Interior Painting
Follow these 10 easy steps to paint like the pros.
1. Place all furniture into the center of the room. Cover all items with a drop cloth or plastic sheet. Continue to cover all walkable elements in the room with drop sheets.
2. Remove all switch plates from walls. Pull all unwanted anchors, screws, nails, and hardware off the walls. Use green painters tape to cover all light fixtures, door handles, and remaining hardware.
3. Apply a quick-dry compound (drydex) on all small holes. Use a stronger compound (sheet rock 90) on larger holes (larger then 1x1 inch).
4. Apply a bead of caulking on all cracks especially between all walls and baseboard trim.
5. Sand all the interior elements of the room (ceilings, walls, and trim) with a pole sander and spot prime all compound repairs with an interior grade latex primer. Apply primer with a brush or mini-roller.
6. Apply two coats of interior grade latex ceiling paint on all ceilings. Start by cutting in all areas where walls meet the ceiling. Continue to cut around all ceiling light fixtures, fans, and all other ceiling hardware. Finish by rolling out entire ceiling.
7. Apply two coats on all walls. Start by cutting in where all walls meet ceilings. Continue with all corner joints and where walls meet baseboards. Finish by rolling out all walls. Lightly sand all walls in between each coat.
8. Apply two coats on all trim (baseboards, window and door casings).
9. Remount all switch plates onto walls. Remove all painters tape from all hardware.
10. Remove all drop/plastic sheets from room
Exterior Painting Made Easy
Follow these easy 10 steps to paint any exterior like a pro.
1. Power wash all the paintable exterior elements. This will remove all dirt, grime, and debris built up over time. If possible, use a washer with at least 2000 psi.
2. Place drop sheets underneath all elements that will be painted. Pull and cover shrubs and bushes that are near paintable elements.
3. Test for whether the existing paint is latex or oil product. This can be achieved by rubbing acetone on a focused area. If area becomes shinny after rubbing, it is an oil based paint. If the paint starts to reactivate and release, it is a latex based paint.
4. Remove any old unwanted nails and exterior hardware from the paintable areas.
5. Identify paint problems such as crack, peeling and bubbling areas. Heavy scraping, and power sanding is necessary to remove all loose paint.
6. All cracks, holes, and deficiencies are corrected with exterior grade compounds (dynapatch) and exterior grade caulking.
7. Apply several coats of compound on deep and larger holes. Start by cleaning out the damaged area. Spot prime with and exterior grade oil primer. Apply the compound and let set.
8. After it has dried, spot prime the damaged area again “sandwiching” the compound in between 2 coats of oil primer. This will ensure the repair area will not fail.
9. Apply two coats of exterior grade oil and latex based paint on all paintable elements. Allow amply time for first coat to dry(dry time changes based on humidity and moisture). Lightly sand in between each coat.
10. Remove all drop cloths and preparation material away.
Staining Made Easy
Whether they are interior or exterior, wood elements have always been a wise building material because of its favourable qualities.
However, with the harsh elements constantly beating against the wood, the durability and appearance of the wood can over time fade and be compromised.
Ultraviolet rays from the sun will eventually start to deteriorate wood elements with consistent exposure. In addition, water (especially in geographic areas that slip below the freezing point) can crack and split the wood fibres. This is why staining is an excellent choice to preserve the life of all wood elements.
Follow these 10 easy steps to stain like the pros.
1. Select your stain. There are two types of stains available, solid or a semi-transparent. Solid stains will mask all of the wood natural colours and protect the wood from all the suns harmful rays and rain water. Semi-transparent stains will allow some of the natural colours of the wood to pierce through but also provide ample protect against the harmful elements.
2. Sand entire surface of wood to remove all loose paint/stain. Use 80 grit sand paper to help remove existing coating.
3. Tie back and bushes or shrubs near the area of work. Water down all plant life near work area (in case small amounts of stain/stain remover hit the plants).
4. Apply the stain remover. There are two types, Methyl chloride or sodium hydroxide based (very quick but more toxic), and water based removers (slower but less toxic).
5. Power wash the entire work surface to remove all loose coatings and remover.
6. Let wood dry out for at least 2 full sunny days.
7. Once all surfaces are dry, lightly sand all surfaces and blow/sweep all particles away.
8. Begin staining. Always start with the highest point (handrails, spindles) and work down. Be sure to protect all walkable elements with drop cloths.
9. Once all non-walkable areas are finished, pull drop cloths and use a pad or a roller applicator to stain the walkable elements. The stain brush will come in handy for all joints. Plan your exist to finish existing the work area.
10. All stain to dry for at least 24 hours.
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