# 11 of 101 tips on house painting and decorating - building maintenance - Painting over your old wallpaper

Ok... you've tried removing some wallpaper and realized what a mammoth task it actually is!(painting and decorating is not as easy as it looks!)

Now you're thinking........lets paint it instead.

Before you get your house painting gear out lets do a few tests first.

First you have to make sure the paper is glued down well enough to paint over, well we can assume its well glued since you gave up on the wallpaper removal job.(or you want to keep the painting and decorating to a minimum effort)

If it is lifting anywhere then now is the time to glue it back down with some PVA or wallpaper glue. You may need to tape or staple it down temporarily until the glue dries.
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Next you need to roll and area with pigmented sealer to make sure you paper doesn't lift during painting and decorating. If the paper bubbles just wait till dry as often these go away by themselves. If there are lots of bubbles and they don't go away when dry, just give up and strip before painting and decorating. Yes you should use the oil based sealer. You can skip this step if the wallpaper already has a coat of paint.

Next, plaster repair any holes or scratches you want to hide, this may not be easy due to textured paper, but get creative, you can hide lots under and good painting and decorating job. In your house painting kit you should have a few textured rollers to roll over fresh repairs to add texture.

If the wall is really bad you may consider a skim coat of plaster over the whole wall, leave this up to your professional plasterer.

Finally use a low sheen washable paint like Dulux Wash n Wear or Resene Space Coat is better but more expensive.

Remember don't be too critical of your finished work, you will always see the faults because you are up close and personal with your latest house painting efforts.

Happy house painting
Andre

# 10 of 101 tips on house painting and decorating - building maintenance - wallpaper removal

Painting and Decorating today is made easier with the wide range of easy to use DIY products and non toxic paints and repair compounds.

Still the elbow grease is needed  to complete any painting and decorating task.

Anyone will tell you that preparation is the key to a fine finish, so tackling the finishing plastering of any wall or ceiling should be left up to a professional plasterer.

However the laborious task of removing wallpaper you can tackle yourself and in most cases it will save you thousands of dollars.

Tools you will need-
Bucket
Mop
Wallpaper stripper solution
Flat paint scraper 10cm wide (stiff)
Tungsten paint scraper
Steamer (hire one from your local hire center)
Ladders
dropcloths
Radio

The time it will take to strip a room will depend on the type and age of the wallpaper.

Vinyl wallpaper from the 60's onwards is realitively simple to remove as all you will need to do is rip the surface layer of by lifting a corner and pulling.
For tough glues you will need to steam the surface after perforating the vinyl layer. You can buy a small mouse like device with spiky wheels that will do the job.
Once you are left with the paper backing this can be steamed off or some will just need to be run over with a mop or cloth to wet it and a flat scraper will do the rest

Older wallpapers are tougher to remove as they only come off in annoyingly small strips and often have been painted or papered over a number of times. Your steamer will get a lot of use here. Test a small area first before you decide how to tackle this part of your house painting

Painting and decorating Tips-

Start in one corner and concentrate on one area at a time moving only when that area is finished. It will seem slower than running around the easy bits first then going back to the difficult bits later, but you will get a better finish in the end.

Use a flat scraper only on the flat side only. This may sound obvious but don't gouge your wallboard if you can help it, let your steamer do most of the work.

Before you repair or plaster make sure the board is secure to the framing, here is where a few screws or nail will stop any cracks or nail pops from coming through you finished painting and decorating job.

If you are planning to re wallpaper make sure you 'size' or seal the wall board first.

If you are planning to paint you will have to plaster first as the original finish wont be up to a high quality painting and decorating standard. Make sure your professional plasterer uses paper tape on the sheet joins.

You may also need a coat of 'pigmented sealer' to stop any residue of glue coming through your house painting top coats. Unfortunately the best sealer is oil based so wear a mask and have good ventilation.

Don't worry if you make a mess of the wall due to stubborn glue, your plasterer will skim  a flat coat of plaster to hide any damage.

Unfortunately  there are no real short cuts to a proper painting and decorating job. 

The finish is the reward to your efforts.
Happy stripping
Andre




 

# 9 of 101 tips on house painting and building maintenance - temporary leak repairs

Sometimes you are just too busy to get that leak fixed
so in this case I will recommend a quick temporary repair.(just this once)
Here are a few quick building maintenance tips that will get the leak repaired until a professional building maintenance contractor or house painter can sort out the problem.

Silicone.
Uses- any dry solid surface, gaps and cracks up to 15mm
Choose a paintable product such as MS(modified sealant) Fix All or Blockade,
There is nothing worse than having to remove silicone residue for your house painting to be effective.
Mask the area first so you don't make a mess and have some turps and a rag handy.

