Violet Williams asked:
For every homeowner, it is important that their investment be protected and how a home looks from the outside is an obvious part of value. Furthermore, the sort of companies that one ought to seek out is important, which is why many homeowners are looking for quality.
Before having exterior house painting done, there is a bit of prep work that goes into painting a home. To make sure that your home’s paint job lasts, look into how that paint job can remain solid by proper initial prep work. There are a number of satisfactory websites online that can provide you with more information. The entire process of painting houses depends on the wood type, the paint type, and there are a number of steps involved. Asking plenty of questions is always a good idea, to ensure that your home’s appearance will be top notch quality.
Seeking out a home paint job does not have to be challenging. There are a number of things to consider, and plenty of questions to ask. Doing your own personal research is a great way to learn more about how homes are painted so that you can be an informed consumer. Then there is the aspect of making sure that your home is being painted with colors that will be aesthetically pleasing during exterior house painting. Furthermore, there are a number of environmental decisions that must be made, which means investigating how your home is painted and with what materials. It is always a great idea to recommend your environmentally sound ideas to companies that may already be in business. Spreading awareness in this area is always important.
Many homeowners are seeking out ways to get their homes looking new and impressive with little effort on their part. It is important to note that some personal effort may be required, or additional fees may be required. This involves that initial prep of sanding down wood that was already there or investigating who may help in this initial process. For every homeowner, how exterior house painting will be performed should be a concern which means an investment in researching the process, and taking an active part in the commitment to home improvement processes. Generally speaking, the more questions you ask and the more committed you are to home improvement that is conscious, the more impressed you will be with the results.
Michael Olding asked:
Homeowners often update the appearance of their homes with a coat of fresh paint. However if you are considering painting the ‘bricks’ on your home then there are a few things you should consider before you break out the spray guns and throw a party!
Permanence - The most important word to remember about painting brick is: permanence. That’s right. It’s a one way road. It is permanent and you can’t remove it once it has been applied. Now I know that some of you will say that you can get strippers and restoration cleaners to remove the paint if you really need to and that is true.
Remember though, you are entering a very expensive restoration process that is usually limited to very high end or very valuable masonry buildings with large amounts of funding. Practically speaking, restoration cleaning cost would simply be out of the range for all but the most affluent homeowner. (tens of thousands of dollars)
On-Going Maintenance - The day you apply the last coat of paint to the bricks on your home, is the first day paint degradation begins. Sooner or later the bricks will have to be painted again.
It has now become a never ending process. You will spend far more in the long run painting your brick over and over again then you would ever have spent in up-grading to brick work on your home in the first place. So a quick fix, like painting bricks you don’t particularly like, can often be an expensive mistake. Bricks will need to be re-painted more frequently than the rest of your home as well because of the risk of water entry which can cause severe damage.
Water Damage - The next point to remember is this: bricks need to breathe. What do I mean by that? Well bricks breathe naturally expelling moisture from the wall. When you coat them with paint you have effectively closed the pores of the bricks preventing them from breathing. In a perfect world this doesn’t sound like a bad idea because it effectively keeps the water out as well.
In real world situations though, paint will begin to ***** fairly quickly. Minute hairline fissures will open allowing water to enter the masonry system with no way to escape. Unfortunately at this point it is hard for you to recognize or see the effects of the water entry, as it is hidden behind the paint.
As each freeze thaw cycle comes and goes real deterioration of the brick takes place and by the time the problem manifest the damage has already been done. Large portions of the wall area will have ‘brick face de-lamination’ and many more areas you can’t see will have de-lamination but will be held together by the paint. So a close inspection for damage will be necessary.
Now you not only have your ongoing paint maintenance to deal with but deteriorated brick repairs must be done as well.
So you can see how the seemingly simple remedy of painting your bricks to change its color can have far reaching implications and consequences. If you must go this route then I would suggest that you contact a local masonry repair expert for his advice on how to protect your masonry before painting and how to proceed with the painting process.
