free, no-obligation consultation and quote.

Can you retouch flat paint?

This type of finish is difficult to clean, which is one reason it requires frequent touching up. The good news is that flat paint is easy to touch up.

How do you touch up flat paint with a roller?

Apply Paint Load your brush or roller with just enough paint to cover the touch-up area. Start in the middle of the touch-up spot, and work your way out to the edges. Without reloading the applicator, feather the edges by making light strokes that extend slightly past the edge onto the surrounding wall.

How can I touch up walls without leaving marks?

Use the same applicator that was used to paint the last coat of paint on the wall that you're touching up. This helps the touched-up area blend with the surrounding surface. If you used a roller, use a roller again (a small-sized roller offers better control). If you used a brush, use a brush again.

Can you touch up a wall without painting whole?

If the damage to walls is small and contained or the paint is less than a year old, you should be able to just touch up the small area rather than repainting the whole wall. Small flaws include: Nicks, scratches, dings, chips, scuffs, or marks. Flaws that are not highly visible.