Builders Foam
Uses - pipe penetrations and any gap over 10mm wide
Any brand will do, just get a small can as it does not keep well.
Once you have used the product don't touch it again untill it is hard ( 2 hours ) Then trim with a box cutter knife.
You can apply a layer of paintable silicone if you like or just paint over directly during your next house painting schedule, as it is waterproof and stable.

Plumbers Tape
Uses - roofs and gutters, clean and dry surfaces
If you get through this list and haven't solved your problem then call your house painting or building maintenance professional.
Happy home maintenance
Andre

# 8 of 101 tips on house painting and building maintenance - corrugated iron Roof repairs

The trusty old corrugated iron roof is synonymous with New Zealand architecture and of course they aren't all made equal. Along with the various gauges (or thicknesses) there are quite a few options in materials, coatings and colours. Like house painting do your research

Now by now you know I'm going to say -  buy quality.

In my experience its not worth going a mid priced job, you either do the whole job properly using quality long lasting products or you get your building maintenance company to perform roof repairs or house painters to sort out your roof.

A good  roof painting job will give you 10-20 years extra life where a re roof using at thick gauge galvanised steel, will give you at least 50 years if not more depending on the material used and how well the building maintenance is carried out.

The below list covers some of the corrugated roof range in New Zealand

Corrugated galvanized steel.
The original product  was wrought iron– sheet steel  zinc coated, then roll formed into corrugated sheets. This product is still commonly used today in New Zealand. Modern architecture and "green" thinking has made these products popular again.

Zincalume and Galvalume

A blend of zinc, aluminium and silicon-coated steel,  Sometimes left in the raw zinc finish, but more widely used as a base metal under factory coated colors and sold as Colour steel. No house painting required

Metal tile sheets.
These are usually painted or stone-coated steel. Previously sold under the name Decromastic

Stainless steel.

Available for harsh conditions and/or as a distinctive design element. Usually roll-formed into standing seam profiles; however, shingles are available.

Aluminum.
One of the longest-lasting metals, but somewhat expensive compared to steel products. Aluminum roofs are very lightweight, corrosion-resistant, have high natural reflectivity and even higher natural emissivity, increasing a building's energy efficiency. Aluminum products with Kynar paints easily last over 50 years. The newest innovation is anodizing of the aluminium coil stock for use in architectural details and standing seam panels. The anodized layer is intimately bonded the metal and is not normally subject to weathering and wear.

Copper.

Expensive for a roofing material. Usually used for flashing or smaller, highly detailed areas such as entrances of historical buildings and churches.

Stone coated steel.
Panels made from zinc/aluminium-coated steel with acrylic gel coating. The stones are a natural product with a colored ceramic coating.

Inverted Box Rib, Trapezoidal or IRB.

A low-cost corrugated square-fluted iron roofing material used mainly in the commercial market. It can be commonly found on anything from industrial sites to low pitched roofs.

In Short

A metal roof graded "AG" or "Utility" will need re coating (roof painting)once the factory finish wears off, or corrosion will occur. These paints are commonly acrylic or polyester based. Roof coatings are the preferred material since they are able to stay elastic and withstand the thermal cycling that occurs in metal roofs.

Roofing materials made from stainless steel, zinc or copper will rarely require maintenance over their lifetime. Any required maintenance is usually due to design or installation mistakes. Otherwise, these materials commonly last over a century.

Metal roofing with long life polymer coatings like Kynar should not normally require maintenance until the coating fails. These products have been used for over half a century now in the U.S. and few installations have failed. They should be considered lifetime products.

( Note some excerpts from Wikipedia)

Andre

#7 of the 101 best House Painting and Building Maintenance tips - Steel Fastners

The lesson to be learned today is that quality is not too expensive, especially in my game of Building Maintenance, House painting and roof repairs.

All too often we see cheap and inferior building practices and materials with a planned obsolescence designed into them.
This is, of course, so more products and services can be sold to you when replacement time comes up.
Often we find good quality products will only cost 30 % more but last 200-300% longer.

Using Quality Steel materials such as nails, screws, hinges, flashings etc is as important as the quality of the house painting and roof repairs

However  deciding on "the correct materials" is not so easy, for instance stainless steel is not necessarily stain-less and comes in various grades depending on the recipe of the product.

In many instances hot dipped galvanised bolts, nuts and screws will last just as long as lower grade stainless steel when kept dry and painted, also the galvanised steel is 'softer', more flexible so performs better in areas of large temperature differences.

