Surface Preparation Checklist
Quick answer
A surface preparation checklist keeps the sequence honest on a busy job, because the step you skip is the one that shows up later as peeling or a rough finish. Work it room by room and in order: clean, repair, sand, dust, prime, then paint, with degreasing folded into the clean step wherever grease is present. Use the tools table below to gather the kit before you start.
Key takeaways
- The order never changes: clean, repair, sand, dust, prime, paint.
- Kitchens and baths add a degreasing step; trim and doors add a between-coat scuff.
- Check each room against its own list, because a living room and a kitchen fail for different reasons.
- Gather the full tool kit before you open the first can.
The short answer
This page is a working checklist, not a results page. It walks a room from empty to paint-ready and breaks the work into checkable tasks so nothing is missed. Each room has its own list because each one fails differently: a kitchen fails on grease, a bathroom on moisture, and trim fails on gloss that was never scuffed. Run the checklist in order, and mark each task done before moving to the next. The reasoning behind each step sits with our surface preparation hub.
What matters
Three things make a checklist worth using. Order is first: clean before you sand, dust before you prime, prime before you paint, and the sequence protects the work you have already done. Completeness is second: a skipped step is invisible until the paint fails, so the list is there to catch what your eyes would skip. Room-specifics are third: grease, moisture, and gloss are different problems, and a generic list misses the one your room actually has. Check each task off rather than eyeballing it.
Room-by-room checklist
Every room
- Remove furniture, pictures, and hardware, and cover what cannot move.
- Lay drop cloths and turn off power before removing switch plates.
- Wash walls with mild detergent, rinse, and let them dry.
- Repair holes and cracks with spackle or compound, then let patches dry.
- Scuff-sand painted surfaces with 220 grit and bare wood with 150 to 220.
- Remove sanding dust with a vacuum, then a tack cloth.
- Spot-prime repairs and bare areas.
Kitchen
- Degrease the walls, backsplash, and the area above the stove with a dedicated degreaser.
- Rinse the degreaser off completely and let the surface dry.
- Scuff-sand glossy enamel and wipe away the dust.
- Prime any bare or stained areas before painting.
Bathroom
- Clean soap film and body oil from walls, especially around the vanity and shower.
- Check for peeling paint from moisture and scrape it back to a sound edge.
- Fix the moisture source, then prime bare areas with a moisture-appropriate primer.
- Scuff-sand and dust before painting.
Living spaces and bedrooms
- Dust the walls and wipe hand-oil zones around switches and door frames.
- Fill nail holes and picture-hanger holes, then sand them flush.
- Scuff-sand and remove dust before priming or painting.
- Spot-prime stains and patches rather than priming the whole room.
Trim, doors, and windows
- Degrease door and window frames where hands touch them.
- Scuff-sand gloss with 220 grit, and sand between coats with 220 to 320.
- Caulk or fill gaps at the trim, then dust before painting.
Tools and materials
Gather this kit before you start so the checklist does not stall mid-step.
| Tool or material | Purpose |
|---|---|
| Sponge, buckets, mild detergent | General washing and rinsing |
| Degreaser or TSP substitute | Kitchen and bath grease removal |
| Paint scraper and flexible putty knife | Loose paint and spackle fills |
| Sanding sponges and 150-to-320-grit paper | Scuffing, feathering, and de-nibbing |
| Vacuum and tack cloths | Dust removal before priming |
| Primer and paint strainer | Sealing bare areas and filtering paint |
For specific product picks, see our guides on sanding sponges, paint scrapers, and paint strainers.
How to use this checklist
-
Work one room at a time
Run the full sequence in a single room before moving on, so the dust and the paint stay in one place.
-
Follow the order
Clean before you sand, dust before you prime, and prime before you paint. Each step protects the one before it.
-
Mark each task done
Check tasks off as they are finished rather than trusting memory. The skipped step is always the one you meant to come back to.
-
Resolve the room’s specific problem first
Degrease the kitchen, fix the bathroom moisture, and scuff the trim gloss before the routine steps, not after.
Watch out
A checklist only works if the surface is sound. If you find peeling paint or a leak, stop and fix the cause first with our peeling paint repair guide before you continue down the list.
FAQs
What is the order of surface preparation before painting?
Do I need to degrease every room?
Can I skip the dust removal step?
How long does surface preparation take?
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