A H Young asked:
The paint roller is our best friend when it comes to painting walls. Able to apply paint very quickly and uniformly, we owe a lot of gratitude to our friend the paint roller. Available in a multitude of sizes and in a variety of different materials generally if something needs to be painted there is a roller that can do the job. This article will discuss some basic tips that I don’t read about very often.
First a brief explanation of the terminology. ‘Paint cage’ this is the tool that you put the actual roller sleeve on. The tube bit that applies the paint is called a ’sleeve’ or ‘roller sleeve’ etc. Sometimes I’ve used ‘roller’ or ‘paint roller’ to describe the cage and the sleeve together.
Loading your roller properly is an important step, the amount of paint you’ll want on your roller depends on the surface that you are painting and what sort of roller sleeve you’ve got but generally the motion is the same. You want to roll the roller down the pan until the just the roller sleeve touches the paint, let it get saturated for a moment before lifting your paint roller up, moving it towards the top of the pan and rolling it back down into the paint. Doing this a few times will load up the paint tray as well and super saturate your roller, you generally want your paint roller to be on the verge of over-saturation as this allows a consistent thickness of paint as well as full paint coverage on the wall. It’s also important to try not to smother the entire roller in paint, you only need it on the sleeve so try to keep it there.
Once you’ve got some paint on the roller and on the tray loading your roller, it’s extremely easy and doesn’t require a lot of time in the pan. A quick dab of paint on the roller from the pan, lift it back to the top, roll it down twice and you’re usually ready to keep on painting.
When applying the paint to the wall the best method is to use long motions going from the top of the wall to the bottom of the wall working in areas 2 to 4 feet wide depending on how tall your wall is and your roller sleeves paint holding capacity. This spreads the paint consistently and gives the best finish.
Once you’ve got your paint roller loaded with paint, it’s time to start painting. When using the paint roller you want to apply just enough pressure to get the paint onto the wall, in most cases and unless you’re painting a very rough surface like old brick there shouldn’t be any need to overly press or force the roller into the wall this is probably more work than necessary and can leave unsightly roller marks. Start near the middle of the wall, roll the roller up the wall to the top and then come back down to the bottom of the wall re-rolling through the area where you started. Now you should have something like a big straight patch on the wall, on your roll up you want to move in either direction left or right and don’t make it too far off, you want part of your roller to still reside in the previous area of paint you applied. On your way back down you continue to move in the direction and now your rolling motion is beginning to take on the shape of a very large V or W. Make sure you go back through your original area of paint to spread the paint out on the wall and give it a consistent thickness. For optimal results, after you’ve spread the paint onto the wall, finish your patch up by gently rolling downwards over the entire area you’ve painted, this will give a consistent finish.
Typical problems when rolling walls are over applying the paint, not spreading the paint evenly, under applying the paint, inconsistent finishes and roller lines or marks. Most of these problems are easy to fix if caught before the paint has had a time to dry or set, though with some modern day paints it can be only 5-10 minutes before fixing it is a problem so it’s best to check your work as soon as you are finished. If the paint is either over applied and/or not spread evenly the build up of paint can begin to drip or sag, this is usually pretty obvious and easy to fix if caught quickly by just re-rolling the area. If the paint has been under applied/not spread evenly you can see what is referred to as ‘holidays’, this is typically where an area was rolled only once or twice and you can see that the paint did not fully cover. When roller marks are present this is usually a sign that too much pressure was used when applying the paint, causing it to squeeze out of the roller unnaturally at the edges of the roller sleeve. Most of these problems are easy to detect my looking at the wall from an acute angle. Overall these problems are usually caused by one of the following: poor quality roller sleeves, poor quality roller cage, poor quality/old paint tray that loads the roller poorly or sloppily and simply an in-experienced painter.
I hope you find this piece informative and have learnt a thing or two you didn’t know about using a roller, good luck to all of your painting endeavours!
