PAINTING PRELIMINARIES

“We got our house painted just a few days ago but it is already chipping off” wail most people. Why do paints come off so easily?

It becomes unbearable when you see your freshly painted house lose its luster even after paying for it through your nose. The reason could to be as simple as the preparatory work not being done properly. Most of us pay scant attention to the preparatory work, which can make a lot of difference in the quality of painting work. Here are a few tips regarding the preliminary work.

Furniture are bought at expensive prices and they are dear to us. Lot of planning would have gone into buying each piece of furniture. When we got our house repainted. We see that the painters are these pieces as of they were stools. Drawing them, pulling them or pushing them aside as they want How many times have we not seen a rose wood round table belonging to our grand father be used as a stool by the painters? To prevent all these additional losses. The first & foremost thing anybody does when painting is being done is to move the furniture. Along with moving, they must also be well protected. If the furniture is immovable they have to be covered with plastic covers. Door curtains & window curtains must be removed. Flooring is very often forgotten during painting. After the whole house is painted one realizes that there are droplets of paint on the floor, which cannot be wiped off & thus, spoil the look. So flooring must be protected by spreading drop sheets. One has to be extra careful when the whole area is carpeted. Special care has to be taken to see that every inch of the carpet is covered.

A hole or a rusted nail in a wall is as damaging or as rewarding as a hole in the bucket. You fill the bucket to see that it is leaking. Rusted nails & small holes if left untreated have the same effect on a freshly painted wall. So the next step in painting is filling every hole or repairing the damaged work. All holes & cracks in the walls & ceilings must be patched. Old nails if they can be removed must be removed or else the nail heads must be punched below the surface & covered with cellulose filler.

Moving on to the cleaning work, walls that are to be repainted must be washed with sugar soap & water. Otherwise dirt accumulated shows through the fresh painting. Caked dirt must be scrapped with a sharp object & then washed thoroughly. Oil patches in the kitchen and bathroom are the worst enemies in this regard. It is advisable to clean these portions regularly to avoid any permanent damage.

If the walls are emulsion painted it has to be stripped back where it is peeling. If the paint is well anchored & sound, the surface can be washed with sugar soap & water.

If bricks are exposed in the wall, they have to be brushed to remove the dust, plastered with cement & then painted. If painting is to be done on the bricks, the interior is painted with emulsion & exterior wall with the necessary paint.

Stains made by tar deposits or dust marks can be covered with Aluminum primer sealer.

Wood is the next most important component of a house. Wood work if protected well, can be aesthetically very appealing & as such a lot of care has to be taken before painting any wood work. Any cracks & blemishes in wood need filling. After the filling, wood must be smoothened by using fine abrasive paper always working along the grains.

In old bare wood if there are signs of damp rot, the best way is to scrape off the old paint, dry the wood, and apply wood hardener. After applying wood hardener, it is filled with wood filler and then primer can be applied before painting it.

For painted wood, which is in good condition, it is enough if the surface is cleaned with sugar soap & water before painting it. If the paint-work is only slightly damaged it is advisable to work on the damaged areas. Using a damp sanding pad, loose material is removed, cleaned and the whole area is rubbed with fine abrasive paper. Stripped patches & chips are then filled with fine surface filler and then painted the usual way.

Chemical stripper or varnish remover can be used on varnished wood to get back to bare wood.

Rust on metal surfaces when untreated will thoroughly eat the metal and leave holes. Rust can be removed using wire brushes and fine emery paper. After removing rust a thin coat of primer is applied. If there are any serious pittings they have to be filled with epoxy based filler. Epoxy based filler is a rust inhibiter.

Aluminum alloy and stainless steel generally do not need painting. For aluminum alloys it there is erosion the surface is rubbed with fine emery paper to remove the eroded material. Than dust and grease must wiped off the surface. If the surface is to be painted a chromatic primer can be coated.

Wallpapers can be removed with steam stripper or by using a stripping knife. Before stripping the wallpaper, it is necessary to soak it thoroughly so that it comes off easily. A steam stripper will become necessary only if the wallpaper refuses to come off the wall despite heavy & lengthy soaking.

Kitchens & bathrooms are often tiled & these tiles can be chiseled off by using a wide steel masonry chisel & club hammer. For stainless steel the paint can be applied directly.

Preliminary work needs a lot of patience & careful observation to achieve the expected results. After all these preliminary works are finished painting work can be begun.

To have a good finishing it is necessary to have a good start.