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That’s black mildew in the grain of the boards. First step was to remove this with our exclusive process and cleaning solution.

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For modern wall and ceiling repair, Berkshire Painters have perfected a technique of re-anchoring classic plaster & lathe walls and resurfacing them to like-new condition. Repaired plaster is much superior to, and more inexpensive than demolishing and rebuilding with drywall.

The cost of the material and labor in the plastering contract was only a small percentage of the cost of other contracts, such as the mason’s or carpenter’s contract, etc., yet to the owner and ultimate occupant of the building it was of the greatest importance.

This is because it is that part of the construction with which one comes in daily contact, and it is the interior plastering of the building that largely determines the noisiness due to the reflection and transmission of sound.

In all building construction there is a great amount of work in which there is no common interest between architect, engineer and owner, such as the strength of beams, type of construction, etc. These are features which have to be left entirely to the architect and engineer because they are subjects regarding which the owner usually knows very little.

The plastering, however, is the feature regarding which there should be a common interest because it is of such vital importance, and being that part of the building so much in evidence and a subject so simple that it should be readily understood by everyone.

The plastering on the interior walls and ceilings is generally FOR Plaster from 3″ to 5″ thick, measuring from the inside surface of the lathing against the studding to the outside surface of the plaster. This is what is called the thickness of the grounds.

Plaster adheres to wood lath because of the clinch of the material in the openings between the lath. It adheres to brick, tile or plasterboard because the suction of these materials draws minute particles of plaster into the voids of the brick or tile, etc., eventually hardening and making a complete bond.

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Our part of the project was to lightly prep and repaint a detached residence on the same property, a rambling barn structure with an apartment.

Here are the ‘Before’ images:

We are in process with scrape/spot color prime, and applying one full coat to all previously painted Barn exterior surfaces. Will post After pics when we can!

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During meetings with the client we explained that we could commit to completing the following tasks on the house exterior before the end of the 2009 painting season:

Remove mildew and grime from house exterior surfaces
Remove window shutters
Scrape peeling paint areas
Apply color-tinted oil based primer to scraped areas

We did this work on an hourly basis, giving the owner an estimate that the above tasks will take an approximate amount of hours, and actually completed the work in a shorter time frame. The owner had some painting work performed on his barn by a nephew, and we gave him the option of allowing the nephew to continue under our supervision, if he would prefer.

Once we were underway, we gave him a projection of the costs for the following:

• topcoat entire house to same/similar color scheme
• topcoat entire house to different color scheme

We pointed out that a value change of several shades lighter or darker can require one or two extra coats to achieve full opacity.

This phase of the work was completed well in advance of the end of the painting season.

More pics…

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Wood was wet when it was painted. If only the surface of the wood is wet, then only 1 sunny day is usually needed for drying prior to painting.

If the wood is saturated, several sunny or windy days are necessary for drying prior to painting.

Unfinished siding was exposed to several weeks of sunlight before painting. Sunlight degrades the unfinished wood surface, thus it will never hold paint as well as fresh wood. If the unfinished wood was exposed more than 3 to 4 weeks, lightly sand or power wash the surface to remove the thin layer of degraded wood before applying paint.

Temperature was too cold when the wood was painted. Oil-based paints should be applied when the temperature is at least 40F; for latex paints, the temperature should be at least 50F. Conditions should remain above these temperatures for 24 hours after painting. When pre-treating the wood with a paintable water-repellent preservative (a recommended practice), best results are achieved if it is applied when temperatures are greater than 70F.

Humidity in the house was too high during the heating season.

A high level of humidity inside the house is probably the cause if paint failure occurs on the outside walls of the bathroom or kitchen, and it can be even more pronounced on the outside of an upper floor.

In multistory buildings, there is a chimney effect. Warm moist air is trying to vent upstairs, and eventually this moisture travels out through the siding. Paint failure may be more noticeable near electrical outlets or other breaks in the vapor barrier. Drier air enters the house through cracks on the main level; therefore, paint failure caused by high humidity is usually not a problem on the main level.

Condensation on the windows also indicates excessive humidity in the house. Turning down your humidifier or turning on a bathroom exhaust fan will help lower the humidity level inside the house. An energy efficient but somewhat expensive solution to high levels of humidity is to install an air-to-air heat exchanger. Here, warm moist air gives its heat to the incoming fresh, dry air.