Niall Roche asked:
The nursery is one of the most important rooms in the house for new parents and their babies. Creating beautiful, inviting spaces is often as simple as repainting a room that used to be a study or spare bedroom in fresh, warm colors.
Colors
While some people automatically think a girl child’s room needs to be pink and a boy’s room needs to be blue, there are many other options. There is nothing wrong with a frilly pink or peaceful blue nursery for any baby if that is the parents’ dream. After all, mom and dad will be spending plenty of time in that room, too.
However, if you are looking for colors that are commonly considered boyish, blue, yellow, red, orange and green are all options. For girls, pink, purple, yellow, green and red are traditionally feminine. If you are hoping to avoid repainting for quite some time, tan or white walls can provide a blank canvas that can be made bright and lively with paintings, curtains and accessories.
Patterns
If you can’t decide on a single wall color, patterns are a great way to use several colors in one room. Stripes, checks, big squares and circles are all great pattern options.
* Paint stripes in two shades of the same color or use two completely different colors, like pink and purple. You can have stripes that are the same width or alternate wide and skinny stripes.
* Checks can be small or large. Since they can be overwhelming in an entire room, it is a good idea to paint them on just the smallest wall in the room and paint the other walls with a solid coordinating color.
* Big squares and circles can be painted on the walls in a rainbow of colors. A fun idea is to hang pictures in some of the squares or circles.
Once you decide on colors and patterns, you are ready to choose your paint. The most important thing is to look for paints that are child safe. While lead paint is no longer being manufactured in the US, there are other considerations.
First, be sure to paint the room well before the baby will be using it. You want to be sure that all fresh paint fumes are gone before you bring a newborn child into the room. Next, look for paints that say they are non-toxic, low odor, or fume free. Oil paints and enamel kitchen and bath paints are definitely not good choices. They may wipe down easily, but they can cause problems long after they paint has dried.
Jason Rouleau asked:
Paint cracking is a common problem, usually quite visible in older homes with a lot of layers of paint. It looks like a flattened spider web of cracks in the paint. The similar term crackling is used to refer to a fuax finishing painting technique to that is meant to resemble cracked paint found in older homes.
In modern days, while building the walls we have now we use a moisture-and mold-resistant wall panels called Sheetrock (created by US Gypsum) commonly referred to as drywall. 8′ x 4′ is the conventional panel size outside of large construction. In older days it was one of two things, gypsum board or plaster and lathe. Gypsum board is similar to drywall however it wasn’t as convenient as drywall. They were both available but gypsum was the choice for a long time.
Plaster and lathe is an old building art now quite visibly dying off as new and improved techniques have rendered the art disadvantageous. After the studs (the skeleton of the house) are laid the interior wall portion takes form and the lathe would go up. Lathe is smaller pieces of wood at about 1″ wide and 4′ long. Once the lathe is up next would come the plaster. They set up guides that are four feet apart and go vertically then apply two coats of plaster. This effectively creates a sheet of dry wall. Interestingly, while demolishing the walls in older homes you sometimes come across horse hair in the old plaster. This was mixed in to strengthen the plaster.
Cracking in all likelihood will not take place in newer construction. Modern day Sheetrock should be primed with water based paint. Oil may be used in spite of the modern movement towards reducing oil based paint usage due to environmental issues. The oil based paint has a long history with the artisans of paint. The makeup of oil based paints has drawbacks. Positives reside around durability and the leveling properties of the paint as it is drying. It does take a long time for oil paint to dry, in any case oil has come a long way and is competing with water based paints.
Immediate attention would not be needed with new construction concerning cracking. New construction is defaulted merely because of the amount of layers of paint that could be on the wall and when the change from lead based to oil based to water based paints occurred!