I have made a list below of a few facts to help you with your decision making when tackling building maintenance and roof repairs.

Make sure you use the same type of metal fasteners as the metal in the product you are using, otherwise the different metals create a very weak electric charge which will corrode the less noble metal

Zinc-chromate (This is a yellow/gold plating often seen with a pink and green rainbow effect visible on the plating surface. Items with this coating are first plated with zinc, then treated with a dichromate coating which gives it the yellow/gold appearance. )

Low cost fastenings, good for mainly dry areas where it may get wet or damp only occasionally, ie windows,framing, skirting, architraves where filling and painting.

Best suited for interior/sheltered exterior, screws, nuts, bolts, hinges

Zinc (electroplated) shiny silver in colour

Low cost fastenings, good for mainly dry areas where it may get wet or damp only occasionally, ie windows,framing, skirting, architraves where filled and painted

Best suited for interior/sheltered exterior, screws, nuts, bolts, hinges

Zinc (Galvanised Hot Dipped) dull silver colour with a crystal pattern on larger sheets

Medium cost fastenings and should be a minimun standard of rust protection for all exterior fittings and fastenings.
Best suited for exterior fences, roofs, structural beams and gate hardware

Note- when you are painting make sure you use a special primer if the product is new. Some corrosion takes place naturally and the product needs weathering or priming before house painting.

Stainless Steel(316 and 304 grade)

It is also called corrosion-resistant steel or CRES
For building and maintenance if you are going to use this product you may as well pay for the marine grade 316 steel,
Best suited for window hinges, exterior fastenings and hardware.
Stainless steel fixings are required by your local council if you live within the sea spray zone as laid out in the building code of New Zealand.

A bit on Roof Painting

As part of your on going house painting maintenance schedule, your roof is the easiest to overlook until that leak appears over the bed and wakes you up on a stormy night.

No matter what sort of roof you have you will want to  keep on top of the building maintenance. If you have terracotta tiles, shingles (either slate or bitumen) or copper, you wont need to worry about adding it to your house painting schedule. However these types of roofs will still need a roof repair professional  to go over it. Have it cleaned every few years to get rid of the moss and gunge, also any lifting tiles, loose fixings or broken mortar and capping need to be dealt with by a building maintenance professional. 

You can add years to your corrugated or concrete tile roof with a few coats of paint after dealing with that much needed roof maintenance.

While it may cost a few thousand dollars to bring your roof up to par, you will be saving 5 x that in avoiding a full re-roof by keeping up on the roof repairs and maintenance.

When you are looking at getting a contractor to price your roof repairs and house painting make sure you get references and testimonials of course, but also make sure you get a specification on what type of paint they will use and how may coats will be applied as this will make a big difference to the life of the paint job. 

And make sure on of your quotes comes from us here at Banks Building Maintenance :)

Happy Wednesday
Andre

More on house painting - windows

In today's post relating to house painting I'll give some detail on timber windows or joinery.

This has to be the single most expensive and important part of your house when it comes to painting, maintenance, insulation, noise control. Windows are also the most common point of entry not only for thieves but water as well.

If you are like me and own a house built before the 1970's or just like the look and feel of timber joinery you will be facing regular maintenance if you want to keep on top of any issues.
Of course in your house painting schedule you may want to tackle the windows twice as often as the  rest of the house. Your joinery will need more care as they attract moisture due to condensation and due to the many angles and faces will be harder on your painting efforts.

First thing to do is to check to see if there is any place where water can get in and fill using the appropriate Selleys product such as No More gaps or Permafill. Check your flashings for rust and architraves for rot. If you are unsure ask your house painter or building maintenance specialist. Make sure all your opening sashes are not touching on closing as this will cause them to stick.

Choose a light colour as darker colours will attract more heat from the sun and need more maintenance. High gloss paints are the best as they have less surface area creating a stronger chemical bond. However extra preparation will be required to achieve a good finish.

Next get your window putty replaced by a professional if it is falling out and scrape and fill as per normal painting preparation. Now is the time to repair any cracked window panes and rusty hinges. Go the extra mile and get thicker laminated glass and stainless steel hardware, its worth the small extra expense. If you are considering any draft prevention get a quote and advice from your maintenance professional at this stage. I'll cover this area in a later post.

Just remember the extra preparation now will save you thousands of dollars in the future.
Use only high quality paints and fillers such as Dulux, Resene and Selleys brands they are worth every cent in the long run.
To finish use oil based undercoats and acrylic enamel topcoats, lighter colours may require 3 coats.
Well that's all till next time
Have a great weekend
Andre