Wood was installed directly over foam or foil-faced insulation board. Water can travel in behind the siding of the house through various routes but has to travel out through the wood, pushing the paint off. Even if the paint remains

Why House Paint Fails

Wood was too hot when it was painted or was heated soon after painting. Do not paint when the temperature is greater than 90F. To prevent temperature blisters, avoid painting surfaces that will soon be heated. The best procedure is to “follow the sun around the house.” The east side of the building should be painted late in the morning, the south side in the middle of the afternoon, the west side late in the afternoon. The north side can be painted at any time during the day. However, at least 2 hours are needed for the fresh paint to dry before weather conditions cool to the point where dew forms. If blistering on the wood surface does occur, allow the paint to dry for a few days, scrape off the blisters, smooth the edges with sandpaper, and paint the area.

Weather was too humid when the surface was painted. When water-based paints cure, the water should evaporate as fast or faster than the solvents. After the water has evaporated, the paint will shrink to nearly its final shape. As the solvents evaporate, the paint chemically reacts to form a hard material. When it is too humid, water cannot evaporate and the solvents may evaporate first, causing the paint to cure while still in a water-filled state. You cannot recover from this type of disaster. Oil-based paints will also fail if conditions are too humid.

On the surface, this moisture can cause other problems. Large overhangs, proper caulking, and a 12-inch-minimum ground clearance may decrease the chance of water getting in behind the siding. Additional suggestions to prevent paint failure in this situation include the following:

Driving small wedges (1/16 inch) under every sixth row of siding may permit water to escape
and reduce the moisture problem. However, wind-driven rain may also use this as an access and aggravate the situation. Back priming (painting the back of the siding before installation) may help reduce or prevent paint failure.

Install roofing paper (15- to 30-lb felt) beneath the siding. Note: The best solution is to attach furring strips to the studs through the insulation board, making air spaces behind the siding. Furring strips also make a nice home for bugs, if you do not screen the bottom. A new spacer-type webbing called “cedar breather” is sometimes used under wood shingles and may have merit for use under siding.

House has no interior vapor barrier. The absence of an interior vapor barrier is related to the problems of high levels of humidity inside the house during the heating season and wood that was installed directly over foam or foil-faced insulation board. Driving wedges (previously noted) under the siding may be the easiest solution. Applying certain interior vaporetarding paints and installing electrical outlet gaskets may also be effective, especially on the upper floor of a multistory house.

Wood siding is dirty. If the siding is dirty, the surface of the siding should be power washed or cleaned with detergent and a stiff bristle or brass brush and rinsed well. Never use steel or iron, which causes iron stain and may glaze the surface.

Wood has mill glaze. Mill glaze can be caused by several factors. For example, if during planing to make smooth wood, the planer blades were dull, running too fast, or pressing too hard on the wood surface, the surface of the wood can become hardened or resins may be drawn to the surface causing a glaze. Whatever the cause, the surface appears to be case hardened. If a drop of water beads up on the wood surface but does not on a lightly sanded surface, you may
have what is commonly called mill glaze. If you have mill glaze, the smooth surface must be lightly sanded or power washed to remove the hardened surface.

Oddly enough, controlled wetting of new siding with a garden hose may promote better adhesion to the redried wood. The water releases the stresses in the wood. You can also create a type of mill glaze by sand blasting or using a wire wheel on the wood surface. Mill glaze is not a problem on rough-sawn siding.

Brown stains appear on the surface of the paint. Paint does not have to fall off to fail. Moisture traveling through wood pulls water-based extractives through the paint, leaving brown stains on the surface of the paint. If the wood is kept dry, the water-based extractives in the wood will not bleed through paint.

Keeping all moisture out may be difficult. Oil-based primers usually block extractive stains better than latex primers and may be a better choice on redwood and cedar; however, oil paints can increase mildew.

Compared with oil-based primers, latex primers produce a more flexible paint film with better durability and can be used when extractive staining is not a problem.

Improved stain-blocking latex primers will probably be available in the future.

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The interior of the average home is composed of many different materials, all kinds of textures, grains and colors, all worked over and installed in place by different kinds of mechanics and tradesmen, any one of whom might be an artist at his own trade but knows nothing about the others.

The homeowner who undertakes his own interior repairs and maintenance jobs must learn and acquire a smattering of all trades. He will either make one or two attempts at small odd jobs and give up in disgust, or he will stick to it; master a few of the rules and techniques of the various trades, and get a great kick out of it. Incidentally, the ideas that he is saving a considerable amount of money will not be painful.