Other forms of cracking do appear, they are referred to as “alligatoring”. “Alligatoring” is given its name for a reason, it looks like alligator skin. The most banal example would be exterior homes where far too much paint has been applied through the eons and or 10 to 20 years. Even if all coats were prepped and primed properly sooner or later the chemical change in the makeup of each consecutive layer of paint lead, oil, water, will eventually create problems. If you can get past that I bet Mother Nature will eat away at the foundation of the paint just like she forms our great mountain ranges. Eventually hot, cold, sun, wind, rain and snow will wear down on surfaces and create problems.
Sometimes the only way to deal with “alligatoring” is to remove all the paint, this is a timely process which involves the use of strippers and heat guns. Unfortunately, in the long run it is more cost effective to renovate. If the “alligatoring” has gotten extremely bad, there may be suspicion that the wood is deteriorating.
Cracking starts with a certain amount of coats of paint. For extreme cases the paint also will have been through the technical changes of the years. Meaning that older paint coats, possibly even before the sixties will have amassed over time, some may even contain lead. The complexities of these paints’ chemical make up as stated earlier will inevitably interact in some way. Paint has been guaranteed now days from anywhere to 25 years to infinity and beyond. That claim may be true providing it is new construction. The case study here is numerous amounts of paint, the first err could be with the first coat! Was that even primed or prepped and every consecutive coat should be scrutinized with that perspective.
One of the most recent problems would have been the switch from oil paint to water if not primed the water based paint may not adhere to the wall. What this means is that you may have a surface of paint that just sits on top of the wall. When you paint walls with water based paint you can risk a chance of cracking. Applying new water based paint to the surface will “reactivate” the other paint. Moisture will be added to the surface and that will cause the paint to expand and contract. Old and aged paint can become brittle and the flexibilities of that paint are lost and the paint can *****. It also can bubble and whole surfaces can just fall off the wall.
One of the ways to remedy these potentials for cracks on old homes would be to go back to the old wheel. Break out the oil paint! Oil has the right properties to re-seal the substrate, water based paint are consider a soft paint and oil are considered hard.
Carlo Morelli asked:
Stripping paint is one of the jobs that do it yourselfers love to ****. It is tedious, time consuming, and just plain hard work. Luckily there are some tools available which will make the work easier.
Your first weapon should be a chemical paint stripper, especially for stubborn layers of older paint. There are many brand name stripping compounds available that are quite effective and easy to use. You’ll need to be sure to wear protective gear, though; rubber gloves, long sleeves and pants, and goggles are a must. Spread newspaper or plastic tarp on adjacent areas to avoid any spillover, as well.
Using an old paint brush, a liberal coat of stripper compound is applied, and left on per the manufacturer’s instructions until the paint softens. Then, using a paint stripper knife or shave hook tool, scraping the paint off is relatively easy. When all the paint has been removed (and I mean all of it, don’t be lazy here), clean the wood with either cold water or paint thinner; this will neutralize the chemicals left behind by the stripper.
Electric Paint Strippers
Another tool in your arsenal is the electric paint stripper. This is a handy little scraping tool that has an integral heating element. The element heats up when switched on, and as you hold the tool a certain distance from the paint, it softens it up. I find this tool is more useful for small sections of real stubborn paint than for large areas.
Blow Torch
When all else fails, the gas or kerosene blow torch works wonders. Just use extreme caution when using one of these bad boys. All flammable material needs to be removed from the immediate area. Burning paint chips will be falling down all over the place, so keep on eye on them and make sure they extinguish immediately. Also, it is easy to burn the underlying wood, so never hold the torch in one place too long; keep it moving. You are trying to soften and melt the paint, not incinerate your house.
Blow torches are usually only used for total stripping, where badly damaged coats of paint need to be stripped all the way to the wood. They are also used on fine molding and scrollwork that has been obscured by too many paint coats.
Start at the bottom and work your way upward, applying heat by moving the flame across the paint until it blisters and softens in a small area. Then remove the flame. Scrape away the softened paint, using a stripper knife on flat surfaces or a shave hook for moldings and corners. When the stripping is finished, sand down the wood by hand, with sandpaper.
