DIY TIP OF THE MONTH

                          

 

By Chris Abbott  as featured in the  Ottery Gazette

 

 

On this page you can view previous editions of DIY Tip of the month, as featured in the Ottery Gazette. You can also contact me with any feedback or comments

relating to the column. I hope you find the tips helpful, and if there is a particular subject you would like to see covered in the column, please get in touch.

Don`t forget to see the latest DIY tip of the month, in the Ottery Gazette out at the beginning of every month.

 

Thanks For Reading.   

 

Chris   

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VARIOUS PAINTING & DECORATING PROBLEMS

 
Q. I Hate Sanding, Surely There Must Be An Easier Way. 

So do I, and I have found an easier way of sanding….. my other half Janet does it instead! But unless, you have a Janet to hand using an electric sander is an easier option. However if you are just sanding down woodwork prior to re-painting, there is a lot easier way in the form of Dulux Liquid Sander. As the title suggests, you simply brush it on, leave a short while and then wipe off with a damp cloth. Then your ready for painting, its as easy as that!

Q. I Have A Brown Stain Coming Through My Gloss Paint.

These stains are the knots in the wood bleeding through your paintwork and causing the stain. To prevent this from happening before you prime bare wood you will need to put a knotting sealer over the knots, and this will prevent this from happening in the future. In the event that this hasn’t been done and you now have nice white skirting boards with nice brown marks on; the only way to stop this from happening is to sand just the effected area down to bare wood, apply the knotting solution, then primer, undercoat, and top coat and this should do the trick!

Q. How Do I Remove Flaking Paint From My Exterior Wall?

Many people use a wire brush for this, but that is not recommended. Instead you should use a stiff hand brush, the reason being that particularly with a rough cast wall bits of the wire brush break off in the wall, and when you have applied the water based paint on top these bits of wire brush will rust, and leave nice little rust specks in your paint work.

Q. I Have A Old Water Stain Bleeding Through My Paint Work?

This is a common problem that we get asked about a lot in the shop, an old water leak that has long been fixed, but the stain keeps coming through the ceiling or wall, and no matter how many coats of paint you apply it still keeps coming through. Again this is easily solved, and we have stain blocking products that you can either paint or spray on. Then leave an hour or so, then paint over the top with ordinary emulsion paint and job done, its as easy as that! It also stops stains from nicotine, grease soot and if you have artistic youngsters it also covers up pen and crayon stains as well, magic stuff! 
 
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PAINTING & DECORATING GENERAL QUESTIONS & ANSWERS
 
 
Since Abbotts was accredited as a Dulux Colour and Advice Centre, we have been inundated with challenging painting and decorating problems from customers. Particularly these days there is such a huge range of different paints, and finishes it can be quite confusing. So for the next few months, we cover some of the most popular questions and answers.

 

Q. What are the main types of interior paint, and which is used for what purpose?

A. As a rule, emulsion paints are used for painting ceilings and walls in the home. They come in a range of finishes Matt, Soft Sheen and Silk, the difference being the sheen level with the Matt being a flat finish, the Silk being a shiny finish, and the Soft Sheen being between the two. The higher the sheen level of the paint, the greater the light reflectance will be. Conversely a flat Matt finish is less reflective and will help to hide surface imperfections. Matt is by far the most popular choice of paint finish that we sell, but Silk or Soft Sheen is recommended when painting Kitchens or Bathrooms, (Unless you are using a specialist paint for this) as the sheen of the paint will help water or steam, run off the paint surface.

 

Q. What about Kitchen and Bathrooms Paints?

A. Traditionally all we used to use for Kitchens and Bathrooms was either a traditional Silk or Soft Sheen paint, which you can of course still use. But over the last ten years or so, paint companies have introduced special paints for Kitchens and Bathrooms, which are designed to be more durable. For example, in bathrooms if you suffered with paint flaking or mould problems, the Dulux Bathroom paint has a mould resistant paint film, and is; so they say, ten times tougher than normal emulsion paints. Similarly the Kitchen paint is more resistant to grease, steam, and stains than traditional emulsions, and what is also unique about this paint is it comes in a Matt finish. You are also not limited by the 20 or so standard colours, as both Kitchen, and bathroom paints can be mixed in store, within a few minutes using our Dulux Paint Mixing Machine.

 

Q.Can you use emulsion paints outside?

A. In a nutshell…No. Basically they are just not durable enough to cope with whatever Mother Nature throws at it. For this you will need Masonry paint, the good news is that particularly with the colours the outdoor paint is cheaper, litre for litre. The bad news is that they only come in large quantities of 5 Litres or more. As well as being more durable, many masonry paints like the Dulux Weathershield have a mould resistant paint film, to well…stop mould, and algie growth. There are two types of finishes paint finishes to choose from smooth or textured. There is a perception that you must use the textured finish on a textured wall, which is completely untrue. The textured paint has little bits of grit in it, so for example if you painted it of a flat surface you will see a slightly sandy type surface, like those very nice outdoor classroom we had at school. We very rarely sell textured paint as the coverage of the smooth so, so much better, as you are not buying a tin of paint half filled with sand. So if your wall has a textured rough cast finish to it, the smooth type paint would be ideal for it. Again you are not limited to the standard, few cream colours that look more or less the same on the colour card. If you wish to be more adventurous or, you don’t like the neighbours opposite, because let face it they will be looking at your house across the road a lot more than you will. You can choose from 1000`s of different colours via the Dulux Paint mixer.

 

 

Q.Do ‘One Coat Paints’ Really Cover Everything In One Coat?

A. Yes, in most cases it will, unless you are attempting a big colour change like black to white as an example, but really who would paint their room black? But colours of a similar colour tone, will be fine to do in one coat. These One Coat paints are quite thick, so take care not to ‘overspread’ as this will lower the paints ‘hiding power’.

 

  Q.Do you have to use radiator paint on a radiator or will ordinary gloss be alright?

 

A. Traditionally Radiator paint was your only option, so it was a bit of the clue is in the title job really. The Down side was that the colour range was a little bit limited, consisting of white gloss, or white satin. But these days, you are not limited at all. As long as the bare metal or any rust spots are primed first, you can use an ordinary gloss, or satin paint but preferably a solvent based one. Just make sure the radiator is cold, when you paint it, and don’t turn it on for a day or two until the paint is fully cured. So probably painting it in the middle of winter could be classed as a bad idea!

 

 

Q.Why do you need to use Primer & Undercoat, with some paints and not others?

A. Primers are used as the ‘Bonding coat’ to surfaces that have not been previously painted. Primers in effect ‘key’ the surface, for the undercoat to stick to. There are different types of primer depending on what surface you are trying to paint; there are wood primers, anti rust metal primers, multi surface primers and difficult surface primers for things like tiles, plastics, and melamine’s. The undercoat is added after the primer, and this adds ‘build’ to the layers of paint, basically building up the thickness of the paint and providing excellent hiding power.

Q.What Does ‘High VOC’ On The Paint Can Mean?

A. VOC stands for Volatile Organic Compounds. These are found in paint that contains a solvent such as white spirit, these are usually undercoat and oil based gloss paints. Paint that is high in VOCs will contribute more to atmospheric pollution than water based paints which have low or minimal levels of VOC. In January next year new tougher legislation is coming in, which will force paint companies to reduce the VOC levels in their paints. You may have noticed that over this year some of our paints like our Dulux Satinwood for example, has been changed over from solvent based to water based. Solvent based paints will still be available like our mixed paint range for example, but Dulux like many other paint companies have reformulated the paints so they give out less VOC`s so that they are compliant with the new legislation.

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