The old saying that “an expert is a man possessed of a vast amount of ignorance on a great many subjects” is true. The homeowner does not want to be an expert with a finished hand for one task alone. He wants to have a small amount of knowledge about a great many things.

Most house interiors have wood floors, trim, windows and doors. They have plaster walls and ceilings. Most of the walls are painted or covered with wallpaper, and a few of the floors are covered with linoleum or tile. It is not too much to expect, to be able to learn how to treat these materials once they have been put up or nailed down by an expert.

It is being done every day by men and women who had the will to apply themselves, and in many cases it has developed into an interesting hobby. It has been proved beyond question, that any intelligent adult can handle his own interior repair work with ease, once he has been shown the right way in which to tackle it. There are two reasons for keeping the interior of a house in good repair.

The first is to make it pleasant to the eye, and the second is to make it comfortable. If you accomplish both of these things, you are doing a lot, and at the same time you will probably go a long way toward making the house safe to live in as well. The first thing you notice when you enter a house is the condition of the walls and ceilings.

If there is a gaping seam in the wallpaper, or one corner of it peel ing off, it strikes your eye at once. You also think to yourself, that it seems a small thing to let go that way. If there is a large stain on the wall, you wonder why the owner has not done something about it.

If there is a badly cracked ceiling, or a discolored ceiling, you promptly feel that the house is owned by careless or disinterested people, who are obviously content to live in any kind of surroundings. Other people notice exactly the same defects in your house when they enter it. You do not notice these small things about your own home for the simple reason that Stained walls and spotted ceilings can ruin the appearance of a well furnished room. The walls are the most important items of any enclosed area because they attract the most attention.

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The second for cleanliness. The third for beautification. These three principal reasons are placed in the above order, because the quality of cleanliness is of greater importance to the community than that of beauty ; and further, be- cause the first necessity provides the reason for the very existence of the craft. In addition to these reasons, the fact is also apparent, that it is not possible to have complete and true beauty if the first two qualities are absent.

First, the outside of the house will be exposed to wet, heat, and frost. To meet these demands the work must be finished in hard, glossy colour with a good body ; each coat must be thoroughly dry before the next is applied. The colours chosen must be of a permanent character, those having the greatest weather-resisting properties being preferable. We must re- member that the destructive action of the elements will commence upon the surface. In the colouring, allowance must be made for the action of the weather, and also for the surrounding brick, tile, slate, or stone.

Upon entering the house, the remarks that apply to the entrance door will hold good in regard to the hall. Effort should be made here to convey an impression of comfort, warmth, and homeliness. It should, moreover, be a reflex of the tastes and character of its owner. Any undue parade of gilding or expensive ‘ material will impart an unpleasant air of chilling grandeur and ostentation, which better befits a public building than a home. The display of wealth should be reserved for more pi’ivate apart- ments. The colouring of the hall should be low in tone and richly quiet in effect, suggesting comfort and even opulence, but forming a simple contrast to the entertaining and other rooms opening out of it. The finish of the work should be hard and durable, with, few ledges upon which dust can accumulate, as it will be less shut in than the rooms.

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A few are hand-painted, principally marbles, high-class friezes, French scenic and landscape goods. Others are stencilled, or partially stencilled, and partially printed and hand-coloured a rapidly improving and increasing class. The difference between machine – printed and hand-printed goods is seen by a careful examination of the margin, which in hand- or block-printed goods shows the register of the repeat of each block.

The finish of the pattern may also be observed at the ends of the piece, a portion of plain ground being left clear of pattern at either end ; whereas in a machine-printed pattern there is an unbroken continuity. An expert will also detect the difference in colour surface left by the block and the roller.

The practical advantage gained by the hand printing is mainly that the matching of the paper is truer, and the colouring more even, an inseparable drawback to machine printing being the slight unevenness of tension which occurs as the roll of the paper passes round the printing machine rollers, and the tendency to slight oscillation of the paper from side to side. In block printing each colour or tint is printed separately.

In machine printing any number of colours can be printed at one operation, the paper coming under the whole of the variously tinted rollers one after the other before leaving the machine. Qualities. The different qualities of wall papers are many, and are mostly distinguished in the trade by the class of grounds on which they are printed.

The number of printings, except in hand-printed goods, has less influence in the assessment of cost than would be supposed. Varieties. The cheapest class of wall papers are pulps, in which the natural colour of the paper itself, either as ground or ornament, forms part of the finished surface. Then we come to grounds, in which the whole paper is coloured with a ground preparatory to printing the design upon it.