Of course, the best and most valuable tool, although quite hard to find, is having lots of willing friends and family members to help you. If you have enough of these you don’t need to do any work at all, except buying the beer and pizza.
Hilary Basile asked:
Take extra measures to ensure your painting project is an environmentally safe experience. The best quality acrylic paints are products that contain low or no volatile organic compounds (otherwise known as VOCs). These products reduce the emissions of VOCs into the home which improves indoor air quality and reduces urban smog. Check the labels on the cans for LEED certification to ensure you are using a low VOC product. LEED certified products are considered “green” or “environmentally-friendly.”
Following are tips for “green” painting:
Use all the paint.
When possible, use every ounce of paint you buy. The extra coat will provide walls with more protection. Or, ask a friend, family member, or neighbor if they could use some extra paint for a small project.
Seal it tightly.
Any unused paint should be stored in tightly sealed cans and placed upside down to help maintain the seal. Don’t pour leftover paint down the drain.
Dispose of paint properly.
To dispose of paint, convert it to a solid waste then dispose of it with your regular trash. To convert it to a solid waste, remove the lid to allow the water or solvents to evaporate. Do this in an area where children cannot tamper with it.
Hold off on cleaning tools immediately.
For projects that will take more than a day to complete, try wrapping your tools in a plastic bag for reuse instead of cleaning them at the end of each day. The tools will last overnight or even a few days if kept out of the sun.
Scrape the paint.
Upon completion of your project, scrape any excess paint from the can, latex rollers and brushes with a stir stick or wall scraper. Doing so prior to washing will make them easier to clean and is easier on the environment. When washing equipment, be sure to do so in a sink or similar drain so it is treated instead of ending up in the ground and in our drinking water.
Use quality water-based acrylic-latex paints.
Pure acrylic latex paints are more environmentally-friendly since they contain low levels of solvents. If using a water-based paint over an old solvent-based paint, be sure to follow the instructions for surface preparation which generally involves a good cleaning and a light sanding.
Nicky Taylor asked:
One exterior painting problem that many homeowners encounter is peeling gutters and downspouts. It’s quite annoying… actually. The rest of the paint on your home seems to be weathering normally, but your gutters and downspouts shed paint like a river birch tree sheds its bark on a bad day.
Gutter peeling is typically common to galvanized metal gutters.
The problem exists because the wrong paint was used for the first coat on the gutters and downspouts. The most common mistake I have seen, is applying oil base paint directly to the bare galvanized metal. It will not last longer than a few years.
The test I have run over the last 26 years points to oil base paint being applied to bare metal as the primary culprit. Ninety percent of the time the painters working for the builders made this crucial mistake.
I also found that most oil base primers will not properly bond to galvanized metal. I have found that a primer that is cement based bonds very well to galvanized gutters. Porter Paints carries a product call Porter Guard Galvanized Metal Primer 290. It contains cement and it does a great job of bonding long term.
If you are reading this article and have problems with peeling gutters, there is good news and bad news.
OK, here is the bad news. Be prepared to either strip all your gutters back down to the bare metal and start over, or be prepared to service your gutters on a fairly regular basis. Scraping and priming will not re establish a bond in areas that have not peeled yet. Putting primer and top coat on all your gutters at this point will not reestablish a bond. It cannot penetrate trough the existing paint and cause the defective paint underneath to re-bond to the galvanized metal. You will continue to develop peeling on these metal surfaces over time.
The good news is you can eliminate what is peeling now and prime the bare metal with the primer I mentioned above. It will stop the peeling in those areas.
Here are a few important steps you will need to take.
1. First you will need to remove any peeling paint from the downspouts and gutters with a wire brush, or scraper. A wire wheel on a drill also works well.
2. Clean the sanded area with a good grade of solvent to remove any oil on the surface. Wipe down the metal areas with a heavy coat of solvent and allow it to totally evaporate.
