Healthy Air1. Unhealthy air can come from the materials used to build your home. Volatile Organic Compounds (VOC) from certain types of wood furniture frames, plywood subflooring, and medium-density fiberboard cabinetry contain urea formaldehyde (UF), can be released. Buy products of solid-wood or are UF-free. VOCs release decreases over time, so provide plenty of ventilation ...
Category Archives: Home Improvement
Choosing the right colour
Picking the right colour for your home is an important thing to do. Pick a colour that is too pale and your house will seem flat and featureless. Pick a colour too bold, and it may overwhelm the deco, or even yourself. Colours chosen should highlight the best features in your home. The right use ...
Choosing colour for your home
Room colour can affect your mood and thinking, so it\'s worth your time to think about the colour you want in specific rooms. Colours can affect people in many ways, depending on age, gender, ethnic background or local climate. Colour trends come and go, so you don\'t have to worry much about trends to make ...
Choosing the type of paint for the home exterior
Once you\'ve decided on the colour of paint that you want for your house, the next step seems simple enough. Head to the hardware store and get some paint and brushes. Sounds simple? Not really. You\'ll discover that there is just one type of house paint, but a whole range of paint, latex or alkyd, ...
Choosing the Right Interior Paint Finishes
Once you’ve decided on the perfect colour for your room/house, you will need to decide which finishing you want for them. Knowing the benefits of each finishing will help you determine the right one for your job. There are some particular application specifics that you should consider when selecting an interior paint finish.Maintenance and DurabilityMost ...
Stripping Interior & Exterior Paint Finishes
When stripping paint from a home built before 1978, test the paint for lead. You can strip finishes by heat-gun stripping, chemical strippers, scraping, or sanding. These are the more primary method of stripping. Chemical strippers which are the least damaging to the surface work best at removing paint from fine woodwork or irregular surfaces, ...
Exterior Trim Painting
Preparing Exterior Trim for PaintThe wood trim of a house is most susceptible when it comes to damage from sun, rain, and wind. You will need to thoroughly clean, sand lightly and prime the surface. You may also need to scrap, strip, re-glaze, wire brush, fill or caulk the trimmings.Scrub away all dirt and chalking ...
Using a Power Paint Sprayer
A power paint sprayer makes for quick work of a paint job. With virtually no dipping or dripping required, you can cover a large area with just the press of a trigger. Sprayers are available in various sizes and power ratings for homeowner\'s and contractor\'s specific needs, including applying stains as well as paint.TypesThe basic ...
Common Problems Faced by Exterior Paint
Extremes in temperature, air pollution, expansion and contraction of building materials, or mold growth are some of the problems faced by the exterior surface of a home. These are related to improper preparation and application. PeelingMoisture penetration through a paint coat can result in cracking, peeling, discoloration and premature paint failure. They tend to be more ...
Peeling Paint Due to Poor Adhesion
Moisture or poor adhesion can be the main cause of problem for peeling. Peeling caused by poor adhesion happens when the top layer paint separates from an earlier paint layer (intercoat peeling) or from the substrate leaving some paint behind. It can be caused when surface preparation is poor prior to painting the new coat ...
Painting, more common problems
Alligatoring and Checking"Alligatoring" occurs when the paint film takes on a cracking pattern of deep relief resembling a reptile\'s skin, such as that of an alligator. "Checking" is a similar failure but is less severe and is characterized by long, fairly evenly spaced cracks in the paint film having shallow relief or depth. Alligatoring happens ...
What Are Other Common Problems with Paint?
Sagging or RunningWhen you see dripping or drooping look to areas of the paint film, you would have spotted problems where the application of a coat of paint that was too heavy or overloaded. This can be caused by heavy handed paint application, paint thinned too much at time of application, or applied in poor ...
Basic Painting Techniques
StirringAlways stir from the bottom up as this ensures the mixing of the clearer layer of thinner at the top with the heavier, pigment-laden material that settle at the bottom. For a more uniform colour among multiple cans of paint, boxing (below) is recommended, but not usually necessary.BoxingDifferent cans of paint, even in the same ...
What Are The Safety Tips For Painting?
Painting is not such a difficult project to undertake as long as you know what you’re doing and have done preparation for it. It does not demand a lot of you physically, and probably the toughest part will be painting the ceiling. The key to a successful painting project is prepping. This is a step that ...
What Do You Need Before Painting?
Tools for Prepping Walls Safety glasses or goggles Respirator or face mask Ear protectors Rubber gloves Pry bar Paint scraper Wallpaper steamer (rent if needed) Can opener or widening tool Fan Hand sanding block Orbital sander Screwdriver Putty knife Sponge Cap or scarf Old clothes Materials for Prepping WallsSpackle (compound) Fine-grit sandpaper (100 - 120-grit silicon carbide) Detergent and ammonia or tri-sodium phosphate (TSP) Self-adhesive drywall tape Primer or adhesive pad Sizing (for wallpapering) Tools for Painting Drop cloths Ladders Buckets Paint edger Brushes, ...