The operation of grounding the paper is done by machinery. Satins are papers in which the grounds are polished or glazed before printing, by rotary brushes actuated by machinery and the use of French chalk. Micas, golden frosted, and crystal damask are papers in which, while yet wet, the grounds are powdered with talc or mica to produce a satiny sheen. The papers are rich and effective. Embossed or stamped papers are those in which the ground or pattern, or both, are stamped in relief.

Papers which are merely given an all over texture in stamping are termed grained papers. Ingrain papers are pulps of a stout high quality, in which additional colour and apparent texture are introduced by the use of coloured fit are added to the pulp during the paper- making process. Sanitaries are papers in which the printing is done in oil colours upon a heavily sized or otherwise prepared ground.

These papers, owing to the oxidisation of the oil, become brittle and carbonised if kept in stock long, and have an objectionable gloss. Sanitums and washables, either the ground or pattern, or both, are printed in a washable distemper and spirit colour insoluble in water. They are an improvement on Sanitaries as they do not have the glossy surface. Pegamoid papers are a recent introduction, in which, after printing in ordinary colours, the paper is treated with an elastic water varnish prepared from “pegamoid.”

Metal papers, as their name implies, are papers in which pattern or ground is printed in an imitation gold, metal, or in bronze powder, and are not to be confounded with papers in which the metal is lacquered and varnished. Golds; in these the real article, gold-leaf, is substituted for the imitation.

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It should be added, that fully a third of the paint which is bought for use by homebuilders or homebuyers is not properly applied; and it should be further added that more than one-half of the brushes bought by homeowners are ruined by mistreatment, and rendered useless.

All of which brings us around to the point; that if you want to do any painting, and want to have a few good brushes, ready for use at any time, it would be well to study up on paint and brush handling. Spring and early Summer are the times during which the local hardware and paint-store proprietors rub their hands in glee, because they know that during those periods the average homeowner comes in to buy pints, quarts, and gallons of paint, and three or four different kinds and sizes of brushes.

They also know that the same operation will be followed next year, and that half of the brushes sold will be as hard as a rock a week after they are purchased. You cannot blame any purveyor of paints or brushes, because every manufacturer of good paint has broadcast the correct method of applying his product, and has spent a fortune on literature which gives the proper procedure.

The large manufacturers of brushes have also tried to tell the public how to handle brushes, so as to get the most out of their investment, but it seems to be an impossible task. It is a pity, because a good brush will last for a life-time and become better with use; and good paint can be used right down to the last fraction of an ounce.

If the owner of a house is really interested in economy, and in doing his own painting, he might well start with a thorough indoctrination in the proper handling of both paint and brushes. We will start with the correct handling and treat- ment of brushes. The average homeowner should have a 2″, a 3″ and a 4″ brush, plus a 1″ sash-tool.

The 2″ brush is for fine work around moldings, window-panes and other narrow surfaces. The 3″ brush is for heavier work such as door-frames, window-frames and panels. The 4″ brush is for large surfaces or areas where you have to cover a lot of ground. The sash-tool is not a tool at all, but a brush with a round handle and short bristles, and is usually used for painting the cross-bars of windows (technically known as the muntins and stiles) and for other places where a wider brush would be awkward to handle.

When you have this equipment you have all the necessary tools that are worth any money, and should add a putty-knife .and several sheets of assorted sand-paper. As soon as you are through using a brush, you should work it out on a board or a piece of newspaper and then place it in a can of turpentine or linseed oil.

You should “hang” the brush, by making a hole in the handle, and suspending it in the can instead of allowing it to lie on the bottom. By doing this, you keep the bristles from taking on a curve. Brushes which are used for white, light gray, light yellow, or other corresponding colors can be When brushes are hung in solvent while not in use, fhey are nof liable to acquire curved bristles or gum at the ends. A good brush is a very valuable tool for the homeowner, and should be treated accordingly.

Brushes that are used for blacks, dark greys, etc., should have separate cans, and all reds belong by themselves. If you have plenty of receptacles, it is better to thoroughly segregate all colors. If you really get into the painting business, you will prob- ably work out your own system, but the main object is to keep the brushes soft, and ready for the next job.

The more you pay for a brush (and the prices are usually honest) the better you will do. All professional painters prize their brushes as a surgeon does his scalpels, and treats them with corresponding respect. Keep a good brush clean, soft, and workable, and you have a tool which it is honestly a pleasure to work with. Have a brush that is semi-hard, bristling, and rough; and you have a tool that will disgust you with your work.

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