3. After the solvent has evaporated, apply the cement based metal primer paint directly to the bare galvanized metal spots. Allow the primer to dry according to manufacturers recommendations and then apply either latex paint or oil base paint as a top coat.
It’s possible to use latex paint instead of primer.
If all the oils from the bare metal are removed, you can even re coat the metal with latex paint instead of a primer if you so desire. I have found through the years that if the surface has been properly clean, just plain latex paint will bond to bare galvanized metal much better than oil base paint.
Complete the project using a top quality house paint. Use two coats in extreme cases.
Vickie Faria asked:
There are many things that you can do to help protect the exterior of your home and keep it looking its best.
One of the biggest factors determining how long your home exterior painting will withstand the test of time is the quality of paint you choose. As with most things in life, you get what you pay for with home exterior painting paint. It is better to pay more up front to purchase high quality paint rather than having to repaint your home sooner than it should have to be because you choose to opt for low quality paint. High quality paint will also help protect your home’s exterior. With proper preparation methods and the application of high quality paint, you can help prevent common house painting problems such as chalking and peeling or cracking.
If you don’t know the differences between paint brands and qualities, it can help to consult with your paint contractor. It is the business of a paint contractor to know the difference between paint qualities and how to apply them to your house painting to produce a lasting finish. For example, they will know that high quality home exterior painting paint should feel smooth when rubbed between your fingers while cheaper paint will feel gritty. Your paint contractor will be able to work with you and settle on a house painting paint quality and price range that will fit within an area you can afford and be satisfied with.
Having your home exterior painting completed can be a large undertaking, one that you want done correctly so it will last as long as it should. To help ensure that you are getting the most for your money, don’t settle for a low quality paint. Choose a high quality paint for your home exterior painting and help protect your home.
Stephen Kaye asked:
Having fully covered everything below ceiling level which you do not wish to have painted … Make sure first of all that you have removed any loose pieces of paper from the ceiling, removed any blue tack, sellotape, chewing gum, dead flies and spiders, cobwebs, etc. etc; filled any holes, and given the ceiling a good wipe down with Sugar Soap. (This will remove grease and any residual chemicals such as cigarette smoke stuff).
Get a good, strong, large container or proper paint scuttle and pour your paint into it. I would suggest that it is not a good idea to use a silk or semi-gloss on a ceiling, because such finishes really do show up all your brush marks and any inconsistencies on the surface. So don’t use this finish unless you really are a good painter.
Using a large, fluffy roller on a pole, which should first of all be rinsed with warm water and allowed to more-or-less dry out (it will absorb your paint better this way), first of all load the roller so that it is good and ‘full’ of paint, then apply it to the ceiling, starting at one corner and working from one end of the room to the other. Employ a steady consistent action to move the roller back and forth.
Use more paint than you think is necessary and don’t let the roller dry out. If it starts to become hard work, you probably aren’t using enough paint.
(Use a matte finish emulsion - the best quality you can afford)
Go around the light fittings using a brush. If your roller won’t get right into the corners, use a brush here also. You can do this before you roller or after. Really it doesn’t matter. Many light fittings will unscrew from the base on the ceiling.
Don’t lose track of where you get to if you stop for coffee. White on clean white can be difficult. Then again, if you’re painting it, your ceiling probably isn’t too clean, so forget that bit.
Stand back when you think you’re done to make certain that you have covered it all. If you’re using an emulsion matte paint, you can go over bits you’ve missed, and it won’t show up when it’s dry.
Repeat the entire procedure if you purchased cheap rubbishy paint. (Save time - buy the good stuff in the first place!)
Clean up the roller by endless washing under a running tap, or if you’re rich, throw it away. Cleaning up rollers is a pain in the neck (so is painting ceilings - literally) but it can be done if you’re patient. Alternatively, wrap the painty roller in a couple of plastic bags if you need it later on for another area with the same color paint. Properly wrapped up it should keep fine for a few days.
Have a break and congratulate yourself.